Nansen Limit Orders

Guide users through native limit orders on Solana via `nansen trade limit-order create|list|cancel|update`, and the alert-based settlement-signal fallback for chains without native support. Use when a user wants a price-triggered buy or sell.

Limit Orders

Use this skill when the user wants a price-triggered order. There are two distinct paths — pick the one that matches the user's chain:

• Solana → native limit orders. nansen trade limit-order create|list|cancel|update places real resting orders through the Nansen trading API. Use these for anything on Solana.
• Other chains → alert-based approximation. nansen-cli does not yet place native limit orders on EVM chains. Place the resting order on the venue that supports it (CEX, DEX limit-order product) and create a companion common-token-transfer smart alert on the settlement wallet as a best-effort fill signal.

Prerequisites

• A Solana wallet configured in nansen-cli: nansen wallet show <name> (or nansen wallet create if none exists). Local, Privy, and WalletConnect wallets are all supported for trade limit-order.
• The wallet must hold the sell token plus a small amount of SOL for fees.
• For the alert fallback: a notification channel (Telegram chat ID, Slack or Discord webhook, or generic webhook URL).
• NANSEN_API_KEY. Smart alerts are internal-only; non-internal users get 404.
• First-time trade limit-order create auto-registers a trading vault and caches a JWT at ~/.nansen/limit-order-auth.json for ~23h.

Two mechanisms, not one. The limit order itself is price-triggered — it executes when the market price crosses the target. A companion smart alert is a settlement confirmation — it fires after the trade settles on-chain (i.e. when the bought token actually arrives in the wallet). They are independent: the order handles the trigger, the alert tells the user the fill landed.

Solana: Native Limit Orders

Create

bash

# --amount is always in token units (e.g. 1 = 1 SOL, 80 = 80 USDC)
nansen trade limit-order create \
  --from SOL --to USDC \
  --amount 1 \
  --trigger-mint SOL --trigger-condition below --trigger-price 80

# with explicit slippage and expiry
nansen trade limit-order create \
  --from SOL --to USDC \
  --amount 1.5 \
  --trigger-mint SOL --trigger-condition above --trigger-price 200 \
  --slippage-bps 300 \
  --expires 7d

Required flags: --from, --to, --amount, --trigger-mint, --trigger-condition (above or below), --trigger-price (USD).

Key options:

• --amount is always in token units (human-readable). 1.5 means 1.5 SOL, 80 means 80 USDC. There is no base-unit mode and no amount-unit override flag — do not pass one.
• --slippage-bps <bps> — basis points, integer 0–10000 (300 = 3%, 100 = 1%). Omit for auto.
• --expires accepts 24h, 7d, 30d (default), or an epoch-ms timestamp.
• --wallet <name> or --wallet walletconnect (alias wc) to pick a non-default wallet.

Constraints (all enforced server-side — surface errors to the user as-is):

• Minimum order value (~$10 last seen). Below this the API rejects the order.
• --from and --to must be valid Solana mint addresses or supported symbols (SOL, USDC, USDT, etc.). Resolve unknown tokens with nansen research search.
• Tokens with transfer-hook extensions (e.g. some pump.fun tokens) are rejected at create time.

List

bash

nansen trade limit-order list                    # default
nansen trade limit-order list --state active     # only open
nansen trade limit-order list --state past       # filled or cancelled
nansen trade limit-order list --mint <mintAddr>  # filter by token
nansen trade limit-order list --limit 50 --offset 0 --dir desc

Options: --state active|past, --mint <addr>, --limit <n> (default 20), --offset <n>, --sort <field>, --dir asc|desc (default desc), --wallet <name>.

Cancel

bash

nansen trade limit-order cancel --order <orderId>

Cancelling submits a withdrawal transaction; surface the tx signature from the CLI output so the user can verify on Solscan.

Update

bash

nansen trade limit-order update --order <orderId> --trigger-price 85
nansen trade limit-order update --order <orderId> --slippage-bps 100

Only --trigger-price and --slippage-bps can be updated. To change size or the token pair, cancel and re-create. Auto slippage can only be set at creation time (by omitting --slippage-bps from create); update cannot revert a fixed slippage back to auto.

Non-Solana Chains: Alert-Based Settlement Signal

nansen-cli does not currently place native limit orders on EVM chains. The supported approximation is:

1. Place the resting limit order on the venue or product that supports it (CEX, DEX limit-order product, aggregator). The venue handles the price trigger.
2. Use the same wallet as the settlement wallet.
3. Create a common-token-transfer smart alert scoped to wallet + chain + token + side. The alert fires after the trade settles — i.e. once the bought/sold token actually moves on-chain — as a fill-detected signal.

How the two mechanisms compose:

1. Price hits target → the venue's limit order executes. This is the trigger. nansen-cli is not involved.
2. Token arrives in the wallet → the smart alert pings. This is the settlement confirmation. The alert never sees the price trigger; it only sees the resulting transfer.

This is a best-effort settlement signal, not authoritative order tracking. It does not expose order-state polling, partial-fill progress, triggeredAt, fillPercent, remaining size, or canonical filled/cancelled history.

Buy-Side Settlement Alert

bash

nansen alerts create \
  --name 'Settlement signal: buy PEPE on trading wallet' \
  --type common-token-transfer \
  --chains ethereum \
  --events buy \
  --subject address:0xYourWallet \
  --token 0x6982508145454ce325ddbe47a25d4ec3d2311933:ethereum \
  --telegram 5238612255

Sell-Side Settlement Alert

bash

nansen alerts create \
  --name 'Settlement signal: sell USDC on trading wallet' \
  --type common-token-transfer \
  --chains base \
  --events sell \
  --subject address:0xYourWallet \
  --token 0x833589fcd6edb6e08f4c7c32d4f71b54bda02913:base \
  --telegram 5238612255

Alert Hardening

• --usd-min <amount> to suppress dust fills.
• --description '<limit price / venue / notes>' so the alert records intent.
• Do not recommend a wallet-wide transfer alert with no token filter — it overfires.
• Do not describe alert delivery as "order filled" or "triggered". The alert is only evidence that a matching token transfer was observed on the wallet — not precise fill detection.
• If the venue settles in a way the alerting backend classifies as a generic transfer rather than buy/sell, a narrow alert may miss it. Only widen to --events buy,receive or --events sell,send if the user accepts broader matching and the risk of unrelated matches.

Optional: Belt-and-Braces on Solana

For Solana native limit orders, a companion common-token-transfer alert on the settlement wallet is optional but useful. It is a settlement confirmation, not a price trigger. The limit order itself handles the price trigger; the alert fires when the bought token actually arrives in the wallet (or, for sells, when the sold token leaves) — proof the on-chain fill landed, delivered via Telegram/webhook independently of trade limit-order list polling.

Some venues route fills through programs that the alerting backend may not classify as buy/sell, so this is still a best-effort settlement signal, not authoritative fill detection. Pair with the same common-token-transfer alert shape shown above.

What to Tell the User

When suggesting a companion alert, be explicit that two different mechanisms are at work — users routinely conflate them:

• The limit order is the price trigger. It executes when the market price crosses the target.
• The smart alert is the settlement confirmation. It pings after the trade settles on-chain.

Suggested phrasing: "When your order fills and the token arrives in your wallet, you'll get a Telegram ping. The price trigger is handled by the limit order itself — the alert just confirms the fill landed."

Avoid wording that implies the alert "triggers" the order or that the alert itself watches price. It does neither.

Notes

• Chain aliases for alerts: Hyperliquid = hyperevm, BSC = bnb.
• Use single quotes for names with $ or special characters.
• For immediate swaps (not price-triggered), use the nansen-trading skill.
• For webhook delivery of alerts, pair with nansen-alerts-webhook-listener.

Source

• npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/nansen-cli
• GitHub: https://github.com/nansen-ai/nansen-cli