# Bring your own RPC

By default, FastTrack uses our shared RPC endpoint for every trade. That works out of the box, but on a busy day you're sharing capacity with every other FastTrack user. If you trade often, plugging in your own RPC gives you faster price reads, faster transaction submission, and isolation from other traders' bursts.

## What is an RPC?

An RPC (Remote Procedure Call) endpoint is the door your trades knock on to talk to the Solana blockchain. Every action — checking a wallet balance, reading a token price, submitting a transaction — goes through one. Some RPCs are faster, more reliable, or more generous with rate limits than others.

When you "bring your own RPC", you give FastTrack a URL of your choosing. Your trades use that URL instead of ours. We don't see or store anything else about your usage.

## When you should add one

* You trade more than a few times a day.
* You've noticed slow price loads during busy markets.
* You want guaranteed capacity instead of sharing a pool.
* You're using Safe Mode and want the lowest-latency path to your landing service.

If none of those apply, the default is fine.

## How to get a free Helius RPC

Helius offers a generous free tier that's perfect for personal trading.

1. Go to [helius.dev](https://helius.dev) and click **Sign up**. A Google or GitHub login works.
2. Open the **Dashboard** → **Endpoints**.
3. Click **Create app**, pick a name, and select **Mainnet**.
4. Copy the **RPC URL**. It looks like `https://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<your-key>`.

The free tier gives you 1 million requests per month with no credit card required.

## Alternative providers

* [**Triton**](https://triton.one) — high performance, paid tier.
* [**QuickNode**](https://quicknode.com) — large free tier, good global coverage.
* [**Chainstack**](https://chainstack.com) — dedicated nodes, business plans.
* [**Alchemy**](https://www.alchemy.com/solana) — solid free tier, more focused on EVM but Solana works.

Any RPC that supports the standard Solana JSON-RPC method set works with FastTrack. The URL must start with `https://`.

## Adding your RPC to FastTrack

1. Open the FastTrack popup and go to **Settings**.
2. Scroll to the **Network** section.
3. Paste your RPC URL into the **RPC endpoint** field.
4. Click **Save**.

That's it. Your next trade uses the new RPC. To revert to the default, clear the field and save again.

## Security notes

* We never log or store the contents of requests you make to your RPC.
* We never share your RPC URL with anyone.
* Your RPC URL is stored in our database alongside your other settings. If your account is compromised, an attacker could read it — so don't put authentication tokens you wouldn't want exposed inside the URL itself.
* For most providers, the URL contains a project-specific API key that only authorizes Solana RPC calls. That's fine; it's what RPC API keys are designed for.

## Common questions

### Does adding an RPC cost me anything?

If you use a free tier (Helius, QuickNode, Alchemy), no. If you exceed the free tier, your provider will charge you directly — FastTrack never sees any billing.

### What if my RPC goes down?

Your trades will fail until you either fix the RPC or remove it from settings. We do not silently fall back to ours, because then you'd never notice your RPC was broken.

### Will my own RPC be faster than yours?

Usually yes, especially during congestion. A dedicated RPC for your own account is faster than a shared one. The difference is most noticeable on price reads and on transaction submission.


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