Testnet V2 Tutorial
Welcome to the updated Surge Pre-Production Testnet!
Surge is a non-custodial, user friendly trade automation platform built for the Cardano blockchain. The protocol reflects Cardano’s values of decentralization and user sovereignty by making locally-run algorithmic trading power accessible by all Cardano users.
We hope to help as many teams and individuals get familiar with using Surge, as we believe driving growth in on-chain volume and transactions using the Surge protocol can be a positive factor in Cardano adoption.
The Surge testnet gives anyone the chance to experiment with Surge’s infrastructure in a safe environment before moving to mainnet. Feedback is appreciated and can be sent in the Feedback channel of the Surge Discord: https://discord.gg/ckE64NBGUK
What you'll see in Surge Testnet V2:
Dashboard:
Monitor your automated trading performance and portfolio
Wallet/Fund Management:
Create multiple Cardano trading wallets and store their keys locally
Manage individual wallets, including manual asset sending and trading pair association for each
Strategies
Configure, run, and view multiple trading strategies
Setting up Testnet Wallet
Set up a new or load up an existing Pre-Production Testnet wallet. We recommend Eternl. Surge can currently trade through Minswap Pre-Production Testnet pools.
Request some PreProd Testnet ADA from the Cardano Testnet Faucet to your PreProd wallet.
Once you have recieved 10,000 tADA to your PreProd wallet, visit the Minswap Pre Production Testnet website and connect your PreProd Cardano dapp wallet. Find the ADA/tSURGE pair and purchase around 5,000 ADA worth of tSURGE. If the Minswap Pre-Prod website is inaccessible, you will have to create a strategy where only Buy orders are executed to build up reserves of tSURGE. This will be shown in following steps. Although we recommend the ADA/tSURGE pool because if pricing and liquidity, any pool on Minswap can be used if you have the assets.
You now hold tADA and tSURGE, which you can use on Surge.
Connecting to Surge Testnet dApp
Connect your PreProd wallet in the Surge dApp here: https://testnet.surgecardano.com/dashboard
Click Grant Access so the dApp can read your wallet balances and allow you to interact with the dApp.
Your dashboard will load up with information pertaining to your Surge strategy execution:
All figures will initially be at 0. Let's change that.
Creating Wallets
At the top of the page, select the trading pair you would like to use. For this tutorial, choose ADA/tSURGE. Once a pair is selected, your dashboard, wallets, and trading strategies will all be tied to that pair.
In the future, users will be able to run strategies across multiple pairs, with each pair having its own dedicated strategies and wallets managed through the pair selector.
Next, navigate to the Wallets page.
The Wallets page shows all wallets linked to your account and selected pair. Since you are just starting, there will be none created.
Click Generate to begin creating wallets.
⚠️ Note: Ensure the ADA/tSURGE or pair you are going to use is selected in the top right of the app before generating wallets. If this is not done wallets will have to be tagged with the pair individually.
A popup will appear where you can generate up to 500 wallets. For testing purposes with 5,000 tADA, we recommend starting with 5-20 wallets. After selecting the number of wallets you want, press Generate x Wallets.
Surge will then create the number wallets you specified, and they will appear in your Wallets list.
💡 Tip: You can always generate more wallets later if you need additional capacity for new strategies.
Funding Your Account
To begin, click on one of the wallets in your wallets list.
You will be brought to the summary page for the wallet you selected. Now select Receive.
A receive address will appear. Copy this address.
From your Cardano Preprod wallet, manually send all 5,000 tADA and all of the tSURGE you purchased to the address you copied. If you were not able to buy tSURGE, just import all 10,000 tADA.
Note: You do not need to worry about funding specific wallets. The system will automatically distribute funds to different wallets when necessary.
Your Surge account is now funded.
Creating Strategies
Now that your have generated 10 wallets and funded your account PreProd ADA and tSURGE, you can start building strategies. Begin by selecting Strategies from the left navigation panel.
The Strategies page will be blank at first. To create a new strategy, click Create Strategy in the top right corner.
A popup will appear where you will configure your strategy.
Begin by setting your desired daily net buy and sell volumes of tSURGE, both denominated in ADA.
Daily Buy Volume: Amount of ADA used to purchase tSURGE each day (ADA → tSURGE).
Daily Sell Volume: Amount of tSURGE sold for ADA each day, in terms of ADA (tSURGE → ADA).
Your total daily volume is the sum of buys and sells. If buys exceed sells (or vice versa), your account will experience a net buy or net sell of tSURGE, which will shift the balance between tADA and tSURGE. This behavior can be used strategically depending on your goals - such as buying tSURGE
For testnet, we recommend setting buys and sells evenly to maintain balanced holdings of both tADA and tSURGE. with 5,000 ADA/5,000 tSURGE, a maximum trade size of 500 ADA and a maximum daily volume of 250,000 ADA is advised to maintain stability.
Please note that tADA is limited to 10,000 tADA per day from the faucet. Be mindful of net-buy strategies, as the Surge team cannot provide additional tADA for testnet users.
The next variables to set are the minimum and maximum trade size in ADA. Surge will randomly select a value within this range for each trade. For testnet, keep trade size at maximum 500 ADA.
Minimum Trade Size: Smallest trade size in ADA.
Maximum Trade Size: Largest trade size in ADA.
At the bottom of the page you will see duration. This determines the duration over which the total entereed by and sell volumes are executed. To achieve these entered numbers in 24 hours, select 24 hours. You can play with different configurations as well, just rememebr to keep the daily 24 hour volume under 250,000 to align with your test ADA liquidity.
Your strategy is now configured. Select Create Bot to save your strategy and prepare it for execution.
Your bot strategy has been created and is now listed on the Strategies page. To begin running your strategy, press on it.
Locate and select the "Run Automation" button. The strategy will begin running immediately with your PrerProd ADA, tSURGE, and the wallets you generated. A countdown will display the time until the next trade. You can pause or delete bots at any time, and deleting a bot will not affect your funds.
⚠️ Note: For the testnet phase, we recommend running only one strategy at a time to reduce complexity. The ability to run multiple strategies with different goals and trading pairs will be available on mainnet.
⚠️ Note: While your strategy is running, you may occasionally encounter failed transactions or 500 errors. In these cases, the bot will automatically reset and continue executing, so no action is required on your part.
⚠️ Note: All strategies and transactions are built and executed locally on your machine. For strategies to run, your computer must stay on, connected to the internet, and the Surge tab must remain open. If your computer shuts down, loses connection, or the tab is closed, the strategy will pause, but your funds and keys will remain fully secure.
Understanding Outputs
While configuring a strategy, and while a strategy is running, Surge will display several outputs:
Total Daily Volume: The combined amount of daily buys and sells.
Net Buys/Sells: The difference between total buys and total sells. Keeping this at zero results in no net market impact. Setting sells higher than buys produces a net sell, increasing ADA funds. Setting buys higher than sells produces a net buy, accumulating more of the token. This value is independent of total daily volume.
Net ADA Change: The result of Net Buys/Sells minus daily fees. Fees include Cardano chain fees, liquidity pool fees, and the Surge fee. Users may choose to offset fees by setting daily sells slightly higher than buys, keeping Net ADA Change at zero.
Average Trade Size: Surge randomly selects trade sizes between the user-defined minimum and maximum. A higher maximum is possible with deeper liquidity, while a smaller minimum increases the number of trades per day. More trades increase chain fees but reduce slippage.
Estimated Number of Daily Trades: Total daily volume divided by average trade size. Higher volume and lower average size result in more trades.
Estimated Time Between Trades: 1,440 minutes in a day divided by the estimated number of daily trades. This indicates the average spacing between trades.
Estimated Trades per Wallet: Estimated daily trades divided by the number of wallets. Fewer trades per wallet create more organic activity. Greater wallet counts and higher funding improve this effect.
Asset Balances: Surge is funded with equivalent values of ADA and the selected CNT. Strategies with imbalanced net buys or sells, along with token price changes and slippage, may cause uneven balances. Adding additional ADA or CNT to rebalance helps maintain optimal performance.
Funding Amount: Higher funding enables greater activity. On testnet, small amounts (such as 10k tADA and the equivalent value of the test token) can generate more than 1 million ADA in daily volume. For mainnet, a more conservative approach is recommended, and Surge will provide detailed liquidity guidelines at launch.
Health Score: ratio of wallet balance to strategy activity, green indicates safe and red indicates risky.
Tracking your Surge Activity
Visit the Dashboard to view your Surge market-making statistics, including total volume, net buys and sells, transaction count, and more. You can also track volume over time and review buys and sells by time period.
The Wallets page shows all wallets in your Surge account, including total balances of ADA and tSURGE, transaction counts, and active status. Each wallet preview displays asset balances, activity status, names, receive addresses, and more. As your strategy executes, you can track funds moving seamlessly between wallets in real time.
Selecting a wallet opens its detail page, displaying balances, activity, and complete transaction history. Each transaction hash can be accessed directly in the history and viewed on the CardanoScan PreProd website. Transactions may take a few minutes to display on CardanoScan.
View detailed information about your strategies by going to the Strategies page and selecting a strategy. The ability to edit strategies and view further insights will be rolled out with mainnet.
Visualizing Surge Running on Minswap Testnet
Surge testnet operates through the Minswap Pre-Production testnet. You can view the tADA/tSURGE pair on the Minswap PreProd website, where all buy and sell orders from Surge users will appear along with volume, price, and other data, just like on the Minswap mainnet application.
Tutorial complete!
Great job completing the Surge Public Testnet tutorial! You have learned how to set up your account, generate and fund wallets, and create strategies to start market making on Cardano. Share your feedback with us in our Discord and stay tuned for more Surge updates!
Last updated