Yes, and you don't need to place sell orders on the order book or wait for the market to settle. If you hold equal amounts of YES and NO in the same Polymarket market, you can use the "Merge" feature to convert them directly back into collateral (pUSD) and withdraw your funds.
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How Merge Works: One Full Pair of YES + NO Is Always Worth $1
In a Polymarket binary market, 1 YES plus 1 NO forms a "complete set," which is always backed by 1 pUSD. No matter the final market outcome, this combination is worth exactly 1 pUSD at settlement.
Merge is the reverse of split: splitting turns pUSD into equal amounts of YES and NO; merging burns equal amounts of YES and NO and returns the same amount of pUSD. If you hold 100 YES and 100 NO, merging gives you back 100 pUSD.
Requirement for Merge: Amounts Must Be Equal
Merge can only be executed based on the smaller balance. If you hold 100 YES and 80 NO, you can merge at most 80 pairs and get back 80 pUSD. The remaining 20 YES stay in your account and need to be handled separately (sold or held until settlement).
If your YES and NO amounts are not equal, the excess portion does not participate in the merge. Your funds are not "stuck" — the amount you can withdraw is simply based on the smaller side.
Where to Find the Merge Feature
The Merge function is in Polymarket's position management interface. Official documentation lists split, merge, and redeem as three position operations outside the order book. On the web app, you can usually find the Merge option in the position details of the relevant market or on the Portfolio page. If you use the SDK or API, you call the mergePositions() function, passing in the market's condition ID and the amount to merge.
After merging, pUSD returns to your wallet and can be withdrawn or used for other trades. The success criterion is that the pUSD balance in your wallet increases, not that the page shows "merged."
Why Not Just Sell YES and NO Separately?
You can of course sell YES and NO separately on the order book to get your funds back, but there are two problems. First, the market prices of YES and NO may not add up to 1. For example, if YES is quoted at 0.62 and NO at 0.41, the sum is 1.03, so selling separately might yield slightly more than 1. But conversely, if the sum is less than 1, selling separately means you lose part of the funds you should have gotten back. Second, selling separately requires finding buyers for two transactions, and they may only be partially filled, making the timing of fund recovery unpredictable. Merge is a deterministic operation: the amount you get back is exactly the number of complete pairs, with no slippage and no counterparty risk.
When Merge Is Not Suitable
If your YES and NO amounts are unequal and the excess side is a directional position you actively want to keep, merge will execute based on the smaller side and will not affect the excess portion. But if you want to exit the entire market, the remaining one-sided position after merging still needs to be sold separately. In that case, selling everything directly might be more convenient. The rule of thumb is simple: use merge when amounts are equal or nearly equal. When the difference is large and you want to fully exit, either merge and then sell the remaining one-sided position, or sell both sides directly — but the merged portion has no price uncertainty.
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References
- Polymarket Documentation·Manage Positions, 2026-10-28
- Polymarket Documentation·Positions & Tokens, 2026-10-28
