Markets, Oracles, and Positions

How it works

Drift has two types of markets: perp markets (perpetual futures with funding rates) and spot markets (token deposits/borrows that serve as collateral). Each market has an onchain account storing configuration like oracle source, fees, funding rates, AMM parameters, and current open interest.

Market Indexes

Markets are identified by a numeric index starting from 0. For example:

• Perp market 0 is typically SOL-PERP
• Spot market 0 is typically USDC
• Perp market 1 might be BTC-PERP, and so on

Where to find market indexes:

• State account: Query driftClient.getStateAccount() which contains arrays of all perp and spot market configurations
• SDK methods: Use driftClient.getPerpMarketAccounts() or driftClient.getSpotMarketAccounts() to get all markets and inspect their indexes
• Market account directly: Each market account has a marketIndex field you can read
• Symbol lookup: Most bots maintain their own mapping from symbol (e.g., “SOL-PERP”) to market index, or query all markets and build the mapping at startup

Each market integrates with an oracle (usually Pyth or Switchboard) that provides real-time price data. The SDK lets you read oracle prices, check if they’re valid/stale, and use them for quoting or risk calculations. Prices are stored in fixed-point precision (1e6 for PRICE_PRECISION).

Perp markets track funding rates, open interest, and AMM liquidity pools. Spot markets track total deposits, borrows, and utilization rates. When you trade, you’re interacting with these market accounts, opening positions on perp markets or borrowing/depositing in spot markets.

SDK Usage

These are the most common read-path helpers you’ll use to power bots, dashboards, and risk logic.

Market Accounts

Read a single spot market account by index (e.g., market config, oracle source, and utilization state).

const marketIndex = 0;
const spotMarket = driftClient.getSpotMarketAccount(marketIndex);
console.log(spotMarket?.marketIndex);

Read a single perp market account by index (e.g., AMM params, funding state, and open interest).

const marketIndex = 0;
const perpMarket = driftClient.getPerpMarketAccount(marketIndex);
console.log(perpMarket?.marketIndex);

Get all spot market accounts at once, useful for startup symbol/index mapping and dashboards.

const spotMarkets = driftClient.getSpotMarketAccounts();
console.log(spotMarkets.length);

Get all perp market accounts at once, useful for scanning market metadata and risk parameters.

const perpMarkets = driftClient.getPerpMarketAccounts();
console.log(perpMarkets.length);

Oracle Price

Read the current oracle data for a perp market (price, confidence, and validity flags).

const marketIndex = 0;
const oracle = driftClient.getOracleDataForPerpMarket(marketIndex);
console.log(oracle.price.toString());

Read the current oracle data for a spot market using its market index.

const marketIndex = 0;
const oracle = driftClient.getOracleDataForSpotMarket(marketIndex);
console.log(oracle.price.toString());

Read market-maker-oriented oracle data for perp markets, typically used for DLOB/JIT pricing flows.

const marketIndex = 0;
const oracle = driftClient.getMMOracleDataForPerpMarket(marketIndex);
console.log(oracle.price.toString());

Positions and Balances

Get your active subaccount’s spot position for a given market index (deposit or borrow state).

const spotPosition = driftClient.getSpotPosition(0);
console.log(spotPosition);

Get your active subaccount’s perp position for a given perp market index.

const perpPosition = driftClient.getPerpPosition(0);
console.log(perpPosition);

Protocol State

const state = driftClient.getStateAccount();
console.log(state);

Working With the DLOB

The Decentralized Limit Order Book (DLOB) aggregates resting limit orders from all users. If you’re building a market maker, orderbook UI, or matching bot, you’ll want to build a local DLOB by subscribing to orders.

OrderSubscriber

Subscribes to all user orders in real-time via WebSocket or polling. Always needed — this is the raw data source for the DLOB.

import { OrderSubscriber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";

DLOBSubscriber

Builds and maintains an aggregated orderbook from the order stream. Use when you need a continuously-updated L2/L3 orderbook view.

import { DLOBSubscriber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";

SlotSubscriber

Tracks the current Solana slot. Needed for timing-sensitive operations like JIT auctions and order expiry.

import { SlotSubscriber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";

DLOB

Core data structure with bid/ask sides and query methods. Used internally by DLOBSubscriber; access via dlobSubscriber.getDLOB().

import { DLOB } from "@drift-labs/sdk";

UserMap

Efficiently tracks and caches multiple user accounts. Useful for bulk operations across many users (e.g., liquidation bots).

import { UserMap } from "@drift-labs/sdk";

Setting Up a Local DLOB

import { SlotSubscriber, OrderSubscriber, DLOBSubscriber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";
 
const slotSubscriber = new SlotSubscriber(connection);
await slotSubscriber.subscribe();
 
const orderSubscriber = new OrderSubscriber({
  driftClient,
  subscriptionConfig: { type: "websocket" },
  fastDecode: true,
  decodeData: true,
});
await orderSubscriber.subscribe();
 
const dlobSubscriber = new DLOBSubscriber({
  driftClient,
  dlobSource: orderSubscriber,
  slotSource: slotSubscriber,
  updateFrequency: 1000,
});
await dlobSubscriber.subscribe();

Getting L2 Orderbook Data

Once the DLOB is subscribed, you can query the aggregated L2 orderbook (price levels with cumulative size):

import { MarketType, PRICE_PRECISION, BASE_PRECISION, convertToNumber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";
 
const dlob = dlobSubscriber.getDLOB();
const marketIndex = 0; // SOL-PERP
// For perp markets, use getMMOracleDataForPerpMarket (returns MMOraclePriceData)
const oraclePriceData = driftClient.getMMOracleDataForPerpMarket(marketIndex);
const slot = slotSubscriber.getSlot();
 
const l2 = dlob.getL2({
  marketIndex,
  marketType: MarketType.PERP,
  oraclePriceData,
  slot,
  depth: 10, // number of price levels per side
});
 
// l2.bids and l2.asks are arrays of { price: BN, size: BN }
console.log("Top bid:", convertToNumber(l2.bids[0].price, PRICE_PRECISION),
            "size:", convertToNumber(l2.bids[0].size, BASE_PRECISION));
console.log("Top ask:", convertToNumber(l2.asks[0].price, PRICE_PRECISION),
            "size:", convertToNumber(l2.asks[0].size, BASE_PRECISION));

Getting Best Bid/Ask

For quick access to the best bid and ask prices without fetching the full orderbook:

import { MarketType, PRICE_PRECISION, convertToNumber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";
 
const dlob = dlobSubscriber.getDLOB();
const marketIndex = 0;
const oraclePriceData = driftClient.getMMOracleDataForPerpMarket(marketIndex);
const slot = slotSubscriber.getSlot();
 
// Returns BN | undefined (undefined if no orders on that side)
const bestBid = dlob.getBestBid(marketIndex, slot, MarketType.PERP, oraclePriceData);
const bestAsk = dlob.getBestAsk(marketIndex, slot, MarketType.PERP, oraclePriceData);
 
if (bestBid && bestAsk) {
  console.log("Best bid:", convertToNumber(bestBid, PRICE_PRECISION));
  console.log("Best ask:", convertToNumber(bestAsk, PRICE_PRECISION));
  console.log("Spread:", convertToNumber(bestAsk.sub(bestBid), PRICE_PRECISION));
}