Staked Connections

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What are Staked Connections?

Staked Connections are a premium feature from Helius that provide a direct path to Solana validators through staked RPC nodes. These connections significantly improve transaction confirmation times and success rates by bypassing traditional transaction propagation mechanisms.

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How Staked Connections Work

When you send a transaction through a staked connection:

1. Your transaction is sent directly to the current leader validator
2. The transaction bypasses the traditional gossip network
3. This reduces confirmation latency and increases the likelihood of inclusion in the next block

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Staked Connection Options

Helius offers two ways to access staked connections:

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1. Shared Staked Endpoint (Default)

This option allows you to use staked connections through the standard Helius RPC endpoint when certain criteria are met.

• Requirements:

  • Priority fees meet or exceed the recommended value provided by the Priority Fee API
  • Set maxRetries to 0 in your transaction send options

• Endpoint: https://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=YOUR_API_KEY

• Cost: 1 credit per request

• Usage metrics: Displayed as sendTransactionWithStake in your dashboard

• Tips:

  • Check if you’re getting staked connections by logging the X-Helius-ConnectionType response header
  • The header value will be either regular or staked

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2. Dedicated Staked Endpoint

This premium option is recommended for traders or applications that need guaranteed access to staked connections, especially during market congestion.

• Benefits:

  • Guaranteed access to staked connections regardless of network conditions
  • Transactions sent over an optimized network across Asia, Europe, and North America
  • Minimizes latency and confirmation times

• Endpoint: https://staked.helius-rpc.com?api-key=YOUR_API_KEY

• Cost: 50 credits per request

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Optimizing for Staked Connections

To get the most out of staked connections, we recommend these additional optimizations for latency-sensitive traders:

1. Regional Optimization

   • Send transactions from Eastern US or Western Europe
   • Consider Frankfurt or Pittsburgh for co-location with Helius transaction-sending servers
   • Avoid sending from regions far from the validator network (e.g., LATAM or South Africa)

2. Cache Warming

   • Send a getHealth call every second using the same endpoint & API key you use for sending transactions
   • Only one warming thread is required per region (additional warming threads provide no benefit)

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Using Staked Connections

Staked connections are automatically used when:

1. You send transactions via Smart Transactions with appropriate priority fees
2. You send transactions directly to the staked endpoint
3. You meet the requirements for the shared staked connection (correct priority fee + maxRetries=0)

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Example: Direct Usage with Web3.js

import { Connection, Keypair, SystemProgram } from '@solana/web3.js';

// Initialize connection to Helius staked endpoint
const connection = new Connection('https://staked.helius-rpc.com?api-key=YOUR_API_KEY');

// Create and sign transaction
// ...

// Send with recommended settings
const signature = await connection.sendRawTransaction(serializedTransaction, {
  skipPreflight: true,
  maxRetries: 0
});

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Example: Checking Connection Type

// Using fetch directly to access headers
const response = await fetch('https://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=YOUR_API_KEY', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    jsonrpc: '2.0',
    id: '1',
    method: 'sendTransaction',
    params: [
      serializedTransaction,
      { skipPreflight: true, maxRetries: 0 }
    ]
  })
});

// Check if using staked connection
const connectionType = response.headers.get('X-Helius-ConnectionType');
console.log(`Using ${connectionType} connection`); // Will show "staked" or "regular"