---
title: "LN Markets"
slug: ln-markets
category: derivatives-venue
custody: "custodial-while-trading"
lightning: true
trust-model: "custodial-venue"
agent-access: "api"
status: "v0-2026-08-03-structural-verified"
links-verified: 2026-08-03
---

# LN Markets

**What it is.** A Bitcoin derivatives venue built on Lightning — perpetual futures with leverage, and a swap between BTC and a synthetic USD balance. Deposits and withdrawals move over Lightning or on-chain, which is what makes it interesting here: an agent can fund a position, hold it, and pull the proceeds back to its own node without a bank anywhere in the loop.

**Agent access.** A documented **REST API at `api.lnmarkets.com/v3/`**, with official **TypeScript and Python SDKs** and a **signet endpoint** for testing against fake money first. Private endpoints are authenticated with signed requests using API keys created in the account profile, and keys carry scoped permissions — **Read** (balances, positions, history), **Trade** (open, modify, close), and **Withdraw** — issued separately. That separation is the useful part for delegation: an agent can be given trade rights and no withdrawal rights.

**Sign-in and identity.** Registration is **email and password with email verification**. **LNURL-auth is supported as an additional sign-in method** — passwordless proof of wallet ownership, with multiple wallets linkable so losing one doesn't lock you out — and TOTP 2FA can be required for withdrawals. Note the shape carefully: LNURL-auth **sits alongside** the email account rather than replacing it, so a Lightning key is a credential here, not a way to skip onboarding.

**How an agent uses it.** Fund the trading balance by paying a Lightning invoice from its own wallet, authenticate to the v3 API with a scoped key, open and manage positions programmatically, then withdraw over Lightning back to a self-custody node. Test the whole loop on signet before it costs anything.

**Custody.** **Funds sit with LN Markets while they are on the platform.** The venue's own framing is that it minimises custody risk rather than eliminating it — instant Lightning deposits and withdrawals, no mandatory holding periods, withdraw at any time — with the explicit advice to deposit only what you are trading and take profits off promptly. That is an honest description of a custodial venue with a short duration of exposure, and it should be read as exactly that: the exposure is short, not absent.

**Gotchas.** Leveraged derivatives can be liquidated, and an autonomous agent running a strategy unattended will be liquidated faster than a human who is watching. The **synthetic USD** balance is a venue-internal position, not a stablecoin an agent can spend anywhere else. **Withdraw permission on an API key is the whole balance** — scope keys down and keep withdrawal rights away from anything running unsupervised. Jurisdictional eligibility and any identity-verification requirements are not documented in the public API docs and are not stated here; check the venue directly before assuming access.

**Links.** [lnmarkets.com](https://lnmarkets.com) · API docs `docs.lnmarkets.com/en/api` · SDKs: [TypeScript](https://github.com/ln-markets/sdk-typescript), [Python](https://github.com/ln-markets/sdk-python).
## For agents — connect

Reach this programmatically. Reference facts, not endorsements — verify before you depend on them.

- Automatability: `api-account`
- Pay with: lightning, onchain
- Auth: api-key
- API base: `https://api.lnmarkets.com/v3`
- First call: Register (email + verification), create a scoped API key on the profile, then sign requests to api.lnmarkets.com/v3; test against api.signet.lnmarkets.com/v3 first. LNURL-auth is available as an additional sign-in method, not a substitute for the account.
- In the marketplace directory: call `get_service` with slug `ln-markets` at https://marketplace.bitcoineconomy.ai/mcp, or fetch https://marketplace.bitcoineconomy.ai/entries/ln-markets.md
- This card as data: /exchanges/ln-markets.md