A full-stack crypto exchange. CLOB + frontend + market-making bots.

Building a Crypto Exchange

Project Structure

exchange/
├── apps/
│   ├── backend/              # Rust Axum API + matching engine
│   │   └── db/               # PostgreSQL + ClickHouse
│   ├── frontend/             # Next.js trading interface
│   └── bots/                 # Market-making bots
├── packages/
│   ├── shared/               # Shared schemas (OpenAPI, WebSocket)
│   └── sdk/                  # Multi-language SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Rust)
└── docker-compose.yaml       # Infra

Demo

One-click Railway deployment with live trading: authentication via Turnkey embedded wallet, real-time candle data after a few hours of market activity, and executing both market and limit orders.

demo.mp4

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Quick Start
  • Available Commands
  • Environment Configuration
  • API Documentation
• Architecture
  • Exchange Overview
  • Backend
    • Matching Engine
    • Database
    • API
  • Frontend
  • Bots
  • Testing & Deployment
• Improvements
• License

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust
• Node.js and Bun
• Docker and Docker Compose
• Just

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone git@github.com:trevor-trinh/exchange.git
cd exchange

# Start everything with docker compose
docker compose up -d

Start Services Individually

# Install dependencies
just install

# Start databases
just db

# Start the backend
just backend

# Start the frontend
just frontend

# Start market-making bots
just bots

Access the app at:

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend: http://localhost:8888
• Swagger UI: http://localhost:8888/api/docs
• PostgreSQL: postgresql://localhost:5432
• ClickHouse: http://localhost:8123

🏗️ Architecture

Exchange Overview

This exchange is built as a modern, full-featured trading system with the following components:

• Backend
  • API: REST and WebSocket APIs with multi-language SDK support
  • Database: Dual architecture with PostgreSQL (OLTP) and ClickHouse (OLAP)
  • Matching Engine: In-memory orderbook with price-time priority matching
• Frontend: Next.js application with TradingView integration and embedded wallet
• Bots: Automated market makers with external market integration
• Testing & Deployment: Containerized development and one-click deployment

---

Backend

Matching Engine

The matching engine is the core of the exchange, handling order placement, matching, and execution.

• Orderbook: In-memory B-tree implementation with price-time priority, O(log n) complexity
• Matcher: Price-time priority algorithm with continuous matching and partial fills
• Executor: Atomic trade execution with balance locking and transaction rollback

Database

The exchange uses a dual-database architecture optimized for different workloads:

• ClickHouse (OLAP): Materialized views for real-time candlestick aggregation and time-series analytics
• PostgreSQL (OLTP): Primary transactional database storing users, tokens, markets, orders, balances, and trades

API

• REST & WebSocket: OpenAPI-documented REST endpoints and real-time WebSocket subscriptions powered by Tokio
• Multi-language SDKs: TypeScript, Python, and Rust clients auto-generated from OpenAPI and JSON Schema

---

Frontend

Modern Next.js trading interface with professional features:

• Zustand: Lightweight state management with real-time WebSocket synchronization
• TypeScript SDK: Type-safe API client with WebSocket subscriptions
• TradingView: Advanced charting with custom drawing tools and real-time updates
• Turnkey: Embedded wallet with secure key management, no browser extension required
  • Note: When deploying, ensure NEXT_PUBLIC_ORGANIZATION_ID and NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH_PROXY_CONFIG_ID are set as build-time environment variables

---

Bots

Automated market-making bots to provide liquidity:

• BTC/USDC: Hyperliquid mirror bot that replicates order book depth with configurable risk parameters
• BP/USDC: LMSR (Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule) market maker with dynamic spread adjustment (planned)

---

Testing & Deployment

• Devcontainers: Easily start dev enviornment with tools pre-installed
• Testcontainers: Integration testing with isolated database instances and automated cleanup
• GitHub Actions: Automated CI/CD pipeline for testing and deployment
• Railway: Super-duper easy deployment. Try it out!

Improvements

Features and improvements to consider for production:

• perps
• pnl
• deposits / withdrawals
• helllaaa latency
• write ahead log lmao
• design for concurrency across multiple markets
• metrics & alerting
• backups & disaster recovery
• scaling / k8s
• mm channel prioritization
• cancel prioritization

License

MIT