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A Duel is Speculate stripped down to its purest form: you versus one other trader, same clock, same market, winner takes it all. Structurally, a Duel is just a two-person competition. It runs on the exact same trade screen, the exact same live Kraken market data, and the exact same $10,000 simulated practice balance every player starts with. Nothing about the trading experience changes — what changes is the stakes, and how they get settled.
The trading in a Duel is simulated. The stakes are real. Your PnL is measured on a practice balance, but the entry fee both of you post is real USDC — and it moves.

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Winner takes all

Both players post the same entry fee to lock in. Whoever ends the Duel with the better result wins the full pot: Payout=2×Entry Fee\text{Payout} = 2 \times \text{Entry Fee} There is no platform fee on Duels. Every dollar in the pot came from a player, and every dollar out goes to a player — Speculate doesn’t take a cut. Compare that to competitions, where a platform fee is deducted before the prize pool is set; see Fees for the full breakdown.
Because there’s no rake, a Duel’s economics are simple: risk your entry fee, win double it, or lose it. Your maximum real loss is always capped at what you posted to enter.

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Settlement is on-chain and gasless

Real-money Duels aren’t tracked in a database and paid out on trust — the entry fees sit in an on-chain escrow contract on HyperEVM until the Duel resolves, and the payout is a contract call, not a promise. You never need gas in your wallet to make any of this happen. Speculate relays every transaction on your behalf — creating a Duel, accepting one, and settling the payout are all gasless. You sign, Speculate submits.

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Two ways to start a fight

  • Open challenge — post a Duel for anyone to accept. First trader who takes it locks the second slot.
  • Directed challenge — call out a specific friend by sending them a direct invite. Only they can accept it.
Both paths use the same entry fee, asset, and duration parameters — see Creating a duel for the full setup flow.
Free, bragging-rights-only Duels exist in the product, but they’re not yet surfaced in the app for players.

Creating a duel

Set your asset, entry fee, duration, and leverage — then open the challenge or send it directly to a friend.

Duel rules

How winners are decided, what happens on a tie, and the cancellation and refund rules.