As a financial innovation platform, UMA enables any two users to create their own financial contract without intermediaries. Unlike traditional methods, UMA ensures the security of financial contracts between the parties through the funds raised by the parties at the risk of losing. This situation allows everyone to access the system universally, as they promise when they say "Universal Market Access". In other words, the platform is accessible to all users who take their own risk, without the need for a central financial institution.
The system works so that both parties can make predictions on market prices and take positions, and the parties lose their risked funds when the rules they set come true against their predictions. Each UMA contract includes an oracle that will provide the parties' public addresses, collateral amounts, functions to maintain margin balance and off-chain data. Thanks to these components, it is ensured that the rules agreed between the parties in the contract are followed without intermediaries.