Your First Trade

This guide walks you through signing up for Bankr, connecting to the Agent API, and executing your very first token swap. By the end, you will have authenticated, submitted prompts, polled for results, and completed a real trade on Base.

Caution

Only trade amounts you can afford to lose. Crypto markets are volatile and prices can change rapidly.

Getting Started

1. Sign up at bankr.bot

   Go to bankr.bot and click Sign In. Enter your email address. You will receive a one-time password (OTP) — check your inbox, enter the code, and you are in. No seed phrases, no wallet setup. Bankr provisions a cross-chain wallet for you automatically via Privy.

2. Create an API key

   Navigate to bankr.bot/api and click Create New API Key. Make sure Agent API access is enabled. Your key will look like bk_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Copy it immediately — you will not be able to see it again.

   Store your API key securely. Never commit it to a public repository or share it in plain text.

3. Check your balance

   Now let’s verify your connection works. Submit a prompt to check your ETH balance on Base:

   Check your balance

   curl -X POST https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"prompt": "What is my ETH balance on Base?"}'

   You will receive a response with a jobId:

   Response

   {
     "jobId": "job_abc123def456",
     "status": "pending"
   }

   Now poll for the result using that jobId:

   Poll for result

   curl -X GET https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt/job_abc123def456 \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY"

   Once the job completes, you will see your balance:

   Completed response

   {
     "jobId": "job_abc123def456",
     "status": "completed",
     "response": "Your ETH balance on Base is 0.05 ETH (~$162.35)."
   }

4. Check a token price

   Same pattern — submit a prompt, then poll. Let’s check the price of USDC:

   Check a token price

   curl -X POST https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"prompt": "What is the price of USDC on Base?"}'

   Poll with the returned jobId:

   Poll for price

   curl -X GET https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt/job_xyz789 \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY"

   Expected response:

   Completed response

   {
     "jobId": "job_xyz789",
     "status": "completed",
     "response": "USDC on Base is currently $1.00."
   }

5. Make a small swap

   Time for a real trade. Start with a very small amount — 0.001 ETH is about $3. This keeps your risk minimal while you learn the flow.

   Execute a swap

   curl -X POST https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"prompt": "Swap 0.001 ETH for USDC on Base"}'

   Response

   {
     "jobId": "job_swap_001",
     "status": "pending"
   }

6. Poll for the swap result

   Poll for swap result

   curl -X GET https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt/job_swap_001 \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY"

   When the swap completes, you will see the transaction details:

   Completed swap response

   {
     "jobId": "job_swap_001",
     "status": "completed",
     "response": "Swapped 0.001 ETH for 3.24 USDC on Base. Transaction: 0x1a2b3c...d4e5f6"
   }

   You can verify the transaction on BaseScan using the transaction hash.

7. Verify in your portfolio

   Finally, confirm the swap went through by checking your full portfolio:

   Check portfolio

   curl -X POST https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"prompt": "Show my portfolio on Base"}'

   Poll the result:

   Poll for portfolio

   curl -X GET https://api.bankr.bot/agent/prompt/job_portfolio_001 \
     -H "X-API-Key: bk_YOUR_KEY"

   Portfolio response

   {
     "jobId": "job_portfolio_001",
     "status": "completed",
     "response": "Your portfolio on Base:\n- 0.049 ETH (~$158.95)\n- 3.24 USDC (~$3.24)\nTotal: ~$162.19"
   }

Tip

Always include “on Base” or “on Ethereum” in your prompts to specify the chain. This is the single most common mistake new users make — omitting the chain name leads to ambiguous results or errors.

What You Learned

In this tutorial, you completed the full Bankr workflow:

• Authentication — Creating an API key and authenticating requests with X-API-Key
• Prompt submission — Sending natural language prompts to the Agent API
• Job polling — Checking the status of async jobs until they complete
• Executing a trade — Making a real token swap on Base through the API

This is the same pattern you will use for everything in Bankr: submit a prompt, get a job ID, poll for the result. Whether you are checking balances, launching tokens, or claiming fees, the flow is identical.

Next Steps

Zero to Earning Fees Launch a token, earn trading fees, and claim your earnings.

Token Launching Overview Understand how token launching works on Base and Solana.