Moving a Hyperliquid Bot from Testnet to Mainnet: What Breaks

Joshua Yap — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 07:50:26 GMT

Adapted from our full Hyperliquid testnet guide on the Hydromancer blog, which also covers test funds, the API addresses and HyperEVM setup.

Your bot works on Hyperliquid's testnet. Before you point it at mainnet, check these, because each one can break your code or send the wrong order.

Market IDs change between networks

Orders refer to markets by number, and the numbers don't match:

from hyperliquid.info import Info
from hyperliquid.utils import constants

def asset_ids(url):
    universe = Info(url, skip_ws=True).meta()["universe"]
    return {asset["name"]: i for i, asset in enumerate(universe)}

test, main = asset_ids(constants.TESTNET_API_URL), asset_ids(constants.MAINNET_API_URL)
for coin in ["BTC", "ETH", "SOL", "HYPE"]:
    print(f"{coin}: mainnet asset {main[coin]}, testnet asset {test[coin]}")

BTC: mainnet asset 0, testnet asset 3
ETH: mainnet asset 1, testnet asset 4
SOL: mainnet asset 5, testnet asset 0
HYPE: mainnet asset 159, testnet asset 135

Of the 207 perps on both networks, only one had the same ID. Spot pairs differ too: HYPE/USDC is named @107 on mainnet and @1035 on testnet. Read IDs from meta and spotMeta on the network you trade on, every time.

Testnet prices aren't real prices

Testnet has its own order books and traders:

from hyperliquid.info import Info
from hyperliquid.utils import constants

testnet = Info(constants.TESTNET_API_URL, skip_ws=True)
mainnet = Info(constants.MAINNET_API_URL, skip_ws=True)

for coin in ["BTC", "ETH", "HYPE"]:
    print(coin, "testnet:", testnet.all_mids()[coin], "| mainnet:", mainnet.all_mids()[coin])

BTC testnet: 81679.5 | mainnet: 81332.5
ETH testnet: 2379.2 | mainnet: 2383.95
HYPE testnet: 86.4825 | mainnet: 77.3055

Use testnet to check that your code works, not to judge fills, slippage or a strategy. For backtests, use mainnet history such as the free Reservoir archive.

The errors you'll hit, and what they mean

Error	Cause	Fix
`Order must have minimum value of $10.`	Size times price is under $10	Raise the size
`Order has invalid price.` / `Price must be divisible by tick size.`	The price breaks the tick rules (at most 5 significant figures; limited decimals)	Round the price
`Insufficient margin to place order.`	Not enough USDC for that size	Add funds or cut the size
`Post only order would have immediately matched…`	An `Alo` order priced through the book	Price it behind the best bid or ask
`User or API Wallet 0x… does not exist.`	The key isn't approved on this network, its approval expired, or you signed for the other network	Approve the API wallet on this network
`Cannot set scheduled cancel time until enough volume traded.`	The dead man's switch needs $1,000,000 of traded volume	Test it on mainnet, with care

The order rejections come back inside a top-level "status": "ok", so check each order's own status, not just the response.

Catch rounding errors before you send

This helper rounds a perp order to the market's rules and checks the $10 minimum:

from hyperliquid.info import Info
from hyperliquid.utils import constants

info = Info(constants.TESTNET_API_URL, skip_ws=True)
sz_decimals = {asset["name"]: asset["szDecimals"] for asset in info.meta()["universe"]}

def prepare_order(coin, size, price):
    """Round a perp order to Hyperliquid's rules and check the $10 minimum."""
    decimals = sz_decimals[coin]                      # KeyError here means the coin isn't on this network
    size = round(size, decimals)
    price = float(f"{price:.5g}")                     # at most 5 significant figures
    if price != int(price):
        price = round(price, 6 - decimals)            # and at most 6 - szDecimals decimals on perps
    if size * price < 10:
        raise ValueError(f"Order value ${size * price:.2f} is under the $10 minimum")
    return size, price

print(prepare_order("BTC", 0.0012345678, 40887.123456))
print(prepare_order("ETH", 0.0123456, 1234.56789))
try:
    prepare_order("BTC", 0.0001, 40887)
except ValueError as e:
    print("Rejected before sending:", e)

(0.00123, 40887.0)
(0.0123, 1234.6)
Rejected before sending: Order value $4.09 is under the $10 minimum

Before you switch to mainnet

Swap the API and WebSocket URLs, and for HyperEVM the RPC URL and chain ID (999).
Approve an API wallet on mainnet.
Remove hardcoded asset IDs, prices, leverage and size rules.
Keep the per-order status checks.
Re-check rate limits under real traffic.