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A Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) is the mechanism that matches buyers and sellers in a market. Instead of negotiating directly, traders place limit orders into the book: instructions to buy or sell a specific quantity of an asset at a given price. The order book keeps these orders organized using price-time priority: the best prices are shown first, and when multiple orders exist at the same price, the earliest order takes precedence. In practice, this creates two sides of the market: bids (buy orders) and asks (sell orders). The highest bid is called the best bid, and the lowest ask is the best ask. When these overlap, trades are executed automatically, ensuring fair and efficient price discovery. Market orders, which are trades without a specified price like a limit order, are filled against the best available orders on the book. On Kuru, this entire process happens fully on-chain. That means all orders, updates, and trades are transparent, verifiable, and permissionless—anyone can participate, and the market cannot be altered or manipulated off-chain. Unlike AMMs, which pool liquidity and use formulas to set prices, a CLOB reflects the live intent of market participants, creating a trading experience closer to traditional exchanges but with the guarantees of blockchain. For a beginner-friendly walkthrough with an apples and markets analogy, see our WTF is a CLOB blog.