Creating a Pool

Whirlpools is set up such that anyone is able to set up a liquidity pool within a WhirlpoolsConfig space. Follow these steps to initialize a Whirlpool using the initialize_pool instruction.

Determine Whirlpool Parameters

WhirlpoolPda - The derived address of the Whirlpool account that will be initialized. Can be derived via getWhirlpoolPda

Token Mints - The mints of the tokens for this trading pair. Token A and Token B Mint has to be cardinally ordered. Use the orderMints function to help you order them.

Tick spacing - Consider the effects of fees and tick-spacing when determining your tick spacing value. Note that for optimal compute-budget performance, tick-spacing should be a power of 2.

TokenVaultKeypairs - Empty Keypair accounts that will host deposited tokens for this pool. Once the initialize ix is ran, these accounts will be initialized as a spl-token accounts with the tokenAuthority set to the Whirlpool program.

Determining initial sqrt-price

This determines where the tick will be after initialization. It is recommended that this be set close to the market price, otherwise it will take a series of swap iterations to move the price back to the desired location.

The price must be within MIN_SQRT_PRICE and MAX_SQRT_PRICE, and must be shifted by 64 bits.

// Current SOL/USDC price
const desiredMarketPrice = new Decimal(98);
// Invert due to token mint ordering
const actualPrice = new Decimal(1).div(desiredMarketPrice);
// Shift by 64 bits
const initSqrtPrice = MathUtil.toX64(actualPrice); 

Reminder to take into account the ordering of the token A / B when determining the price. You may have to invert the value if your traded token is older than base token.

Determine the appropriate FeeTier

The fee tier account determines the initial default fee amount for this pool. There's no hard requirement to use the fee-tier with the same tick-spacing as the pool you are initializing, but it is recommended. If the desired fee rate account for a particular tick-spacing does not exist yet, contact the WhirlpoolConfig's feeAuthority to either:

1. Create the appropriate fee tier for you with the initialize_fee_tier ix.

2. Set your desired fee tier for you with the set_fee_rate ix.

Sample Code

Create the instruction and invoke it when you are ready.

const whirlpoolPda = getWhirlpoolPda(
  programId,
  whirlpoolConfigKey,
  toPubKey(tokenMintA),
  toPubKey(tokenMintB),
  tickSpacing
);

const feeTierKey = getFeeTierPda(programId, whirlpoolConfigKey, tickSpacing).publicKey;
const tokenVaultAKeypair = Keypair.generate();
const tokenVaultBKeypair = Keypair.generate();

await WhirlpoolIx.initializePoolIx(ctx, {
  initSqrtPrice,
  tickSpacing: 128,
  tokenMintA,
  tokenMintB,
  tokenVaultAKeypair,
  tokenVaultBKeypair,
  whirlpoolPda,
  whirlpoolsConfig,
  feeTierKey: feeTierPda.publicKey,
  funder: ctx.wallet.publicKey,
}).toTx().buildAndExecute();