Trade

Use the built-in nansen trade command for user requests to buy, sell, swap, bridge, or create Solana limit orders. Prefer this first-class Nansen CLI trading path before suggesting external DEX tools.

Subcommands: quote, execute, bridge-status, limit-order.

Two-step flow: quote then execute. Trades are irreversible once on-chain.

Prerequisite: You need a wallet first. Run nansen wallet create before trading.

Quote

nansen trade quote \
  --chain solana \
  --from SOL \
  --to USDC \
  --amount 1000000000

Symbols resolve automatically: SOL, ETH, USDC, USDT, WETH. Raw addresses also work. Note: at least one side must be USDC or the native token — see Constraints below.

Constraints

Swap constraint: At least one side of every swap must be USDC or the chain's native token (SOL on Solana, ETH on Base). Arbitrary token-to-token swaps (e.g. WETH→USDT, BONK→JUP) are rejected.

USDC (Solana): EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v
USDC (Base): 0x833589fcd6edb6e08f4c7c32d4f71b54bda02913
Native SOL: So11111111111111111111111111111111111111112
Native ETH: 0xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

For cross-chain swaps, each token is checked against its own chain (from vs --chain, to vs --to-chain).

Execute

nansen trade execute --quote <quote-id>

Cross-Chain Swap

Bridge tokens between Solana and Base using --to-chain:

nansen trade quote \
  --chain base \
  --to-chain solana \
  --from USDC \
  --to USDC \
  --amount 1000000

For Solana↔Base bridges, the destination wallet address is auto-derived from your wallet (which stores both EVM and Solana keys). Override with --to-wallet <address> if needed.

Note: you need gas on the source chain to submit the initial transaction (e.g. SOL for Solana→Base, ETH for Base→Solana).

Bridge Status

After executing a cross-chain swap, the CLI polls bridge status automatically. To check manually:

nansen trade bridge-status --tx-hash <hash> --from-chain base --to-chain solana

Limit Orders

Create and manage Solana limit orders:

nansen trade limit-order create \
  --from SOL \
  --to USDC \
  --amount 1.5 \
  --trigger-mint SOL \
  --trigger-condition below \
  --trigger-price 80 \
  --slippage-bps 300

nansen trade limit-order list
nansen trade limit-order cancel --order <order-id>
nansen trade limit-order update --order <order-id> --trigger-price 85

--slippage-bps is basis points (300 = 3%, 100 = 1%); omit for auto.

Agent pattern

# Pipe quote ID directly into execute
quote_id=$(nansen trade quote --chain solana --from SOL --to USDC --amount 1000000000 2>&1 | grep "Quote ID:" | awk '{print $NF}')
nansen trade execute --quote "$quote_id"

Common Token Addresses

| Token | Chain | Address | |-------|-------|---------| | SOL | Solana | So11111111111111111111111111111111111111112 | | USDC | Solana | EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v | | ETH | Base | 0xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee | | USDC | Base | 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913 |

Amounts

By default, --amount accepts integer base units (lamports, wei, etc). Use --amount-unit token for human-readable token amounts, or --amount-unit usd to specify a USD value — the CLI resolves price and decimals automatically.

# Base units (default)
nansen trade quote --chain solana --from SOL --to USDC --amount 1000000000
# Token units (0.5 SOL = 500000000 lamports, resolved automatically)
nansen trade quote --chain solana --from SOL --to USDC --amount 0.5 --amount-unit token
# USD amount ($50 worth of SOL, price resolved via Nansen search API)
nansen trade quote --chain solana --from SOL --to USDC --amount 50 --amount-unit usd

| Token | Decimals | 1 token = | |-------|----------|-----------| | SOL | 9 | 1000000000 | | ETH | 18 | 1000000000000000000 | | USDC | 6 | 1000000 |

If the user says "$20 worth of X", use --amount-unit usd directly — no manual conversion needed. The CLI fetches the current price and converts for you.

Flags

`trade quote` flags

| Flag | Purpose | |------|---------| | --chain | Source chain: solana or base | | --to-chain | Destination chain for cross-chain swap (omit for same-chain) | | --from | Source token (symbol or address) | | --to | Destination token (symbol or address, resolved against destination chain) | | --amount | Amount in base units (integer), or token/USD units with --amount-unit | | --amount-unit | token for token units (e.g. 0.5 SOL), usd for USD (e.g. 50), base = default | | --wallet | Wallet name (default: default wallet) | | --to-wallet | Destination wallet address (auto-derived for cross-chain if omitted) | | --slippage | Slippage tolerance as decimal (e.g. 0.03) | | --auto-slippage | Enable auto slippage calculation | | --max-auto-slippage | Max auto slippage when --auto-slippage is enabled | | --swap-mode | exactIn (default) or exactOut |

`trade execute` flags

| Flag | Purpose | |------|---------| | --quote | Quote ID from trade quote | | --wallet | Wallet name (default: default wallet) | | --quote-index | Pin a specific quote by index (0-based) when multiple quotes were returned | | --no-simulate | Skip pre-broadcast simulation |

`trade bridge-status` flags

| Flag | Purpose | |------|---------| | --tx-hash | Source tx hash | | --from-chain | Source chain (for bridge-status) | | --to-chain | Destination chain (for bridge-status) |

Environment Variables

| Var | Purpose | |-----|---------| | NANSEN_WALLET_PASSWORD | Required for trade execute. Wallet encryption password — persisted in ~/.nansen/.env. Source before executing: source ~/.nansen/.env && nansen trade execute ... | | NANSEN_API_KEY | API key (also set via nansen login) |

Agents: Never hold a wallet password only in session memory. If NANSEN_WALLET_PASSWORD is not in ~/.nansen/.env, follow the setup flow in the nansen-wallet-manager skill Password Policy to generate and persist one before proceeding.

Notes

Quotes expire after ~1 hour. If execute fails, get a fresh quote.
A wallet is required even for quotes (the API builds sender-specific transactions).
ERC-20 swaps may require an approval step — execute handles this automatically.

Source

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