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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/bullish-exchange/api-docs/llms.txt

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The Bullish Trading API enforces rate limits to ensure fair access and exchange stability. Limits are applied at multiple levels: per endpoint category, per IP address, and exchange-wide. Understanding how these layers interact helps you design clients that stay within thresholds and handle limit responses gracefully.

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Public Endpoint Rate Limits

The following public endpoints and all of their subpaths are subject to rate limiting. For detailed limit values on public endpoints, contact your Bullish customer support representative.
Endpoint prefixDescription
/trading-api/v1/marketsMarket reference data
/trading-api/v1/market-dataMulti-orderbook data
/trading-api/v1/history/marketsHistorical market trade data
/trading-api/v1/assetsAsset reference data
/trading-api/v1/index-pricesIndex price data
/trading-api/v1/index-dataIndex data stream

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Private Endpoint Rate Limits

Authenticated endpoints marked Ratelimited: True in their descriptions (for example, Create Order) are subject to rate limits. Private endpoints are grouped into three independent categories — limits for each category are applied separately and do not affect one another:
CategoryLimit
Unauthenticated endpoints50 requests per second
Authenticated /orders endpoints50 requests per second
Other authenticated endpoints50 requests per second

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Per-IP Rate Limit

In addition to per-category limits, every IP address is subject to a blanket rate limit across all requests combined.
Each IP address is limited to 500 requests per 10 seconds (approximately 50 requests per second). If an IP address exceeds this limit, the API returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests and that IP address is blocked from making any requests for 60 seconds.

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Global Rate Limit

The global rate limit is an exchange-wide limit that governs the total flow of requests into the exchange. It applies fairly across all clients simultaneously and is used primarily to protect order flow stability. When the global rate limit is breached, the x-ratelimit-global-breach response header is set to true. The global rate limit operates alongside per-category and per-IP limits — it is possible to be within your individual limits while the exchange-wide global limit has been reached.

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Rate Limit Response Headers

When rate limits have not been exceeded, the following headers are present on every API response:
HeaderDescription
x-ratelimit-limitMaximum number of requests allowed for the specific API category within the current time period.
x-ratelimit-remainingNumber of requests remaining in the current time period for the specific API category.
x-ratelimit-resetThe next time period in which x-ratelimit-remaining is reset back to the maximum allowed for the specific API category.
x-ratelimit-global-breachtrue if the exchange-wide global limit has been breached; false otherwise.

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Handling Rate Limit Errors

When a per-category or per-IP rate limit is exceeded, the API returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests with the following response body: 
{
  "errorCode": 96000,
  "errorCodeName": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded"
}
When the global rate limit is exceeded, the API returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests with a different error body: 
{
  "errorCode": 96001,
  "errorCodeName": "GLOBAL_RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
  "message": "Global rate limit exceeded"
}
Use errorCodeName to distinguish between a per-account limit breach (RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED) and an exchange-wide breach (GLOBAL_RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED) when implementing retry logic.

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Higher Rate Limit Tiers with BX-RATELIMIT-TOKEN

Each trading account has a unique rate limit token that unlocks higher rate limit tiers. The token is obtained by calling GET /trading-api/v1/accounts/trading-accounts and must be sent on every request via the BX-RATELIMIT-TOKEN HTTP request header. 
curl -X GET "https://api.exchange.bullish.com/trading-api/v1/orders" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <JWT_TOKEN>" \
  -H "BX-RATELIMIT-TOKEN: <YOUR_RATE_LIMIT_TOKEN>"
If the BX-RATELIMIT-TOKEN header is not provided, the default limit of 50 messages per second applies.
To increase your rate limits beyond the default tiers, reach out to your Bullish sales representative.

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