orca_open_position

This instruction creates an empty Orca Whirlpool position that the Sickle owns.

The position holds no liquidity after this instruction. Add liquidity with orca_increase_liquidity in a later instruction or in the same transaction.

Who can call it

The owner. The owner signs as authority. A manager or a keeper cannot call this instruction.

A second signer, the funder, pays the rent for the new accounts. The funder can be any wallet.

Arguments

The tick range must satisfy these limits.

Orca applies two rules of its own that the program does not check. Each tick must be a multiple of the pool tick spacing. A pool whose tick spacing is 32,768 or more accepts only its exact full range. Orca rejects the transaction if either rule fails. The builder's buildOpenRange satisfies both.

Accounts

The builder derives accounts 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 13, and 14. You supply the rest.

What the program checks

The program runs these checks in this order.

1. The program is not paused. Otherwise it returns Paused.
2. whirlpool_program equals the Orca entry in the allowlist. Otherwise it returns ProtocolNotAllowed.
3. authority equals the owner of the Sickle. Otherwise it returns Unauthorized.
4. whirlpool is owned by whirlpool_program. Otherwise it returns InvalidAccountOwner.
5. The tick range satisfies the limits above. Otherwise it returns InvalidTickRange.
6. position equals the address Orca derives from position_mint. Otherwise it returns InvalidPosition.
7. position_token_account equals the Sickle's Token-2022 associated token account for position_mint. Otherwise it returns InvalidPosition.
8. metadata_update_auth equals Orca's fixed authority. Otherwise it returns InvalidMetadataUpdateAuth.

After the Orca call, the program reads the new accounts and checks the receipt (venue/open_increase.rs:102-151):

• the position, mint, and token account addresses equal the derived ones;
• the position's pool equals whirlpool, its tick range equals the request, and it holds no liquidity;
• the position account is owned by the Orca program, and the mint and token account are owned by the Token-2022 program;
• the token account balance is exactly 1.

It does not read the token account's authority after the call. The Sickle's ownership of the NFT rests on the address check in step 7, which derives the token account from the Sickle as owner. Failures return InvalidPosition, InvalidProtocolAccountData, or InvalidAccountOwner.

What the program does

1. The program calls Orca open_position_with_token_extensions with the Sickle as the position owner.
2. Orca creates the position account, mints one position NFT to position_token_account, and charges the rent to funder.
3. The program reads the new position and emits PositionOpened.

The Sickle holds the position NFT. The owner does not hold it. Only the Sickle program can move liquidity in or out of the position.

Fees

This instruction charges no fee.

Events

The program emits the event twice: once as a self-CPI and once as a log line. Decode the self-CPI record. The log line can be truncated.

Errors

Example

import * as anchor from "@anchor-lang/core";
import {
  Connection,
  Keypair,
  PublicKey,
  Transaction,
  sendAndConfirmTransaction,
} from "@solana/web3.js";
import { getPoolState } from "../scripts/builder/flows";
import { buildOpenPosition } from "../scripts/builder/instructions";
import { buildOpenRange } from "../scripts/builder/orca";
import type { Sickle } from "../target/types/sickle";

declare const connection: Connection;
declare const program: anchor.Program<Sickle>;
declare const owner: Keypair;
declare const poolAddress: PublicKey;
const ORCA_WHIRLPOOL_PROGRAM_ID = new PublicKey(
  "whirLbMiicVdio4qvUfM5KAg6Ct8VwpYzGff3uctyCc",
);

// Every builder input carries the decoded pool. `getPoolState` fetches the
// account and resolves each mint's token program before it decodes.
const pool = await getPoolState(connection, poolAddress);
const positionMint = Keypair.generate();

// Orca rejects a tick that is not a multiple of the pool's tick spacing,
// a range outside its full-range bounds, and anything but the exact full
// range on a pool with tick spacing 32768 or more. `buildOpenRange` asks for
// 10 spacings below and above the live tick and returns a range that
// satisfies all three rules for the decoded pool.
const { tickLowerIndex, tickUpperIndex } = buildOpenRange(
  pool.tickCurrentIndex,
  pool.tickSpacing,
  10,
);

const ix = await buildOpenPosition(program, {
  programId: program.programId,
  owner: owner.publicKey,
  authority: owner.publicKey,
  whirlpoolProgram: ORCA_WHIRLPOOL_PROGRAM_ID,
  whirlpool: poolAddress,
  pool,
  funder: owner.publicKey,
  positionMint: positionMint.publicKey,
  tickLowerIndex,
  tickUpperIndex,
});

// The owner and the position mint keypair both sign.
const tx = new Transaction().add(ix);
await sendAndConfirmTransaction(connection, tx, [owner, positionMint]);

Related

• orca_increase_liquidity adds liquidity to the position.
• orca_close_position closes an empty position and returns the rent to the owner.
• set_position_settings lets a keeper act on the position.
• Style guide for the rules this page follows.

Design note

The EVM reference mints the position NFT inside its deposit flow. The Solana program separates the mint from the deposit because an empty open moves no tokens. See the "Shared CLMM open/increase contract" entry in CLAUDE.md.