Frequently asked questions
Which platforms are supported?
Every token launched on Argus and on LIFT, the two launchpads on Arc, in the Uniswap pool it opened in. Argus tokens trade in Uniswap v4 pools with the Argus hook; LIFT tokens in Uniswap v4 pools with the LIFT hook, or in Uniswap v3 pools for LIFT's earlier launches. Any other Uniswap pool on Arc priced in USDC works too. You never say which; the API reads the token and picks the venue.
What is Arc?
Circle's blockchain, live since September 2026. Its native token is USDC, so gas is paid in USDC and prices are in USDC. Blocks are about half a second apart, and transactions are ordered by priority fee, like Ethereum.
Do I need an API key or an account?
No. Every endpoint is open. Limits per IP address: 3 requests a second on any one endpoint, one open launch-feed socket, and one advanced-stream socket. The advanced stream needs a free key, so every firehose connection has a name attached.
Is my private key safe?
It never leaves your machine. Every response is an unsigned transaction. Signing happens in your script, with your key; only the signed bytes are posted to /api/send, which broadcasts them and can do nothing else with them. Nothing about the key ever reaches shrine.trade, and there is no custody of any kind.
What does it cost?
A 0.75% fee on buys and on sells, taken in USDC inside the swap. Token info costs nothing. The launchpad's pool fee, the token's creator tax and, on early buys, the snipe tax apply on top and are all inside the quote. Gas is a fraction of a cent. See Fees.
Which currency is amount in?
On a buy, USDC: "5" spends 5 USDC. On a sell, tokens, or a percentage of your balance like "50%"; proceeds come back as USDC.
Why does my first buy come back as three transactions?
The swap pulls your USDC through Permit2, Uniswap's shared approval contract. The first time a wallet trades, two one-time approvals go in front of the swap: USDC to Permit2, then Permit2 to the router. After that a buy is one transaction. The first sell of a token needs the same pair for that token. The scripts send whatever comes back, in order, so nothing changes for you.
What is the snipe tax?
Both launchpads charge a steep extra fee on buys in the first moments after a launch, up to 99%, falling to zero within seconds on Argus and within 6 blocks on LIFT. It is inside the quote, so a buy during that window shows a much smaller expectedOut. Token Info reports the current snipeTaxBps; a sniper polls it and buys when it reads 0.
What is the creator tax?
A percentage of every buy and sell that the launchpad's hook pays to the token's creator, set at launch. creatorTaxBps in the quote is the rate on your side of the trade; buyTaxBps and sellTaxBps on Token Info show both.
Are trades front-run protected?
The on-chain minimum (minOut, from your slippage) is enforced by the Universal Router, so a trade that would fill worse than quoted fails instead of filling badly. Arc has a mempool, but public nodes do not gossip transactions to outsiders; signed transactions go through /api/send, which sends them over our own endpoint rather than a public node.
How does slippage work here?
slippage is the percentage the fill may fall short of the quote before the transaction refuses to execute; the API turns it into an on-chain minOut. The default of 5 suits most tokens. A busy launch may need more, a quiet token can take less. slippage_exceeded means the floor was hit.
The wallet holds enough for the trade, so why insufficient_funds?
A node sets aside gasLimit x maxFeePerGas before it executes anything, and only refunds the unused part afterwards. On Arc that reservation is in USDC, the same balance the trade spends from. The API applies the same check up front and states the exact figure required. Keep a dollar of USDC extra and this never comes up.
Can I be faster than other bots?
Arc orders transactions by priority fee. The API builds each transaction with a modest tip; a bot that wants the front of the block raises maxPriorityFeePerGas before signing. The rest is latency: the closer your sender is to Arc's validators, the earlier your transaction arrives.
Is there a live feed of launches?
Yes. wss://api.shrine.trade/arc/api/launches/ws streams every Argus and LIFT launch and every new Uniswap v4 pool against USDC, free, no key, one connection per IP. It is a stream, not a database: no history endpoint exists. See Live Launches.
Can I follow trades on a token?
Yes, on the Advanced Data Stream: every buy, sell and liquidity change for up to 50 tokens or 50 wallets per connection, pushed within a second of the block. It needs a free key, handed out in the Telegram group.
Can AI coding tools read these docs?
Yes. Two files are kept for that: llms.txt, an index with one line per page, and llms-full.txt, the entire site as plain text. Both are rebuilt with every release.
Where do I get help?
Ask in the Telegram group. New versions are posted on X.