Symbol Search

Use --search-symbol to check if a pair is available before running a strategy.

This command is standalone and does not require a strategy file.

whale-e --search-symbol <query> [--exchange name] [--limit N] [--exact] [--json] [--json-pretty]

You can run the short form directly:

whale-e --search-symbol btc

Options

OptionDescription
--search-symbol QUERYRequired. Search text (for example btc, btcusdt, ethusd).
--exchange NAMERestricts search to one exchange. Supported values: binance, kucoin, bitget, bybit, okx.
--limit NLimits displayed results. Default: 20.
--exactKeeps only exact matches against the symbol/ticker identifiers.
--jsonReturns structured JSON to stdout.
--json-prettyPretty-prints the JSON payload. Requires --json.

Search is case-insensitive and normalizes input by removing non-alphanumeric characters.

Text output

Default output is human-readable text.

whale-e --search-symbol btcusdt --exchange binance --limit 3

Example output:

Found 12 matching symbol(s); showing 3.
1. BINANCE:BTCUSDT [spot] ticker=BTCUSDT
2. BINANCE:BTCUSDT.P [usdm_futures] ticker=BTCUSDT
3. BINANCE:BTCUSD.P [coinm_futures] ticker=BTCUSD

If no symbol matches the query:

No symbols matched query 'foo'.

JSON output

Enable JSON with --json.

whale-e --search-symbol btc --json

Success payload uses _schema: "whale-e.symbol-search.v1".

  • success: true
  • mode: "search_symbol"
  • query, exact, limit, total_matches
  • exchange_filter only when --exchange is set
  • results[] with rank, exchange, symbol, ticker, market_type, score

The score field is an internal relevance score computed by the engine from exact-match, prefix-match, and substring-match rules.

Example (truncated):

{
  "success": true,
  "_schema": "whale-e.symbol-search.v1",
  "mode": "search_symbol",
  "query": "btc",
  "exact": false,
  "limit": 20,
  "total_matches": 42,
  "results": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "exchange": "binance",
      "symbol": "BINANCE:BTCUSDT",
      "ticker": "BTCUSDT",
      "market_type": "spot",
      "score": 850
    }
  ]
}

Errors in JSON mode use the standard CLI error envelope:

  • success: false
  • _schema: "whale-e.error.v1"
  • mode: "search_symbol"
  • error: { type: string, message: string }

Restrictions

  • --search-symbol cannot be combined with --analyze.
  • --search-symbol cannot be combined with --export-pinescript.
  • --search-symbol cannot be combined with a strategy file argument.
  • In --search-symbol --json mode, only --json-pretty is allowed as a JSON sub-option.
  • In search mode, --json-objective-limit and all --json-include-* options are rejected.
  • --exchange, --limit, and --exact require --search-symbol.