POLUSD is the market symbol for POL, the native token of the Polygon network, priced in US dollars. The quote shows how many US dollars buy one POL, and Polygon is a network designed to make transactions on Ethereum faster and cheaper.
As with other crypto CFDs, you trade POLUSD by taking a position on the price rather than buying and storing the token yourself. Going long backs a rise in POL, while going short backs a fall. The pair prices in US dollars, trades through the day and night, and can be highly volatile given the size of the token relative to larger coins.
POL is the upgraded token that replaced Polygon's earlier MATIC token, so the most common confusion is between the two tickers: POL is the current native token and MATIC the predecessor. Price drivers include adoption of Polygon for scaling Ethereum, network and protocol developments, broader crypto sentiment, and the price of Bitcoin.
Say POLUSD is trading at 0.50 and you expect it to rise, so you go long 10,000 POL. The price moves up to 0.60, a gain of 0.10 per token, so your profit is:
0.10 √ó 10,000 = USD 1,000
Had POLUSD slipped to 0.40 instead, the same 0.10 move per token against you would have cost USD 1,000.