Prior to the COVID hiatus in 2020 the event was being held in three clusters, totaling seven three day meets across seven different locations with prize money reaching US$2.5 million.

For each meet the top 20 male and female athletes shared US$224,000 prize money ($112,000 per gender).

At the end of the meet series an additional US$262,000 per gender was awarded to the top eight men and women athletes based on their overall ranking using a point score incorporating placings and performance.

A noted exception to this style are the meets held in Brazil, where prelims have been in the evening with finals the following morning.

Current 2023 series events (to be swum in 50m pools): An 'open' category was created in 2023 after World Aquatics announced that trans women were banned from competing in the women's category if they had "experienced any part of male puberty beyond tanner stage two, or before [the] age [of] 12, whichever is later".