Build a FOMO copy-trading watchlist with Fomo Api

The point of a leaderboard is knowing what the best traders are doing. This tutorial builds a small Python script that picks the top fomo.family traders, watches their trades, and prints each new buy. It's about 40 lines, and it's the core of every FOMO copy-trading alert bot.

What you need

• Python 3.9+ and requests.
• A Fomo Api key from the console, exported as FOMO_API_KEY. Free works for trying it.

1. Pick traders from the leaderboard

Use the 7-day board so the list reflects recent form, and skip traders we haven't linked a wallet for yet: with no wallet, there are no on-chain trades to watch.

import os, time, requests

API = "https://api.fomo-api.com/v1"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['FOMO_API_KEY']}"}

def top_traders(n=10):
    r = requests.get(f"{API}/leaderboard", params={"window": "7d", "limit": 20},
                     headers=HEADERS, timeout=10)
    r.raise_for_status()
    rows = [row for row in r.json()["data"] if row["wallets"]]
    return rows[:n]

2. Poll each trader's trades

Ask for source=onchain so every trade has a txHash. That's both the proof the trade happened and the key you dedupe on.

def recent_trades(trader_id):
    r = requests.get(f"{API}/traders/{trader_id}/trades",
                     params={"source": "onchain", "limit": 20},
                     headers=HEADERS, timeout=10)
    if r.status_code == 429:
        time.sleep(int(r.headers.get("Retry-After", "5")))
        return []
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()["data"]

3. Alert on what's new

seen = set()

def run(poll_seconds=300):
    traders = top_traders()
    first = True
    while True:
        for t in traders:
            for trade in recent_trades(t["traderId"]):
                if trade["txHash"] in seen:
                    continue
                seen.add(trade["txHash"])
                if not first:
                    print(f"@{t['handle']} {trade['tokenIn']['address']} -> "
                          f"{trade['tokenOut']['address']} on {trade['venue']} "
                          f"https://solscan.io/tx/{trade['txHash']}")
        first = False
        time.sleep(poll_seconds)

run()

The first pass only fills seen, so you don't get a burst of alerts for trades from last week. Swap the print for a Telegram or Discord webhook and you have an alert bot. Refresh traders once a day to follow who's leading now.

Budget your calls

Each poll costs one call per trader. The arithmetic for a 30-day month:

The free plan's 1,500 calls are enough to build and test this, not to run it around the clock. Watch X-Quota-Remaining on each response, and see pricing for current plans.

Before you trade on it

• Copying is always late. You see a trade after it lands on-chain and after your next poll. On thin tokens, that gap is the trade.
• A sell matters as much as a buy. The script prints both directions. Know which one you're looking at before acting.
• Leaderboard PnL is mark-to-market. A trader at the top this week may be riding one open position. Check board=solana for realized PnL; here's the difference.

Reference for every field used here: the trader trades guide and the docs overview.

Frequently asked questions

Can I copy-trade FOMO traders with an API?

You can watch them. Fomo Api gives you the fomo.family leaderboard and each trader's recent trades as JSON, so a script can alert you, or your own bot, when a trader buys. Placing the trade is up to your own wallet or bot; Fomo Api is read-only.

How many API calls does a watchlist use?

One call per trader per poll, plus one leaderboard call per refresh. Ten traders polled every 5 minutes is about 86,400 calls a month, which fits the Pro plan; polling every 15 minutes fits Starter.