Getting started with Market Making

This is a step-by-step guide to connect your exchange, set up your first session, and see it run. It takes about 10 minutes to set up, then your session runs on its own.

Before you start: You will need funded capital on your chosen venue. Start small while you learn how the tool behaves. Read the confidence label seriously — it tells you when the estimate should not be trusted.

1. Connect your exchange (one time)

The first time you use Market Making, you authorize it to trade on your behalf. This takes about 5 minutes and you only do it once. Here’s what happens:

1. Sign in. Connect your wallet through the app (via Privy).
2. Create API access. The app walks you through creating an API key with trading permission. You control what it can do.
3. Pick which account. Use your main account or create a dedicated subaccount for trading.
4. Adjust settings (optional). Change margin or leverage settings if you want.
5. Fund it (if needed). If your account is not funded yet, move capital in now.
6. Approve the fee permission. Authorize ClinkAI to collect the platform fee for builder code usage.
7. Done. Your connection is saved and ready.

You keep custody the whole time. ClinkAI never holds your funds. See Non-custodial delegated wallet for details.

2. Set up a session

Once connected, creating a session is straightforward. Here is what you choose:

• Asset. What to make markets on (for example, ETH or XYZ100). Pick from supported assets on your venue.
• Strategy. GRID (Passive) is live now and the default. It places limit orders on both sides of the book and earns the spread. RGRID (Momentum) is coming soon.
• When to stop. Either a time limit (hours, days, weeks) or a spend limit (max total loss in dollars). Pick whichever makes sense for your session.
• Margin. How much capital to put to work. Minimum is $50. Quick buttons let you choose 15%, 25%, 50%, or all of your balance.
• Leverage. From 1x to 20x. More leverage means you can trade bigger size on the same margin, but also more risk. The slider goes to 20 because it exists on the venue; it is not a suggestion to use it.

3. Read the estimate before you commit

As you adjust the settings above, an estimate updates showing:

• Expected volume — how much you would likely trade.
• Expected PnL — projected profit or loss, and PnL per $1M traded (so you can compare across different leverage levels).
• Duration — roughly how long the session would run.
• Confidence — a label: insufficient data, low, medium, or high.

The confidence label is your signal. When it says insufficient data or low, there is not enough history to trust the PnL number. Do not ignore it. Respect the warning and size smaller, or try different settings. Then hit Start, review one more time, and the session goes live.

4. While it runs

Once started, you see a live dashboard with:

• Session status — running, paused, or ended.
• Uptime — how long the session has been active.
• Net PnL — profit or loss after all fees (the number you actually care about).
• Volume — total traded so far, with a sparkline showing the trend.
• Current equity — what your position is worth right now.
• Trade table — every single fill, with entry and exit prices, gross PnL, fees, and net PnL.

You can stop the session yourself at any time. No waiting, no delays.

5. How it ends

When a session ends (whether you stopped it, or time/spend limits were hit), it goes into your session history with full details:

• The end state: STOPPED (you stopped it), TIME_LIMIT (hit your time limit), SPEND_LIMIT (exhausted your budget), TAKE_PROFIT (hit a profit target), STOP_LOSS (hit a loss limit), RATE_LIMITED (exchange throttled it), INTERRUPTED (unexpected end), or ERROR.
• Total stats: volume, PnL gross and net, duration, all fees.
• Full trade list: every fill, entry/exit, fees.

You can review past sessions anytime. See Market Making for what each end state means.

A few things to keep in mind

• This is real money on a live venue. Start small. Cap every session until you trust how it behaves.
• Leverage cuts both ways. 20x is available. It is not a suggestion.
• Estimates are projections, not promises. Respect the confidence label.
• None of this is financial advice. You decide what to run and how much to risk.

Need help?

Reach the team through the project’s official support channels.