Quickstart

This guide takes you from zero to a live order on mainnet. It should take about ten minutes. If you only want to read data, skip to step 4.

Step 1 — Create an account

Nexwest supports two account paths:

1. Wallet login. Connect an EVM wallet such as Rabby, MetaMask, or Coinbase Wallet. The wallet owns the account and signs every action.
2. Email login. Create a non-custodial embedded wallet with an email code. You can export the wallet at any time.

Both paths produce the same onchain account. The difference is only how signatures are produced.

Step 2 — Deposit collateral

Nexwest uses USDC as the settlement asset for perpetuals. Deposits can arrive from:

• Arbitrum USDC (fastest route),
• Ethereum, Base, or Polygon USDC,
• a supported spot asset that can be swapped into USDC.

From the app, open Deposit, choose the source chain, and send the displayed amount to the deposit address. The balance appears in your Perps account after the source transaction is finalized.

Step 3 — Place your first order

Open a market from the trade screen, choose Long or Short, and set the order size. For a first trade, a limit order is usually safer than a market order because you control the worst price you will accept.

1. Select BTC-PERP.
2. Choose Limit.
3. Enter a price below the current ask for a long, or above the current bid for a short.
4. Enter the size in BTC or in USDC.
5. Choose GTC (good til canceled) and submit.

The order rests in the book until it is filled or canceled. You can watch the order in Open Orders and the resulting position in Positions.

Step 4 — Read the book from the API

Public market data does not require authentication. The following request returns a level-2 snapshot for BTC-PERP:

curl -s https://api.nexwest.app/info \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type":"l2Book","coin":"BTC-PERP"}'

import requests
 
response = requests.post(
    "https://api.nexwest.app/info",
    json={"type": "l2Book", "coin": "BTC-PERP"},
    timeout=5,
)
book = response.json()
print(book["levels"][0][0])

const response = await fetch("https://api.nexwest.app/info", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ type: "l2Book", coin: "BTC-PERP" }),
});
 
const book = await response.json();
console.log(book.levels[0][0]);

The response contains two arrays: bids first, then asks. Each level is [price, size, orderCount].

Next steps

• Order types
• Fees
• WebSocket subscriptions
• Deposits and withdrawals