Creating a pool

Any wallet can create a LithosDex pool, ERG against a token or two tokens, from the web interface or the API. This page covers what creating a pool does, what it costs, and how to create one. Telling pools apart once they exist is in Choosing a pool.

What creating a pool does#

Creating a pool sends the following four transactions from your node wallet, in order:

1. Mint the pool NFT.
2. Mint the vault NFT.
3. Mint the NFT that owns your provision.
4. Send the genesis, which creates the pool, its vault and your provision.

Everything you put in becomes the pool's reserves, and the ratio of your two amounts sets the opening price. The genesis gives you a provision for every share of the pool but a millionth. That millionth is locked in the pool for good, so a millionth of each reserve can never be taken out.

What it costs#

Creating a pool charges no fee of its own. You pay the network fees on the four transactions, and the new boxes hold the following ERG:

An ERG/token pool box holds your ERG reserve and nothing more, so that ERG leaves as providers redeem. The pool box must always keep over 0.01 ERG, so the reserve you put in must be at least 0.01 ERG.

A full exit can leave a little behind. Unless an ERG/token pool starts with more than 10,000 ERG, its locked millionth is 0.01 ERG or less. While you are its only provider, redeeming everything then leaves about 0.01 ERG in the pool, and its share of the token. The quote warns you when this applies.

Choosing the fees#

Each swap pays three fees, each a percentage of what the trader puts in:

The defaults match ERG:LIT. Each fee may be any percentage from 0 up to, but not including, 100. A pool's fees never change after its genesis.

Creating a pool from the web interface#

Creating a pool spends your wallet's funds, so the interface needs the client's API key, entered under Settings. To create a pool, follow these steps:

1. Open LithosDex, then the Pools tab, and select Create a pool.
2. Choose ERG / token or Token / token.
3. Pick each token from your wallet, and enter how much of each goes into the pool.
4. Select Fees to change the split, if you want to.
5. Read What creating it does: the opening price, your provision, the share locked for good, each box's ERG, the network fees and what leaves your wallet.
6. Read any warnings under the quote, such as a pool that already trades the same pair.
7. Tick The pool's boxes and the locked share can never be taken back.
8. Select Create pool.

The token lists show what your wallet holds, verified tokens first. Check each token id before you create the pool, since an unverified token's name was chosen by whoever minted it.

After you send it#

The result lists each of the four transactions as accepted or unsent:

• All accepted. The pool appears in the pool list once its genesis is in a block. The result names the NFT that owns your provision. Keep it: whoever holds it owns the provision.
• One not accepted. The client sends none of the later transactions and gives back the wallet boxes it held for them. NFTs already minted stay in your wallet and do nothing on their own. Create the pool again to start over.

A new pool is Unverified until a client release adds it to the verified list. Traders must consent before trading on it, as Choosing a pool describes.

Creating a pool through the API#

POST /dex/pools/create/check returns the quote, and POST /dex/pools/create sends the four transactions. Both need the API key. The request takes the following fields:

In feeParams, dexFeeNum is 10,000 less the share kept by the pool, and ergFeeNum and tokenFeeNum are the provider fees on the first and second asset. The defaults look like this:

{
  "tokenX": "ERG",
  "tokenY": "TOKEN_ID",
  "amountX": "100000000000",
  "amountY": "5000000",
  "feeParams": { "dexFeeNum": 9985, "ergFeeNum": 15, "tokenFeeNum": 15, "feeDenom": 10000 },
  "acknowledgeLocked": true
}

See Quote a new LithosDex pool and Create a LithosDex pool for every response field.

Next steps#

• Providing liquidity: what your provision earns and how to close it.
• Choosing a pool: how other traders see your new pool.