Pricing

Learn how Pulse prices a trade, how to read a rate, and how to show indicative rates before a customer starts a trade.

Pulse prices every trade with one rate. This page explains what the rate includes, how to turn a rate into amounts, and how to show prices before a customer commits to a trade.

How pricing works

A rate is the naira value of one unit of crypto. The same unit applies to onramp and offramp trades.

Every rate that Pulse returns includes these parts:

The market price at the size of the trade.
Pulse's pricing adjustment. Pulse charges for its service through the rate.
Network costs to move the crypto on the network you choose.

Pulse deducts no separate fee from the quoted amounts. To earn on each trade, add a partner fee. Pulse builds it into the same rate.

Read a rate

Use the rate to convert between the two amounts of a trade.

Flow	The rate is	To get the other amount
Onramp	The naira the customer pays for one unit of crypto.	Divide the naira by the rate.
Offramp	The naira the customer receives for one unit of crypto.	Multiply the crypto by the rate.

For example:

Onramp. A customer spends ₦150,000 at a rate of 1538.46. They receive 150,000 ÷ 1538.46 = 97.500097 USDT.
Offramp. A customer sends 102.432779 USDT at a rate of 1366.75. They receive ₦140,000.

A quote rounds each computed amount to the precision of its currency. See Choose which amount to fix.

For the same asset, the onramp rate is usually higher than the offramp rate. The gap between them is the spread. Rates move with the market, and a large trade can get a different rate from a small trade.

Indicative rates and quotes

Pulse gives two kinds of price.

	Indicative rate	Quote
Endpoint	`GET /v1/rates`	`POST /v1/quotes`
Use it to	Show prices before the customer starts a trade.	Lock the price of one trade.
Scope	Every asset and network in one call.	One asset, network, and amount.
Locked	No. It moves with the market.	Yes, until `expires_at`.
Amount	Optional.	Required. See Amount limits.
Partner fee	Not included.	Included when you set `partner_fee`.
Creates an order	No.	Yes, through the matching order endpoint.

A quote rate can differ from the indicative rate for the same trade because the market moves. Show the customer the quote rate before they pay. The order reports the effective rate and amounts after funding. See Funding window.

Get indicative rates

GET /v1/rates returns a buy rate and a sell rate for every supported asset and network.

buy is the onramp rate: the naira the customer pays for one unit of crypto.
sell is the offramp rate: the naira the customer receives for one unit of crypto.

Size the rates

A rate depends on the size of the trade. Two optional amounts set the size, and each one sizes only its own side.

Parameter	Sizes	Unit	Minimum and default
`fiat_amount`	`buy`	The naira the customer spends.	₦15,000
`crypto_amount`	`sell`	The crypto the customer sells.	10

Without an amount, Pulse prices that side at the minimum order size. The amounts have no maximum, so you can price a trade that is larger than a quote allows.

Filter the rates

Two optional filters limit the response.

Parameter	Returns
`asset`	Only this asset: `USDT` or `USDC`.
`network`	Only this network. See Supported networks.

Request the rates

This request prices a ₦5,000,000 buy and a 1,000 USDT sell on every network.

curl "https://engine-api.pilot.pulseshiga.io/v1/rates?asset=USDT&fiat_amount=5000000&crypto_amount=1000" \
  -H "X-API-Key: <your key>"

Field	Description
`rates[].asset`	The crypto asset.
`rates[].network`	The network of the asset.
`rates[].buy`	The onramp rate for the size in `fiat_amount`.
`rates[].sell`	The offramp rate for the size in `crypto_amount`.

When you use GET /v1/rates, know that:

Pulse returns a pair only when it has both a buy and a sell rate.
A pair can be missing for a short time, or when Pulse cannot price the amount you sent for it.
Rows are sorted by asset, then by network.
A filter that matches no available pair returns an empty rates list, not an error.
Indicative rates do not include a partner fee.

Errors

Code	Cause
`invalid_amount`	`fiat_amount` is below ₦15,000, or `crypto_amount` is below 10.
`invalid_asset`	`asset` is not a supported asset.
`invalid_network`	`network` is not a supported network.

Next steps

Create a quote to lock a rate for an order.
Add a partner fee to earn on each trade.

On this page