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Coinbase International

This guide will walk you through using Coinbase International with PoseiTrader for data ingest and/or live trading.

warning

The Coinbase International integration is currently in a beta testing phase. Exercise caution and report any issues on GitHub.

Coinbase International Exchange provides non-US institutional clients with access to cryptocurrency perpetual futures and spot markets. The exchange serves European and international traders by providing leveraged crypto derivatives, often restricted or unavailable in these regions.

Coinbase International brings a high standard of customer protection, a robust risk management framework and high-performance trading technology, including:

  • Real-time 24/7/365 risk management.
  • Liquidity from external market makers (no proprietary trading).
  • Dynamic margin requirements and collateral assessments.
  • Liquidation framework that meets rigorous compliance standards.
  • Well-capitalized exchange to support tail market events.
  • Collaboration with top-tier global regulators.
info

See the Introducing Coinbase International Exchange blog article for more details.

Installation​

note

No additional coinbase_intx installation is required; the adapter’s core components, written in Rust, are automatically compiled and linked during the build.

Examples​

You can find live example scripts here. These examples demonstrate how to set up live market data feeds and execution clients for trading on Coinbase International.

Overview​

The following products are supported on the Coinbase International exchange:

  • Perpetual Futures contracts
  • Spot cryptocurrencies

This guide assumes a trader is setting up for both live market data feeds, and trade execution. The Coinbase International adapter includes multiple components, which can be used together or separately depending on the use case. These components work together to connect to Coinbase International’s APIs for market data and execution.

  • CoinbaseIntxHttpClient: REST API connectivity.
  • CoinbaseIntxWebSocketClient: WebSocket API connectivity.
  • CoinbaseIntxInstrumentProvider: Instrument parsing and loading functionality.
  • CoinbaseIntxDataClient: A market data feed manager.
  • CoinbaseIntxExecutionClient: An account management and trade execution gateway.
  • CoinbaseIntxLiveDataClientFactory: Factory for Coinbase International data clients.
  • CoinbaseIntxLiveExecClientFactory: Factory for Coinbase International execution clients.
note

Most users will simply define a configuration for a live trading node (described below), and won't necessarily need to work with the above components directly.

Coinbase documentation​

Coinbase International provides extensive API documentation for users which can be found in the Coinbase Developer Platform. We recommend also referring to the Coinbase International documentation in conjunction with this PoseiTrader integration guide.

Data​

Instruments​

On startup, the adapter automatically loads all available instruments from the Coinbase International REST API and subscribes to the INSTRUMENTS WebSocket channel for updates. This ensures that the cache and clients requiring up-to-date definitions for parsing always have the latest instrument data.

Available instrument types include:

  • CurrencyPair (Spot cryptocurrencies)
  • CryptoPerpetual
note

Index products have not yet been implemented.

The following data types are available:

  • OrderBookDelta (L2 market-by-price)
  • QuoteTick (L1 top-of-book best bid/ask)
  • TradeTick
  • Bar
  • MarkPriceUpdate
  • IndexPriceUpdate
note

Historical data requests have not yet been implemented.

WebSocket market data​

The data client connects to Coinbase International's WebSocket feed to stream real-time market data. The WebSocket client handles automatic reconnection and re-subscribes to active subscriptions upon reconnecting.

Execution​

The adapter is designed to trade one Coinbase International portfolio per execution client.

Selecting a portfolio​

To identify your available portfolios and their IDs, use the REST client by running the following script: 

python posei_trader/adapters/coinbase_intx/scripts/list_portfolios.py

This will output a list of portfolio details, similar to the example below: 

[{'borrow_disabled': False,
  'cross_collateral_enabled': False,
  'is_default': False,
  'is_lsp': False,
  'maker_fee_rate': '-0.00008',
  'name': 'hrp5587988499',
  'portfolio_id': '3mnk59ap-1-22',  # Your portfolio ID
  'portfolio_uuid': 'dd0958ad-0c9d-4445-a812-1870fe40d0e1',
  'pre_launch_trading_enabled': False,
  'taker_fee_rate': '0.00012',
  'trading_lock': False,
  'user_uuid': 'd4fbf7ea-9515-1068-8d60-4de91702c108'}]

Configuring the portfolio​

To specify a portfolio for trading, set the COINBASE_INTX_PORTFOLIO_ID environment variable to the desired portfolio_id. If you're using multiple execution clients, you can alternatively define the portfolio_id in the execution configuration for each client.

Capability Matrix​

Coinbase International offers market, limit, and stop order types, enabling a broad range of strategies.

Order Types​

Order Type Derivatives Spot Notes
MARKET ✓ ✓ Must use IOC or FOK time-in-forc
LIMIT ✓ ✓
STOP_MARKET ✓ ✓
STOP_LIMIT ✓ ✓
MARKET_IF_TOUCHED - - Not supported.
LIMIT_IF_TOUCHED - - Not supported.
TRAILING_STOP_MARKET - - Not supported.

Execution Instructions​

Instruction Derivatives Spot Notes
post_only ✓ ✓ Ensures orders only provide liquidity.
reduce_only ✓ ✓ Ensures orders only reduce existing positions.

Time-in-Force Options​

Time-in-Force Derivatives Spot Notes
GTC ✓ ✓ Good Till Canceled.
GTD ✓ ✓ Good Till Date.
FOK ✓ ✓ Fill or Kill.
IOC ✓ ✓ Immediate or Cancel.

Advanced order features​

Feature Derivatives Spot Notes
Order Modification ✓ ✓ Price and quantity modification.
Bracket/OCO Orders ? ? Requires further investigation.
Iceberg Orders ✓ ✓ Available via FIX protocol.

Configuration options​

The following execution client configuration options are available:

Option Default Description
portfolio_id None Specifies the Coinbase International portfolio to trade. Required for execution.
http_timeout_secs 60 Default timeout for HTTP requests in seconds.

FIX Drop Copy integration​

The Coinbase International adapter includes a FIX (Financial Information eXchange) drop copy client. This provides reliable, low-latency execution updates directly from Coinbase's matching engine.

note

This approach is necessary because execution messages are not provided over the WebSocket feed, and delivers faster and more reliable order execution updates than polling the REST API.

The FIX client:

  • Establishes a secure TCP/TLS connection and logs on automatically when the trading node starts.
  • Handles connection monitoring and automatic reconnection and logon if the connection is interrupted.
  • Properly logs out and closes the connection when the trading node stops.

The client processes several types of execution messages:

  • Order status reports (canceled, expired, triggered).
  • Fill reports (partial and complete fills).

The FIX credentials are automatically managed using the same API credentials as the REST and WebSocket clients. No additional configuration is required beyond providing valid API credentials.

note

The REST client handles processing REJECTED and ACCEPTED status execution messages on order submission.

Account and position management​

On startup, the execution client requests and loads your current account and execution state including:

  • Available balances across all assets.
  • Open orders.
  • Open positions.

This provides your trading strategies with a complete picture of your account before placing new orders.

Configuration​

Strategies​

warning

Coinbase International has a strict specification for client order IDs. Posei can meet the spec by using UUID4 values for client order IDs. To comply, set the use_uuid_client_order_ids=True config option in your strategy configuration (otherwise, order submission will trigger an API error).

See the Coinbase International Create order REST API documentation for further details.

An example configuration could be:

from posei_trader.adapters.coinbase_intx import COINBASE_INTX, CoinbaseIntxDataClientConfig, CoinbaseIntxExecClientConfig
from posei_trader.live.node import TradingNode

config = TradingNodeConfig(
    ...,  # Further config omitted
    data_clients={
        COINBASE_INTX: CoinbaseIntxDataClientConfig(
            instrument_provider=InstrumentProviderConfig(load_all=True),
        ),
    },
    exec_clients={
        COINBASE_INTX: CoinbaseIntxExecClientConfig(
            instrument_provider=InstrumentProviderConfig(load_all=True),
        ),
    },
)

strat_config = TOBQuoterConfig(
    use_uuid_client_order_ids=True,  # <-- Necessary for Coinbase Intx
    instrument_id=instrument_id,
    external_order_claims=[instrument_id],
    ...,  # Further config omitted
)

Then, create a TradingNode and add the client factories: 

from posei_trader.adapters.coinbase_intx import COINBASE_INTX, CoinbaseIntxLiveDataClientFactory, CoinbaseIntxLiveExecClientFactory
from posei_trader.live.node import TradingNode

# Instantiate the live trading node with a configuration
node = TradingNode(config=config)

# Register the client factories with the node
node.add_data_client_factory(COINBASE_INTX, CoinbaseIntxLiveDataClientFactory)
node.add_exec_client_factory(COINBASE_INTX, CoinbaseIntxLiveExecClientFactory)

# Finally build the node
node.build()

API credentials​

Provide credentials to the clients using one of the following methods.

Either pass values for the following configuration options:

  • api_key
  • api_secret
  • api_passphrase
  • portfolio_id

Or, set the following environment variables:

  • COINBASE_INTX_API_KEY
  • COINBASE_INTX_API_SECRET
  • COINBASE_INTX_API_PASSPHRASE
  • COINBASE_INTX_PORTFOLIO_ID
tip

We recommend using environment variables to manage your credentials.

When starting the trading node, you'll receive immediate confirmation of whether your credentials are valid and have trading permissions.

Implementation notes​

  • Heartbeats: The adapter maintains heartbeats on both the WebSocket and FIX connections to ensure reliable connectivity.
  • Rate Limits: The REST API client is configured to limit requests to the 40/second, as specified by Coinbase International.
  • Graceful Shutdown: The adapter properly handles graceful shutdown, ensuring all pending messages are processed before disconnecting.
  • Thread Safety: All adapter components are thread-safe, allowing them to be used from multiple threads concurrently.
  • Execution Model: The adapter can be configured with a single Coinbase International portfolio per execution client. For trading multiple portfolios, you can create multiple execution clients.
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