Continuous Monitoring
Continuous monitoring involves tracking the price of an underlying asset in real-time to detect if it hits a barrier or triggers a specific condition for a derivative contract. This is common in high-frequency trading and sophisticated DeFi protocols where immediate execution is required upon hitting a threshold.
Because the price is monitored every moment, the risk of a knock-out or knock-in event is much higher compared to discrete monitoring. This requires robust and highly reliable price oracles to ensure the data remains accurate and resistant to manipulation.
Continuous monitoring provides the most precise adherence to the contract terms but demands significant technical infrastructure and carries a higher risk of triggering events due to minor, temporary price fluctuations. It is the gold standard for accuracy in derivative pricing.