Quickstart

This guide takes you from nothing to a filled order and back out of the position. You need an email address and at least 5 USDC on Arbitrum.

Orders trade real money on Hyperliquid mainnet. The amounts in this guide are small on purpose.

Go to tradingapi.dev/login and sign in with your email. The first time you sign in, we create your account and a deposit address for it.

Deposit USDC

Your account page shows a deposit address. Send native USDC on Arbitrum to it: at least 5 USDC, and at least $30 if you want room to follow every step here.We move USDC from that address to your trading balance automatically, usually within a few minutes. Transfers under 5 USDC wait until the address holds at least 5.

Send only native USDC, and only on Arbitrum. Other tokens and other networks are not credited.

Activate trading

On the account page, choose Activate trading. This lets the Trading API place orders for your account. It does not let anything withdraw your money. Activation lasts until the date the page shows; renew it there before it ends.

Create an API key

On the account page, create a key and set its limits:

Markets: the markets this key may trade, for example BTC and ETH.
Max order: the largest single order, in USD.
Max per 24 hours: how much the key may place in any 24 hours, in USD.

The key is shown once. Store it somewhere safe, then put it in your shell:

export TRADINGAPI_KEY="tapi_..."

Check the key

Ask the API what this key may do:

curl https://tradingapi.dev/v1/api_key \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRADINGAPI_KEY"

{
  "object": "api_key",
  "name": "quickstart",
  "limits": { "markets": ["BTC", "ETH"], "max_order_value": "25.00", "max_daily_value": "100.00" },
  "usage": { "daily_value_used": "0.00", "daily_value_remaining": "100.00", "next_release": null }
}

Look at the market

curl https://tradingapi.dev/v1/markets/BTC \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRADINGAPI_KEY"

Note min_value and max_value: every order must be worth between them.

Preview the order

A preview runs the order without placing it, and shows what would happen:

curl https://tradingapi.dev/v1/orders/preview \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRADINGAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"market": "BTC", "side": "buy", "type": "market", "value": "15.00"}'

Check that valid is true. If it is false, errors says what to change.

Place the order

Pick a client_order_id that is new for every order. It makes retries safe: if you send the same request twice, you still get one order.

curl https://tradingapi.dev/v1/orders \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRADINGAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "client_order_id": "quickstart-1",
    "market": "BTC",
    "side": "buy",
    "type": "market",
    "value": "15.00"
  }'

import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://tradingapi.dev/v1/orders",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['TRADINGAPI_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "client_order_id": "quickstart-1",
        "market": "BTC",
        "side": "buy",
        "type": "market",
        "value": "15.00",
    },
    timeout=30,
)
order = response.json()
print(order["status"], order["summary"])

const response = await fetch("https://tradingapi.dev/v1/orders", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.TRADINGAPI_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    client_order_id: "quickstart-1",
    market: "BTC",
    side: "buy",
    type: "market",
    value: "15.00",
  }),
});
const order = await response.json();
console.log(order.status, order.summary);

The response usually arrives with the order already filled. Read summary for what happened in plain English.

See your position

curl https://tradingapi.dev/v1/positions/BTC \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRADINGAPI_KEY"

Close it

curl https://tradingapi.dev/v1/positions/BTC/close \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRADINGAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"client_order_id": "quickstart-close-1"}'

With no value or percent, this closes the whole position. The response is the closing order.

You have placed an order, read a position and closed it.

Next steps

How orders work

Why the order came to slightly less than you asked for, and what each status means.

Retry safely

What to do when a request times out.

Get started

Concepts

Guides

Next steps

How orders work

Retry safely

​Next steps

How orders work

Retry safely

Next steps