Lighter quickstart

Make your first Lighter request: create a key, call the Lighter order book under /v1/lighter/*, and confirm the response shape.

Create a key

Open the dashboard and create an API key.

Set it in your shell

export OXARCHIVE_API_KEY="0xa_your_api_key"

Call the Lighter order book

curl "https://api.0xarchive.io/v1/lighter/orderbook/BTC?depth=1" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $OXARCHIVE_API_KEY"

Confirm the result

Continue when the request returns HTTP 200, success: true, an order-book object in data, and meta.request_id.

Expected response

The Lighter L2 route returns aggregated price levels with decimal-string px and sz fields and an order count in n:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "coin": "BTC",
    "symbol": "BTC",
    "timestamp": "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z",
    "bids": [{ "px": "61077.0", "sz": "0.0003", "n": 1 }],
    "asks": [{ "px": "61078.0", "sz": "11.73086", "n": 1 }],
    "mid_price": "61077.5"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"
  }
}

Keep the venue, symbol, response timestamp, and request ID with the result. A BTC string alone does not say which venue it came from.

If the call fails

Code	Meaning and what to do
`400`	The symbol, depth, or another parameter is invalid. Check the Lighter route and parameter value before retrying
`401`	The API key is missing or invalid. Check `X-API-Key` and the key’s status
`403`	The window is outside your plan’s history window or span (`historical_depth_exceeded`, `historical_range_exceeded`), or the key was refused (`forbidden`). Branch on `error_code`; a `403` does not mean the route needs a higher plan
`404`	The Lighter symbol or route was not found. Check the Lighter namespace and the instruments on Lighter REST
`429`	A rate, concurrency, or credit limit was reached. Honor `Retry-After`; otherwise back off and reduce concurrency

Keep meta.request_id, or the x-request-id response header, with a failed request. Errors covers retry decisions and Rate limits covers capacity.

L2 and L3

The L2 route answers price-level questions. When you need individual resting orders, for queue behavior or reconstruction, use /v1/lighter/l3orderbook/{symbol}: it returns orders with numeric order_index, owner_account_index, price, remaining_size, and original_size fields. Lighter L3 is not the same data as Hyperliquid L4, so label the depth level in storage, tests, and exports. Add gap handling before L3 or replay output reaches a production job; SDK reconstruction covers local order-book maintenance.

Check coverage before widening

Lighter per-fill trade rows begin January 17, 2025; exact starts vary by market. L3 order-level history begins March 5, 2026 and is capped at 250 orders per side per tick. Check the exact symbol and data type with Data quality before a long history or reconstruction job relies on a window. From here, Lighter REST lists every route, including /v1/lighter/liquidations/{symbol} and /v1/lighter/liquidations/{symbol}/volume. For live order books, trades, open interest, and funding, use Lighter WebSocket channels, and use WebSocket replay when event order matters.

Next step

Pull a bounded window of Lighter trades, funding, or depth with the Lighter historical data API.

Endpoint reference

Requests and responses

Datasets

Venues

OpenAPI and schemas

Guides

Lighter quickstart

Expected response

If the call fails

L2 and L3

Check coverage before widening

Next step

​Expected response

​If the call fails

​L2 and L3

​Check coverage before widening

​Next step

Expected response

If the call fails

L2 and L3

Check coverage before widening

Next step