Liquidation Bot

Build a liquidation bot to earn liquidation fees

Liquidation bots monitor accounts and liquidate undercollateralized positions to earn fees.

Overview

Liquidation bots:

1. Monitor all user accounts
2. Identify accounts below maintenance margin
3. Execute liquidations to earn fees
4. Help maintain protocol solvency

Basic Liquidation Bot

liquidation-bot.ts

import {
  DriftClient,
  BulkAccountLoader,
  User,
  MarketType,
  SpotBalanceType,
  convertToNumber,
  QUOTE_PRECISION,
  BN,
} from '@drift-labs/sdk';
import { PublicKey } from '@solana/web3.js';

class LiquidationBot {
  private driftClient: DriftClient;
  private userMap: Map<string, User> = new Map();

  constructor(driftClient: DriftClient) {
    this.driftClient = driftClient;
  }

  async run() {
    console.log('Liquidation bot starting...');

    // Load all user accounts
    await this.loadUserAccounts();

    // Check for liquidations every 10 seconds
    setInterval(async () => {
      await this.checkLiquidations();
    }, 10000);
  }

  async loadUserAccounts() {
    console.log('Loading user accounts...');

    // Get all user account public keys
    const userAccounts = await this.driftClient.program.account.user.all();

    console.log(`Found ${userAccounts.length} user accounts`);

    // Create User instances for monitoring
    for (const account of userAccounts.slice(0, 100)) { // Limit for example
      const user = new User({
        driftClient: this.driftClient,
        userAccountPublicKey: account.publicKey,
        accountSubscription: {
          type: 'polling',
          accountLoader: this.driftClient.accountSubscriber.accountLoader,
        },
      });

      await user.subscribe();
      this.userMap.set(account.publicKey.toBase58(), user);
    }

    console.log(`Monitoring ${this.userMap.size} accounts`);
  }

  async checkLiquidations() {
    console.log('\nChecking for liquidations...');

    for (const [pubkey, user] of this.userMap) {
      try {
        await user.fetchAccounts();

        // Check if account can be liquidated
        const canBeLiquidated = user.canBeLiquidated();

        if (canBeLiquidated) {
          console.log(`\n🚨 Found liquidatable account: ${pubkey}`);

          // Get account details
          const totalCollateral = user.getTotalCollateral();
          const marginRequirement = user.getMaintenanceMarginRequirement();
          const health = user.getHealth();

          console.log('  Collateral:', convertToNumber(totalCollateral, QUOTE_PRECISION));
          console.log('  Margin req:', convertToNumber(marginRequirement, QUOTE_PRECISION));
          console.log('  Health:', health.toString());

          // Attempt liquidation
          await this.liquidateUser(user);
        }
      } catch (error) {
        console.error(`Error checking ${pubkey}:`, error.message);
      }
    }
  }

  async liquidateUser(user: User) {
    const userAccount = user.getUserAccount();

    // Liquidate perp positions
    const perpPositions = user.getActivePerpPositions();
    
    for (const position of perpPositions) {
      try {
        console.log(`  Liquidating perp position ${position.marketIndex}...`);

        const txSig = await this.driftClient.liquidatePerp(
          userAccount.authority,
          userAccount,
          position.marketIndex,
          position.baseAssetAmount.abs() // Max amount
        );

        console.log(`  Liquidated perp: ${txSig}`);
      } catch (error) {
        console.error(`  Failed to liquidate perp:`, error.message);
      }
    }

    // Liquidate spot positions
    const spotPositions = user.getActiveSpotPositions();
    
    for (const position of spotPositions) {
      if (position.balanceType === SpotBalanceType.BORROW) {
        try {
          console.log(`  Liquidating spot borrow ${position.marketIndex}...`);

          const txSig = await this.driftClient.liquidateBorrowForPerpPnl(
            userAccount.authority,
            userAccount,
            position.marketIndex,
            0, // USDC market
            user.getTokenAmount(position.marketIndex).abs()
          );

          console.log(`  Liquidated spot: ${txSig}`);
        } catch (error) {
          console.error(`  Failed to liquidate spot:`, error.message);
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

// Run the bot
async function main() {
  // Initialize DriftClient (see guides/initialization for setup)
  const driftClient = /* initialize your DriftClient */ ;
  
  const bot = new LiquidationBot(driftClient);
  await bot.run();
}

main().catch(console.error);

Key Concepts

Liquidation conditions

Accounts are liquidatable when:

• Total collateral < Maintenance margin requirement
• Account health < 0

Liquidation fees

Liquidators earn a percentage of the liquidated position as a fee.

Partial liquidations

The protocol uses partial liquidations to minimize impact.

Insurance fund

When liquidations result in bad debt, the insurance fund covers losses.

Production Considerations

Efficient Account Monitoring

// Use WebSocket or gRPC for real-time updates
const driftClient = new DriftClient({
  // ...
  accountSubscription: {
    type: 'websocket',
  },
});

// Listen for account updates
driftClient.eventEmitter.on('userAccountUpdate', async (account) => {
  // Check if liquidatable
});

Priority Fees

Liquidations are competitive. Use priority fees to win:

import { ComputeBudgetProgram } from '@solana/web3.js';

// Add priority fee
const priorityFee = ComputeBudgetProgram.setComputeUnitPrice({
  microLamports: 100_000,
});

Risk Management

• Collateral: Maintain sufficient collateral for liquidations
• Gas costs: Monitor profitability vs gas costs
• Competition: Be prepared for failed transactions

Running liquidation bots requires capital and technical expertise. Test thoroughly on devnet first.

Next Steps

Keeper Bots Repo

Production keeper implementations

Liquidation Concepts

Understanding liquidations