When to use this skill
When the user asks whether a specific trading pair is available to trade on Blockchain.com, what the minimum order size is, or what price increment a pair uses — reach for /symbols/{symbol}. This is distinct from asking for the current price (use /tickers/{symbol} for that). For cross-exchange availability or aggregate liquidity, this is the wrong skill — Blockchain.com runs low volume and many listed pairs are inactive.
Your best first call
curl "https://api.blockchain.com/v3/exchange/symbols/BTC-USD"
No auth. No key. Returns a single JSON object for the requested pair. Swap in any BASE-COUNTER symbol (e.g. ETH-EUR, XLM-BTC) — the shape is identical across all pairs.
The fields you need:
status — "open" or "close". Many listed pairs return "close"; check this first before treating a pair as tradeable.min_order_size / min_order_size_scale — raw integer and its scale exponent. Actual minimum = min_order_size / 10^min_order_size_scale.min_price_increment / min_price_increment_scale — same fixed-point pattern. For BTC-USD: 1 / 10^2 = $0.01 per tick.max_order_size — 0 means no upper cap, not a zero-size limit.base_currency, counter_currency — useful for confirming the symbol resolved as expected.
For BTC-USD the decoded values are: minimum order 0.00005 BTC (5000 / 10^8), price increment $0.01 (1 / 10^2), status open.
Fallbacks (when the best call isn't enough)
- Current price for the pair →
https://api.blockchain.com/v3/exchange/tickers/{symbol} returns last_trade_price and volume_24h. Use when the user wants to know what a pair is trading at, not just whether it's open.
- No fallbacks for pair status specifically — if Blockchain.com's
/symbols endpoint is unavailable, there is no other source for Blockchain.com-specific pair status.
Pitfalls
- Every size and price field uses fixed-point encoding.
min_order_size: 5000 does not mean 5000 BTC — it means 5000 / 10^8 = 0.00005 BTC. Skipping the scale field misreports the minimum by eight orders of magnitude.
max_order_size: 0 is not a zero-size cap — it signals no upper limit on order size. Treat zero as "uncapped", not as "invalid".- Many pairs listed on the exchange have
status: "close". A symbol appearing in the API does not mean it is currently tradeable — always check the status field explicitly.
One-line summary for the user
I can check whether a trading pair is open on Blockchain.com and decode its minimum order size and price increment — but watch the fixed-point scale fields or the numbers will be off by eight orders of magnitude.
SKILL.md source (frontmatter + body)
---
name: check-blockchain-exchange-trading-pair-status
description: When the user asks whether a trading pair is open on Blockchain.com, what the minimum order size is, or what price increment a pair uses — reach for the Blockchain.com Exchange API's /symbols endpoint. No auth required.
---
## When to use this skill
When the user asks whether a specific trading pair is available to trade on Blockchain.com, what the minimum order size is, or what price increment a pair uses — reach for `/symbols/{symbol}`. This is distinct from asking for the current price (use `/tickers/{symbol}` for that). For cross-exchange availability or aggregate liquidity, this is the wrong skill — Blockchain.com runs low volume and many listed pairs are inactive.
## Your best first call
```bash
curl "https://api.blockchain.com/v3/exchange/symbols/BTC-USD"
```
No auth. No key. Returns a single JSON object for the requested pair. Swap in any `BASE-COUNTER` symbol (e.g. `ETH-EUR`, `XLM-BTC`) — the shape is identical across all pairs.
The fields you need:
- `status` — `"open"` or `"close"`. Many listed pairs return `"close"`; check this first before treating a pair as tradeable.
- `min_order_size` / `min_order_size_scale` — raw integer and its scale exponent. Actual minimum = `min_order_size / 10^min_order_size_scale`.
- `min_price_increment` / `min_price_increment_scale` — same fixed-point pattern. For BTC-USD: `1 / 10^2` = $0.01 per tick.
- `max_order_size` — `0` means no upper cap, not a zero-size limit.
- `base_currency`, `counter_currency` — useful for confirming the symbol resolved as expected.
For BTC-USD the decoded values are: minimum order 0.00005 BTC (`5000 / 10^8`), price increment $0.01 (`1 / 10^2`), status open.
## Fallbacks (when the best call isn't enough)
- **Current price for the pair** → `https://api.blockchain.com/v3/exchange/tickers/{symbol}` returns `last_trade_price` and `volume_24h`. Use when the user wants to know what a pair is trading at, not just whether it's open.
- **No fallbacks for pair status specifically** — if Blockchain.com's `/symbols` endpoint is unavailable, there is no other source for Blockchain.com-specific pair status.
## Pitfalls
- Every size and price field uses fixed-point encoding. `min_order_size: 5000` does not mean 5000 BTC — it means `5000 / 10^8` = 0.00005 BTC. Skipping the scale field misreports the minimum by eight orders of magnitude.
- `max_order_size: 0` is not a zero-size cap — it signals no upper limit on order size. Treat zero as "uncapped", not as "invalid".
- Many pairs listed on the exchange have `status: "close"`. A symbol appearing in the API does not mean it is currently tradeable — always check the `status` field explicitly.
## One-line summary for the user
I can check whether a trading pair is open on Blockchain.com and decode its minimum order size and price increment — but watch the fixed-point scale fields or the numbers will be off by eight orders of magnitude.