How it works
One request in, one transaction per provider out, one fill. The diagram follows a buy from your bot to the block, with the time each step takes measured on our server in Amsterdam.
The steps, in milliseconds
| Step | What happens | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Unlock | Look the account up by the hash of your API key, derive the wallet key from the API key and salt, decrypt the keypair. | ≈0.3 ms |
| 2. Build | Route the mint to its launchpad, take the pool state and blockhash from the live gRPC cache, assemble the fee and swap instructions. No RPC. | ≈1 ms |
| 3. Balance read | Only on a sell or a repeat buy of a mint: one RPC read, started together with step 2 so it overlaps it. A first buy of a mint skips it, the wallet cannot hold it yet. | 0 ms on a first buy, ≈5 to 10 ms otherwise |
| 4. Sign | One copy per provider, each with that provider's tip account inside, signed with the wallet. | ≈0.2 ms for all |
| 5. Fan out | Every copy leaves at the same instant over persistent connections to each provider. | t ≈ 7 ms |
| 6. Acknowledge | Each provider confirms receipt; the response returns once all have answered or timed out. ms per provider is measured from step 1. | ≈9 to 40 ms |
| 7. Land | The fastest path delivers its copy to the current leader; it executes in that leader's block. The other copies fail on chain before moving funds. | within the slot, ≤400 ms |
Times are typical, not guaranteed: steps 3 and 6 depend on the RPC and the providers, step 7 on the leader. A first buy measured from a fresh request builds and signs in 2.7 ms. Your own network hop to Amsterdam comes on top of step 1.
Why fan-out instead of the best provider
Each provider's path to the leader changes slot to slot: their stake, their peering with that particular validator, their load. The one that was fastest a second ago may be third now. Sending to all of them means the snipe always takes the fastest path that exists at that moment, and a slow provider costs nothing since its copy simply loses.
Why only one fill
Every copy is a distinct transaction with its own signature. The first to execute trades. Every later copy fails on chain before it moves funds, so the trade happens once and the tip is paid once, to the provider whose copy landed. A losing copy costs its priority fee only. Nothing on your side has to coordinate this.
What you see in the response
submissions lists each provider with its signature, whether it accepted, and its ms. signature is the first accepted copy, but any accepted one may be the copy that landed, so confirm by watching all of them or simply the wallet's balance. See the Snipe page for the full shape.