Whalesmarket CLI: Market Data vs On-Chain Trades

Public market queries

Public market queries retrieve API records without requiring the signing wallet that an on-chain trading command needs. The application programming interface, or API, supplies the market information that the terminal displays. The whales tokens list command retrieves pre-market listings, while whales book retrieves offers for a selected symbol. These operations support market inspection without creating an offer or committing trading funds.

Token discovery includes status and network filters, along with sorting by price, volume, or creation date. An explicit status filter helps separate active listings from those marked settling or ended. The token-list command uses --chain for its network filter; the book command uses --chain-id.

The book limits the displayed buy and sell offers to the requested depth. Version 0.3.1 retrieves one API page of up to 200 open offers, so its best quotes may not cover the entire market. Its response describes the retrieved market state, without reserving the displayed quantity for whoever reads it. The whale-market-cli package installs the whales executable.

Offer quantities and filled positions

An offer advertises terms; a filled order records a counterparty agreement. Original, filled, and remaining quantities describe different portions of an offer. A partial fill leaves a remainder that other counterparties may take when the offer permits partial matching. Full matching requires a counterparty to fill the whole offer in one transaction. The whales orders get command retrieves an order’s buyer, seller, amount, and status. The whales orders my command queries activity for the wallet address on the selected chain. These records describe participation in trading agreements, alongside the offers that market discovery displays.

Settlement concerns later token delivery. Reselling a position concerns an existing buyer’s position. Neither operation follows automatically from reading a book or publishing an unfilled offer.

What does creating an offer commit?

Creating a pre-market offer commits funds to custom trading terms, with the signing wallet determining the creator. The whales trade create-offer command supports buy and sell offers. Its required inputs identify the allocation, side, price, and quantity. For CLI version 0.3.1, the command reference documents a $10 minimum in USD-valued collateral for creating an offer.

A buy offer commits a deposit toward purchasing the selected allocation. A sell offer commits collateral against the seller’s delivery obligation. Publishing either side establishes terms that a counterparty can accept; it does not establish that a counterparty has already filled the offer.

Filling an existing offer uses terms that someone else selected. A new offer lets its creator choose the price and quantity, while an available offer lets a counterparty assess those terms before accepting them.

The creator can close an offer before it is completely filled and reclaim the unfilled deposit or collateral, less the closing fee. The platform documents a 0.5% fee on that claimable amount. Closing stops further matching. It does not release funds allocated to already filled orders, so the original listed quantity alone cannot establish how much remains recoverable.

Identifiers across supported chains

The CLI accepts different identifier forms because an API listing and a blockchain object need different references. A token UUID lets offer creation resolve the chain and on-chain token identifier through the API. Numeric token identifiers and EVM bytes32 hexadecimal identifiers require the appropriate --chain-id. A UUID therefore adds a lookup dependency while reducing manual identifier selection.

The tool supports EVM chains, Solana, Sui, and Aptos, with chain-specific inputs for transaction construction. Sui and Aptos use the --token-config option for token configuration objects. On Sui, --coin-type selects the exchange coin type and overrides --ex-token. These options describe different underlying objects; a displayed symbol alone does not supply every transaction parameter.

Token detail records can expose the listing ID, chain ID, and on-chain token ID together. Keep those references distinct from the exchange asset that supplies payment or collateral.

Exchange-token units and displayed prices

The offer-creation command takes its price in exchange-token units per allocation token. Its --amount input specifies allocation quantity, while --ex-token identifies the exchange asset. The order-book implementation prefers a USD-denominated price field when the API supplies one. Copying a displayed dollar price directly into a transaction using another unit can therefore change the economic terms. Omitting --ex-token uses the chain’s documented native-asset default unless a Sui coin-type override is supplied. Selecting a different accepted asset requires its appropriate identifier and compatible chain context. A symbol on its own does not establish that compatibility.

Local signing and stored wallet secrets

The mnemonic-based wallet configuration gives trading commands local signing access, which changes the information that the installation holds. The CLI stores wallet mnemonic phrases in its local configuration. A mnemonic is secret recovery material for the wallet, so the configuration requires protection beyond that of an ordinary market-data export.

Wallet creation and import establish the saved wallet entries. Selecting an active wallet determines the default entry that wallet-dependent commands use. The signing address and selected chain together identify the relevant trading account.

Local storage does not by itself establish encryption. Keep mnemonic-bearing files out of shared repositories, diagnostic attachments, and market-data archives. A backup that includes saved wallet entries also includes recovery material.

Configuration can retain a session token alongside wallet entries and endpoint preferences. For connection diagnostics, disclose only the relevant nonsecret setting.

A hypothetical snapshot and published offer

A market lookup leaves the reader with data; a confirmed buy offer leaves its creator with committed funds. For this hypothetical comparison, assume an available listing, valid offer parameters, and a newly confirmed buy offer with no fills. An order-book query retrieves other participants’ quotes and available quantities. Those records describe the market, without assigning an allocation to the reader.

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The same reader uses a configured wallet to publish the assumed buy offer. Successful on-chain creation commits the deposit against its price and quantity. The creator now has an open offer, while no filled order exists for that offer. This interpretation holds while the offer remains unfilled. A counterparty’s fill creates an order against that offer; later delivery concerns settlement. The remaining choice is whether to keep funds committed to the custom terms.

Does JSON output make a trading command read-only?

JSON output changes how a command presents its result; it does not remove the command’s trading action. For market queries, --format json supplies structured data that scripts can process. For offer creation, the same formatting choice accompanies an operation that uses a wallet and sends a transaction.

The --yes flag skips confirmation prompts, which matters when a script invokes trading commands unattended. Skipping a prompt does not remove the wallet requirement or change the offer parameters. For unattended trading, confirm the selected wallet, network, and offer parameters before invoking the command. A returned error object can also be valid JSON, so successful parsing alone does not establish a successful trade.

API access and transaction connectivity

Market queries depend on the platform API, while on-chain trading also needs connectivity to the selected blockchain. The CLI allows API configuration and custom per-chain RPC settings. Remote procedure call, or RPC, access supplies blockchain communication. The whales status command checks API connectivity and displays wallet and configuration information. A successful market lookup therefore does not establish working transaction connectivity. Choose the data query or signed trading action that the task requires before changing endpoint or wallet settings.