A guide to Moose
Learn what to expect when you trade with Moose.
Moose is a trading app on Monad, the network where your transactions take place. Start with how your wallet connects, what you need to approve, and who pays the network fees. Then learn how swaps, borrowing, and bots work.
On this page
Before your first trade
Connect the wallet that holds the tokens you want to trade. Moose gives it a personal smart account: a contract controlled by your wallet that carries out your trades and checks their permissions.
- 01Pay from your walletSupplies the tokens you want to sell.
- 02Trade through your accountCarries out the swap using your permissions.
- 03Receive in your walletReceives the tokens you bought.
Signing in for one-click trading
Connecting your wallet lets Moose see its address. Signing in asks your wallet to authorize a trading session for up to 24 hours. A temporary session key then signs supported trades, so you don't get a wallet popup each time.
The session key signs the trade; the tokens still come from and go to your connected wallet. It has limited permissions and is kept in an isolated part of your browser, without being sent to Moose servers.
To confirm each trade in your wallet instead, choose Sign each trade. Both modes use your personal smart account.
Why your wallet asks for approval
Before a token can leave your wallet, you must approve a token allowance: permission for your smart account to use that token, up to an amount you choose. You confirm this in your connected wallet, even with one-click trading enabled.
This extra wallet confirmation keeps you in control of token access. The session key cannot give itself permission to spend more of your wallet's tokens. You are approving your own personal smart account, rather than a universal router contract shared by all Moose users.
Choose Custom to set an amount, or Max for an unlimited allowance. Custom starts with the amount needed for that token in your current trade, which you can edit before approving. The approval itself does not move your tokens or place a trade. You may be prompted again when using a different token or when your remaining allowance is too low.
Getting MON ready for gas
Monad charges a network fee, called gas, to process transactions. Gas is paid in MON, the network's native token. Moose checks whether you qualify for gas sponsorship during sign-in.
If you qualify, Moose funds the session key and covers eligible one-click network fees, subject to available funds and limits. If you don't qualify, sign-in asks you to deposit MON from your connected wallet before one-click trading is ready.
The Total gas deposit field sets the total MON sent from your wallet. This amount tops up the session key when needed, and the remainder goes to your account's gas escrow. For example, a 5 MON deposit with a 2 MON session-key shortfall sends 2 MON to the key and 3 MON to escrow. The wallet's network fee is separate. Smaller deposits can partially top up the key; Moose may ask you to refill again before trading.
Sponsorship does not cover swap fees or loan interest. Token approvals and trades in Sign each trade mode are wallet transactions, so your connected wallet pays their network fees directly.
When you come back
Closing the browser ends access to the temporary session key. You'll need to sign in with your connected wallet again when you return. The key is not saved for your next visit, and a session also needs renewing after its 24-hour permission expires.
Signing out does not move your wallet funds, repay a loan, or remove existing token allowances. Open loans continue to accrue interest and carry liquidation risk while you're away.
Swaps, margin, and shorts
Before choosing a trade, it helps to know where the tokens you sell will come from:
- Swap
- Exchange tokens you already own. You pay from your wallet and receive the token you buy, with no loan to repay.
- Margin
- Set aside tokens as collateral to back a loan. Borrow tokens, then sell them for another token. The sale proceeds go to your wallet; the loan remains until you repay it, plus interest.
- Short
- Borrow and sell a token hoping its price falls, so you can buy it back for less and repay the loan. A rising price makes repayment more expensive.
With margin, your collateral stays in the lending market while it backs your debt. If it no longer provides enough backing, it can be sold to repay the loan—a risk called liquidation. The margin guide walks through an example and how to manage an open loan.
What the account checks
- Your wallet stays in control of the account.
- The session key can perform only the actions it has permission to use, before that permission expires.
- Each swap must use the approved tokens and amounts, and meet your minimum received.
- The account checks actual token balances to confirm what was paid and received.
Swapping tokens
A swap exchanges one token for another—for example, MON for USDC. Moose compares prices across markets and can spread your swap across several of them to find a better rate.
Make your first swap
- 01Choose tokensPick the token to pay with and the one to receive.
- 02Review the quoteEnter an amount. Check what you’ll receive, your minimum, and the fees.
- 03Confirm the swapApprove token access if prompted, then confirm your trade.
If prompted, confirm the token allowance in your connected wallet first. After that, one-click mode can sign supported swaps for you. Changing tokens or exceeding an allowance may require another wallet approval.
When the price changes
The amount shown before you trade is an estimate, called a quote. Prices can move before your trade finishes. The difference between the quote and what you receive is called slippage.
Your slippage setting limits how much less you will accept. For a quote of 100 USDC with 1% slippage, you must receive at least 99 USDC after fees.
Network fees
The Monad network charges a fee to process a transaction. This is often called gas. Moose's extra price checks can use more gas than a simpler swap.
Check the Network Fee row before confirming. Some one-click trades have this fee covered by Moose.
Borrowing & margin
On Moose, a margin trade is a token loan followed by a swap. You deposit tokens you own as collateral, or use collateral you already have. You then borrow a token and sell it for another token. Moose uses the Neverland lending market to hold your collateral and track the loan.
- 01Add collateralSet aside tokens to back your loan.
- 02Borrow tokensTake a loan against that collateral.
- 03TradeSell the borrowed tokens and receive the proceeds in your wallet.
The tokens you buy arrive in your connected wallet, but you still owe the borrowed token plus interest. Swapping the proceeds or closing Moose does not repay that debt. To finish the trade, you need enough of the borrowed token to repay the loan; then you can withdraw collateral if no other debt needs it.
How a short works
A short is a trade that benefits if a token's price falls. You borrow the token, sell it, then buy it back to repay the loan. If buying it back costs more, you lose money.
Understanding your loan
Loan-to-value (LTV) compares how much you owe with the value of your collateral. A higher LTV means less room for prices to move against you.
In Pro mode, select Margin and enter how much you want to borrow and sell. Moose selects existing collateral by default and shows how the trade changes the LTV across your whole portfolio.
To add collateral from your wallet, choose a token and either enter an amount or set a target LTV:
- Enter a token amount
- Your deposit amount stays fixed as prices change. The resulting LTV may move.
- Set a target LTV
- Moose adjusts the deposit as prices and your trade size change, accounting for your existing collateral and debt.
The target starts at 50%, or lower if the market requires it. For MON collateral, use WMON, the wrapped version of MON.
Adding, withdrawing, or repaying later
- Deposit / Withdraw
- Add more of a collateral token you already use, or return it to your wallet. Withdrawals depend on your loan’s health and the tokens available in the lending market.
- Borrow to wallet
- Borrow more of a token you already owe and receive it in your wallet, without a swap.
- Repay
- Pay back an amount you choose. Max uses your wallet balance, up to the debt currently shown.
- Close debt
- Repay the full debt, including interest added before confirmation. You need a small extra balance to cover that interest.
- Close position
- For a position with one debt, repay it and withdraw the selected collateral together.
With no debt and enough tokens available in the market, Max withdrawal includes earned interest. To add a new collateral token, start with a margin trade.
Watching your loan’s health
When a loan no longer has enough backing, collateral can be taken to repay it. This is called liquidation, and it also carries a penalty.
Your health factor helps you track this risk. At 1 or below, the loan can be liquidated. Being just above 1 leaves very little room for prices to change.
Falling collateral prices, rising prices for the tokens you owe, and loan interest can all lower your health factor. Adding collateral or repaying debt can improve it, but the transaction may not finish in time to prevent liquidation.
Trading with bots
A bot places trades automatically using a strategy you choose. You decide which tokens it can trade and how much it can spend. Bots are available where your selected region supports them.
Set up a bot
- 01Choose a strategyPick the tokens, trading rules, and spending limits.
- 02Add fundsApprove the tokens you want the bot to use.
- 03Start the botConfirm the setup to fund its account and allow it to trade.
What your bot can do
Each bot holds its tokens in a separate account called a vault. Its permission limits which token pairs it can trade, the size of each trade, its total budget, and when it must stop.
Manage a bot
- Fund
- Add more tokens from your wallet.
- Edit
- Update the strategy or limits. Changing what the bot is allowed to do requires your wallet’s approval.
- Pause
- Stop scheduling new trades. Pausing keeps the bot’s trading permission in place.
- Close
- Remove the bot’s trading permission and return the tokens covered by it to your wallet.
- Review
- See completed trades, transaction links, remaining tokens, and recorded gains or losses.
Understanding fees
Moose may charge the fees below when enabled. Network fees, fees from the markets you trade on, loan interest, and liquidation penalties are separate costs.
When a swap beats your quote
If your swap returns more tokens than quoted, Moose can keep a share of the extra. This is a positive-slippage fee. It does not apply when the swap returns the quoted amount or less.
Total fee capped at 0.5% of the quoted amount
You keep any further improvement beyond that first 1%. The amount you receive must still meet your slippage minimum after the fee.
When collateral earns interest
Collateral balances, withdrawal Max, and the “You receive” field show estimated amounts after fees. Enter the amount you want to receive; Moose includes the fee in the collateral redeemed. Final proceeds can change slightly as interest accrues before execution.
If your collateral earns interest, Moose can charge a fee on those earnings when you withdraw or use collateral to repay a loan. Your original deposit is excluded.
No earnings means no fee of this type
For a partial withdrawal, only the earnings in that withdrawal count, plus any unpaid fee from earlier repayments using collateral. Repaying with collateral records the fee on the earnings it uses and reserves enough collateral to pay it on a later withdrawal or close. A small withdrawal can go entirely toward that unpaid fee. Borrowing and repaying from your wallet do not incur this fee. Loan interest is a separate cost and does not reduce the earnings used to calculate it.
Technical reference
For a closer look at market pricing, the system design, and the math behind each swap, explore the details below.
Explore how Moose routes a trade
Markets & pricing
Some markets use a liquidity provider’s own pricing model. These are called proprietary automated market makers (Prop AMMs). Their prices and available trade sizes can change between the quote and the trade, so Moose checks what can actually be executed.
Routing models
| Routing decision | Fixed split | Moose |
|---|---|---|
| Allocation | Before signing | During execution |
| When rates move | Keep the earlier split | Reassign remaining input |
| Contract work | Fewer calls | Probes + recalculation |
| Minimum received | Revert if the minimum cannot be met | |
System overview
- 01ServicesBuild and stream signed candidate routes
- 02BrowserCalculate quotes and prepare operations
- 03ContractsCheck permissions, route, and settle
Live quotes
Signed route data and account state stream to the browser. Amount edits update the quote locally without a new request. Route authorizations include token pairs, capacities, permitted contracts, and an expiry.
- Public stream
- Market data; no wallet required.
- Private stream
- Authenticated account state and operations, managed by the isolated signer.
- Result stream
- Executed route, received output, transaction hash, and status.
Quote vs. execution
Liquidity can change between quote and settlement. A split chosen earlier may leave output on the table, even when it meets the slippage minimum.
Marginal rates
Allocate exact input Q across routes to maximize total output. Each route receives xᵢ, returns Fᵢ(xᵢ), and has capacity cᵢ.
The marginal rate, mᵢ(x) = F′ᵢ(x), is the output from the next unit of input. At the optimum, active routes below capacity share the same marginal rate.
Waterfill solve
The solver searches for a shared rate λ. Each route receives input until it reaches λ or its capacity. Bisection adjusts λ until allocations total Q; rounding goes to the best remaining rate.
- Unused
mᵢ(0) ≤ λ- Active
mᵢ(xᵢ) = λ- At capacity
mᵢ(cᵢ) ≥ λ
These conditions give the global optimum for increasing, concave, independent curves and divisible input.
Adaptive execution
Initial probes test each route with up to 5% of total input. Each probe returns a measurement and rolls back its token and pool changes.
- 01SolveWater-fill using the latest curves
- 02AttemptTry the best-rate allocation in isolation
- 03MeasureUpdate rates and remaining capacity
A size-related revert lowers the next attempt's limit. Uncommitted input returns to the solve. Live measurements cannot expand signed routes or capacities.
Settlement
- Attempt budget
- Per route: 5 + route count ordinary attempts, then up to two smaller attempts.
- Gas reserve
- 180,000 gas. At the reserve, send the full remainder to one eligible route or revert.
- Final checks
- All input spent; measured balances match; net output meets the minimum.
Shared liquidity, integer rounding, and failed routes can reduce fill quality or cause a revert. The mathematical optimum is not a guarantee for live execution.