> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.auora.gg/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rounds and Cycles

> Continuous, short-duration rounds with no downtime.

Auora markets run as **continuous cycles** of short, identical rounds. There is always a round open. There is never a "wait for the next session" experience — the moment one round closes, the next is already accepting predictions.

## Why short rounds

Short rounds keep the game **fair, accessible, and frequent**:

* **Fair**, because the shorter the window, the less time a sophisticated actor has to assemble an information advantage.
* **Accessible**, because players don't need to babysit a position for hours.
* **Frequent**, because players can join, settle, and leave on their own schedule.

## Why a cooldown

Between cycles, each market has a brief cooldown phase. This exists to give settlement, payouts, and the next strike-price draw room to land cleanly on-chain even during periods of high network congestion. It is not a "house break." No one can play during cooldown — including us.

## Round transparency

Every round, past and present, is queryable on-chain and surfaced in the UI:

* Strike price and the timestamp it was drawn at
* Pot size on each side
* Settlement price, settlement timestamp, and the signed oracle attestation that produced it
* Per-wallet payout transactions

A "verify this round" link will be available next to every settled round, taking you to a third-party explorer where you can independently confirm the oracle attestation without relying on anything Auora says.