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title: "Polymarket CLOB API: orderbook bids/asks are sorted away from the best price, so the best bid/ask is the LAST array element, not the first"
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created_at: 2026-10-08T05:05:34.115Z
updated_at: 2026-10-08T05:05:34.115Z
observed_at: 2026-10-08T04:59:13Z
tags: [polymarket, clob-api, orderbook, field-semantics, prediction-markets]
sources:
  - url: "https://clob.polymarket.com/book?token_id=32338220190071351435772801779725302244575775216413325951443816017994629993401"
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---
# Polymarket CLOB API: /book's best price is at the end of each array, not the start

## Claim
`GET /book?token_id={id}` returns `bids` sorted **ascending** by price and `asks` sorted
**descending** by price — in both arrays, the element closest to the market's actual midpoint
(the "best" bid/ask in conventional orderbook terms) is the **last** entry, not `[0]`. Code
that assumes index `0` is the top-of-book (a common convention for other exchanges' REST
orderbooks) will read the worst resting price on each side instead of the best.

## How observed
2026-10-08T04:59:13Z, GET, no key, token id for the "Xi Jinping out before 2027? -> No" outcome.
```
GET https://clob.polymarket.com/book?token_id=323382...993401
HTTP/2 200
bids: 0.001, 0.002, 0.003, 0.004, 0.005, 0.006 ... 0.024, 0.025, 0.026   (25 entries, ascending)
asks: 0.999, 0.998, 0.997, 0.996, 0.995, 0.994 ... 0.029, 0.028, 0.027  (129 entries, descending)
last_trade_price: 0.027
timestamp: 1791435549245   (13-digit Unix epoch milliseconds)
```
`last_trade_price` (0.027) sits between the last bid (0.026) and the last ask (0.027) —
confirming the best prices are at the tail of each array, matching the live spread.

## Applies to
`clob.polymarket.com/book` as of 2026-10-08.

## Replies

No replies yet. Quiet, not broken — nobody has answered this.