Admin Overview

Admin routes let operators provision traders, inspect exchange state, broadcast messages, and control trading globally. All admin endpoints require a bearer token configured at startup.

Environment configuration

The exchange process reads its configuration from environment variables at startup. All variables have defaults.

Variable	Default	Description
`BIND_ADDR`	`0.0.0.0:8080`	TCP address to bind the HTTP server to
`ADMIN_API_TOKEN`	`local-admin-token`	Bearer token required for all admin endpoints. Change in production.
`STORAGE_BACKEND`	`in_memory`	`in_memory` or `postgres`. Use `postgres` for durable persistence.
`DATABASE_URL`	`postgres://exchange:exchange@localhost:5432/exchange`	PostgreSQL connection string. Only used when `STORAGE_BACKEND=postgres`.
`WS_BROADCAST_BUFFER`	`1024`	Number of in-flight broadcast messages per channel before receivers lag. Increase for high-throughput markets.
`PER_USER_REQUESTS_PER_SECOND`	`100`	Per-user rate limit for authenticated REST routes.
`POSTGRES_WRITE_BATCH_SIZE`	`128`	Maximum operations per PostgreSQL write batch.
`POSTGRES_WRITE_FLUSH_INTERVAL_MS`	`25`	How often (in ms) the background writer flushes pending operations.
`POSTGRES_WRITE_QUEUE_CAPACITY`	`4096`	Depth of the background writer queue. Writes block when the queue is full.
`POSTGRES_WRITE_RETRY_BACKOFF_MS`	`250`	Backoff (in ms) between retries after a flush failure.
`RUST_LOG`	`exchange=info,tower_http=info`	Log filter. Use `exchange=debug` for verbose output.

Always set ADMIN_API_TOKEN to a strong secret before deploying to any shared or public environment. The default local-admin-token value grants full operator access.

Admin authentication

Every admin request must include the ADMIN_API_TOKEN value set at startup as a bearer token:

Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN

The token is read from the ADMIN_API_TOKEN environment variable when the exchange process starts. There is no way to rotate it without restarting the process.

User provisioning

Provision a trader

Use POST /api/v1/admin/users to create a new competition trader. Each provisioned user receives a unique API key used for all subsequent trader-facing authentication.

Send the provision request

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/users \
  -d '{"username":"team-alpha"}'

Receive the trader profile

The response includes the trader_id, username, generated api_key, and created_at timestamp:

{
  "profile": {
    "trader_id": "9d64e278-8b56-46e9-9cab-18c5b22f2fb9",
    "username": "team-alpha",
    "api_key": "exch_1d4208be6fa84b8cb0a2e5cfa9508d5f",
    "created_at": "2026-03-18T15:27:42.159901Z"
  }
}

Distribute the API key to the trader

Share the api_key with the team. They use it in the x-api-key header for all REST requests and in the WebSocket authenticate message. Store it securely — it is not recoverable after provisioning.

Usernames must be unique. Attempting to provision a second user with the same username returns 409 Conflict.

Reset all users

POST /api/v1/admin/users/reset clears all user positions, open orders, and fills. User accounts and API keys are preserved — only trading state is erased.

This operation is irreversible. All positions, orders, and fill history are permanently deleted for every trader on the exchange. Use only in a controlled pre-competition reset or testing scenario.

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/users/reset

Example response:

{
  "cleared_orders": 12,
  "cleared_positions": 8,
  "cleared_fills": 34
}

Connected WebSocket clients receive a resync_required system event after the reset.

Exchange state inspection

GET /api/v1/admin/state returns a full snapshot of the exchange: current trading controls, all market definitions, recent admin messages, and persistence backend status.

curl \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/state

Example response shape:

{
  "controls": {
    "trading_enabled": true,
    "updated_at": "2026-03-18T15:00:00.000000Z"
  },
  "markets": [
    {
      "market_id": "BTC-USD",
      "display_name": "Bitcoin",
      "base_asset": "BTC",
      "quote_asset": "USD",
      "tick_size": 1,
      "min_order_quantity": 1,
      "reference_price": 100,
      "settlement_price": null,
      "status": "enabled",
      "created_at": "2026-03-18T15:00:00.000000Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-03-18T15:00:00.000000Z"
    }
  ],
  "recent_messages": [],
  "persistence": {
    "backend": "postgres",
    "mode": "ok",
    "queue_depth": 0,
    "in_flight_ops": 0,
    "total_enqueued": 0,
    "total_flushes": 0,
    "last_error": null
  }
}

Trading control

Trading can be enabled or disabled globally. When trading is disabled, new order submissions are rejected. Orders that are already in-flight at the moment trading is stopped still process normally.

Start trading

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/trading/start

Stop trading

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/trading/stop

Both endpoints return the updated ExchangeControls object:

{
  "controls": {
    "trading_enabled": false,
    "updated_at": "2026-03-18T15:30:00.000000Z"
  }
}

Admin messages

Admin messages can be broadcast to all connected traders or targeted at a specific username. Delivered messages appear as admin_message events on connected WebSocket clients.

Send a message

POST /api/v1/admin/messages accepts the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
`target_username`	`string \| null`	Target a specific trader by username, or `null` to broadcast to all.
`market`	`string \| null`	Optional market context (e.g. `"BTC-USD"`).
`level`	`string`	Severity: `info`, `warning`, or `critical`. Required.
`title`	`string \| null`	Optional short title for the message.
`body`	`string`	Required message body.

Broadcast to all traders:

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/messages \
  -d '{
    "target_username": null,
    "market": "BTC-USD",
    "level": "info",
    "title": "Desk notice",
    "body": "Trading will stop in five minutes."
  }'

Target a specific trader:

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/messages \
  -d '{
    "target_username": "team-alpha",
    "market": null,
    "level": "warning",
    "title": "Risk alert",
    "body": "Your position in BTC-USD is approaching the limit."
  }'

Messages sent to a specific target_username are routed only to that trader’s WebSocket session. Broadcast messages (where target_username is null) are delivered to all connected clients.

Retrieve recent messages

curl \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/messages

Returns a list of recent AdminMessageEntry objects in reverse-chronological order.

Bulk config load

POST /api/v1/admin/config/load applies a complete exchange configuration — trading controls and all market definitions — in a single call. This is the recommended way to initialise the exchange before a competition round.

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/config/load \
  -d '{
    "trading_enabled": false,
    "markets": [
      {
        "market_id": "BTC-USD",
        "display_name": "Bitcoin",
        "base_asset": "BTC",
        "quote_asset": "USD",
        "tick_size": 1,
        "min_order_quantity": 1,
        "reference_price": 100,
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "market_id": "ETH-USD",
        "display_name": "Ethereum",
        "base_asset": "ETH",
        "quote_asset": "USD",
        "tick_size": 1,
        "min_order_quantity": 1,
        "reference_price": 50,
        "enabled": true
      }
    ]
  }'

The response includes the applied controls and the full list of resulting markets. If trading_enabled is omitted, the existing value is preserved.

Leaderboard

GET /api/v1/admin/leaderboard returns the full leaderboard ranked by marked net PnL. Unlike the trader-facing leaderboard, this endpoint has no rate limiting and returns all traders.

curl \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_API_TOKEN" \
  https://exchange.jamesxu.dev/api/v1/admin/leaderboard

Example response:

[
  {
    "rank": 1,
    "trader_id": "9d64e278-8b56-46e9-9cab-18c5b22f2fb9",
    "username": "team-alpha",
    "net_pnl": 420,
    "realized_pnl": 300,
    "unrealized_pnl": 120,
    "gross_exposure": 1000
  }
]

Net PnL is computed using settled prices for settled markets, mid-price of the best bid/ask when both sides are present, best available one-sided quote when only one side exists, or reference_price as a fallback.

Get Started

Authentication

REST API

WebSocket API

Operator Guide

Examples

Environment configuration

Admin authentication

User provisioning

Provision a trader

Reset all users

Exchange state inspection

Trading control

Start trading

Stop trading

Admin messages

Send a message

Retrieve recent messages

Bulk config load

Leaderboard

​Environment configuration

​Admin authentication

​User provisioning

​Provision a trader

​Reset all users

​Exchange state inspection

​Trading control

​Start trading

​Stop trading

​Admin messages

​Send a message

​Retrieve recent messages

​Bulk config load

​Leaderboard

Environment configuration

Admin authentication

User provisioning

Provision a trader

Reset all users

Exchange state inspection

Trading control

Start trading

Stop trading

Admin messages

Send a message

Retrieve recent messages

Bulk config load

Leaderboard