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# rate limits

OCX rate-limits order-path endpoints per user to protect the book and ensure fair access. Public read endpoints (markets, orderbook, OHLC, oracle prices) are **not** rate-limited.

## Which endpoints are limited?

The limit applies to the **order path**:

* `POST /orders` and `POST /orders/:id/cancel`
* `POST /orders/cancel-all`
* `POST /quotes`, `POST /quotes/bulk`
* `POST /orders/:id/modify`
* `POST /perps/orders` and its cancel / modify variants
* `POST /perps/quotes`, `POST /perps/quotes/bulk`

Account reads (`GET /perps/positions`, `GET /wallet/balance`, etc.), public market data, and SSE / WebSocket subscriptions are not rate-limited.

## Default limits

| Tier         | Limit                                                    |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Standard     | 120 order-path requests / minute                         |
| Market maker | Negotiated separately — typically 10× standard or higher |

Limits are enforced per user ID, across all credentials belonging to that user (session, JWT, and every API key the user has minted).

## Response when rate-limited

HTTP status: `429 Too Many Requests`.

```json
{
  "error":        "RateLimitError",
  "code":         "ORDER_RATE_LIMIT",
  "message":      "Order rate limit exceeded",
  "retryAfterMs": 1000
}
```

`retryAfterMs` is the minimum time to wait before retrying. A `Retry-After` HTTP header with the value in seconds is also set.

## Best practices

* **Backoff on 429.** Respect `retryAfterMs` and add jitter when multiple workers share a credential.
* **Prefer bulk endpoints.** A single `POST /quotes/bulk` with 20 quotes counts as one request. Issuing 20 separate `POST /quotes` calls counts as 20.
* **Batch cancels.** `POST /orders/cancel-all` with filters is one request; looping over individual cancels is `N` requests.
* **Maintain a local book.** Subscribe to the orderbook stream and compute quote targets locally instead of polling public snapshots.

## Per-key rate pools (roadmap)

Per-API-key rate pools are on the roadmap — a single user will be able to allocate slices of their overall limit to specific keys. Until then, all of a user's keys share the user-level pool.


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