> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.helius.dev/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Guides for Traders

> Build trading systems on Solana: see transactions first with Preconfirmations, land trades first with Sender, and stream market data with LaserStream.

Trading systems win on two things: seeing transactions early and landing your own quickly.

This path follows that order, starting with the earliest transaction signals Helius offers (Preconfirmations) and ending with the fastest way to land trades onchain (Sender).

## Building a trading system on Solana

Here are the core components of high-performance trading systems on Solana:

### Get the earliest signal

[Preconfirmations](/docs/pre-confirmations/overview) come straight from validator schedulers, before shreds exist. Coverage is partial and it needs a Professional plan, so use it for the trades where being first matters most.

Follow the [Trade on Preconfirmations](/docs/pre-confirmations/guides/trade-on-preconfirmations) guide to get started.

### Fill in coverage gaps

Because Helius Preconfirmations only cover \~40% of all transactions on Solana, you need coverage for the remaining transactions.

If you have the ability to process [Raw Shreds](/docs/shred-delivery/raw-shreds) yourself, start there.

If you don't want to run deshredding infrastructure, use Preprocessed Transactions, which are raw shreds that we deshred for you.

Shreds and Preprocessed Transactions are slower than Preconfs but cover all of Solana's transactions, which makes them the best tool for watching an entire program or pool.

Follow [Trade on Preprocessed Transactions](/docs/preprocessed-transactions/guides/trade-on-preprocessed) to get started.

### Track pool state with LaserStream

Pre-execution feeds show what a transaction intends, not what it did. Account and pool state changes first appear post-execution, and LaserStream at the `processed` commitment level is the fastest way to get this data.

Use LaserStream gRPC or WebSockets for pricing and position tracking, subscribing to programs, listening to accounts, and more.

Follow the [Stream Pump AMM Data with LaserStream](/docs/laserstream/guides/stream-pump-amm-data) guide to get started.

### Land trades first

Once you have low-latency signal streams online, you need a way to reliably land trades onchain before competitors.

Use Sender Max to build a send loop with connection warming, live-priced fees, and confirmation with retries.

Follow [Land Trades with Sender](/docs/sending-transactions/guides/land-trades-with-sender) to get started.

### Measure your latency

To ensure your trading system is operating at max performance, benchmark end-to-end delivery across endpoints.

Follow the [Measuring Latency](/docs/laserstream/guides/measuring-latency) guide to get started.

## Key products

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Preconfirmations (Preconfs)" icon="stopwatch" href="/docs/pre-confirmations/overview">
    Stream scheduled transactions; the earliest signal on Solana
  </Card>

  <Card title="Shred Delivery" icon="network-wired" href="/docs/shred-delivery">
    Raw shreds delivered via UDP; deshredding infra required
  </Card>

  <Card title="Preprocessed Transactions" icon="bolt" href="/docs/preprocessed-transactions/overview">
    Decoded shreds; no deshredding infra required
  </Card>

  <Card title="Helius Sender" icon="paper-plane" href="/docs/sending-transactions/sender">
    Fast lane for landing trades: no API credits, pay per send with SOL tips
  </Card>

  <Card title="LaserStream gRPC" icon="tower-broadcast" href="/docs/laserstream">
    Ultra-low-latency processed streams with historical replay and redundancy
  </Card>

  <Card title="Priority Fee API" icon="gauge-high" href="/docs/priority-fee-api">
    Estimate the fee that gets your transaction into the next block
  </Card>

  <Card title="Transaction Rebates" icon="coins" href="/docs/sending-transactions/backrun-rebates">
    Earn automatic SOL rebates via post-trade backruns
  </Card>

  <Card title="MEV Protection" icon="shield-halved" href="/docs/sending-transactions/mev-protect">
    Protect your transactions from malicious sandwich attacks
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Guides

Browse all trader-focused tutorials on the [Guides overview](/docs/guides/overview) page.