“complexity belongs in the mechanism, not in what the trader touches”
A thread by Igor (@justigor) arguing that the primitive can be complex while the trading surface stays simple: complexity belongs in the mechanism, and the thing the trader actually touches should let them express a view for a price they like. Walks through a World Cup campaign built on fantasy points as the underlying, where one market supported four different interaction types — dynamic over/unders, range tickets, precision payoffs, and head-to-head duels like Messi vs Kane — and where third parties (Polysights, Trepa) built their own surfaces on the same core. Extends the logic to crypto, where range views on ETH are options-adjacent beliefs with the cognitive tax removed, and to new underlyings like GPU-hour rates, arguing that anything that resolves to a number can trade. Lesson: don't simplify the thing being traded — simplify how people express what they think about it.
Some technical background helpful
Platforms mentioned: Polysights, Trepa, Ito Markets