# Close-only

Also written close-only mode, position closing only, PCO restriction.

*https://predictionmarkets.tools/glossary/close-only · next to Prediction Market Venues*

**Definition:** An account or jurisdiction status under which you may reduce or exit positions you already hold but may not open new ones. It is a restriction, not a block: the money is not frozen, but getting it out before resolution needs somebody willing to take the other side. Venues apply it to a country, a state, a detected VPN, an unanswered identity request or an open margin call.

A venue's list of countries usually has more than one column, and the second column is easy to
read as a softer version of the first. It is a different thing. A blocked reader cannot start; a
close-only reader has already started, holds positions, and has lost the ability to do anything
with them except leave.

## How it works

**The same status, under several names.** Robinhood's help centre calls it a *position closing
only* (PCO) restriction and defines it in one line: you "can close existing event contract
positions but can't open new ones". The [Polymarket](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/polymarket) card records a
close-only list of four countries — Singapore, Poland, Thailand and Taiwan — beside a longer
fully-blocked list, and Polymarket's own help centre uses the same four. Some venues use "close-only mode" as the consequence of breaking a
rule rather than as a place: the Polymarket and [Synthesis](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/synthesis) cards both record a
detected VPN putting a wallet into it.

**It attaches to a reason, and the reasons are not all about geography.** Robinhood lists three
common ones for a PCO restriction: an open margin call, an account under review "for an
eligibility or compliance reason", and an eligibility change such as a change of state. The same
company also restricts a whole state for one category of contract — "Nevada residents can't open new
sports event contracts (as of December 1, 2025)" — which the [Robinhood Prediction Markets](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/robinhood-prediction-markets) card
reads as close-only for one product line rather than for the account. On Polymarket the catalogue's guides record a self-certification notice giving
14 days to answer before the account "will be put into close only mode".

**It is not hold-to-resolution.** Polymarket's help-centre restrictions page, dated 14 August 2026,
separates the two, and Germany is the case the [Polymarket](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/polymarket) card uses to show
it: "Trading is prohibited. Existing positions must be held until market resolution to redeem
shares, after which funds can be withdrawn without restrictions." Close-only lets
you sell; hold-to-resolution does not. The first returns your money when you find a buyer. The
second returns it at settlement, however far away that is.

### Closing still needs a buyer

Close-only permits a closing order. It does not supply one. Robinhood's own restrictions page puts
this as a separate reason a trade can fail — "No counterparty available: Closing orders require a
buyer on the other side" — and on an order book that is literal: your exit price is the best
resting bid, not the last price and not the midpoint. On a thin market the bid can be several
cents below where the screen says the market is, or absent. Nothing in either venue's definition
forces a sale, so the other exit is to hold to settlement and be paid by the contract, if you are
right.

This matters more under close-only than in ordinary trading, for a structural reason. When a whole
country or state is moved to close-only at once, every holder there who wants out can only sell,
and nobody there can buy. Whatever exits there are all arrive on the same side of the book.

## Why it matters here

**It arrives after you are funded.** A block stops a reader at signup. Close-only usually reaches
somebody who already passed signup, deposited and took positions — because they moved, because a
VPN was detected, because a document request went unanswered, or because a venue changed its list.
Its cost is not a fee but capital committed to positions you can no longer add to, rebalance or
hedge on the same venue. The mechanics of getting money out once it happens are in
[how money gets out](https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/how-money-gets-out).

**A two-legged position becomes a one-legged one.** Anything that depends on opening a new leg —
rolling to the next expiry, re-entering after taking profit, adding the hedge on the other outcome
— stops the day the status applies. The
[Polymarket alternatives page](https://predictionmarkets.tools/alternatives/polymarket-alternatives) makes the point for the
close-only four: they can close but not re-enter, and a structure that needs both legs to stay
open cannot be maintained. Moving to another venue does not rescue it either, because a contract
on one venue is not a contract on another.

**The list moves, and the card cannot carry it.** Which countries or states are close-only is set
by the venue and changed by it, sometimes in response to regulatory action. The card's
availability block records the status as read on a date; the reasons a venue ends up with a list
at all are in [why a venue is unavailable where you are](https://predictionmarkets.tools/guides/why-a-venue-is-unavailable-where-you-are).
Before funding, look for your location in every column of the venue's restrictions, not only the
blocked one.

**It says nothing about the exit price.** A reader told "you can still close" hears "you can still
get your money". Only the first is promised. On a market with a thin book the gap between the two
is the bid, and the [central limit order book](https://predictionmarkets.tools/glossary/central-limit-order-book) page shows what
that looks like when nobody is bidding.

**It is not a verdict on your conduct.** Close-only is an access status, applied for reasons that
range from an unanswered form to a state regulator's action. It does not by itself mean an account
did anything wrong, and on Robinhood's list it can follow from something as ordinary as a change of
address.

## Where you will meet this

- [Polymarket](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/polymarket.md)
- [Robinhood Prediction Markets](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/robinhood-prediction-markets.md)
- [Synthesis](https://predictionmarkets.tools/tools/synthesis.md)

## Sources

1. [Event contract restrictions](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/event-contracts-restrictions/) — Robinhood, read 2026-09-27
2. [Event contracts](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/robinhood-event-contracts/) — Robinhood, read 2026-09-27
3. [Geographic Restrictions (Internet Archive capture of 23 September 2026)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260923010737/https://help.polymarket.com/en/articles/13364163-geographic-restrictions) — Polymarket, 2026-08-14

*Last updated 2026-09-27. A reference page, corrected in place — not a dated post.*