---
title: "About Institutional"
url: https://docs.truemarkets.co/institutional/overview
description: "Institutional access connects your firm directly to the True Markets exchange over REST, WebSocket or FIX."
---

Docs index: https://docs.truemarkets.co/llms.txt

# About Institutional

Institutional access connects your firm directly to the True Markets exchange, our central limit order book. You place orders and read market data over REST, WebSocket or FIX. If you want to trade your own True Markets account from code, read the [Trading API](https://docs.truemarkets.co/trading-api) documentation. If you're building an app where your customers trade, read [Gateway](https://docs.truemarkets.co/gateway).

## Who it's for

-   Trading firms and market makers that trade their own book.
-   Asset managers and introducing firms that trade for their clients.

Your firm signs in at [app.truemarkets.co](https://app.truemarkets.co/). Access depends on the location your requests come from.

## How you connect

REST and WebSocket are reachable over the internet. You create one API key and use it for every protocol: over REST you mint a JWT from it, and over WebSocket you sign each subscription with it.

FIX is the lowest-latency path. A FIX session is a long-lived connection that you log on to once and keep open. FIX runs over a private network connection, which we set up with your firm.

## Get set up

1.  [Access and credentials](https://docs.truemarkets.co/institutional/access-and-credentials): sign in, connect and create your API key.
2.  [Account models](https://docs.truemarkets.co/institutional/account-models): how your accounts and clients are structured.
3.  [Manage clients](https://docs.truemarkets.co/institutional/manage-clients): read your clients and set their self-trade prevention.
4.  Trade over [FIX](https://docs.truemarkets.co/institutional/trade-over-fix) or [REST](https://docs.truemarkets.co/institutional/trade-over-rest). Both cover the same trading actions.

## Reference

-   [CeFi direct REST](https://docs.truemarkets.co/api/institutional/true-markets-cefi-rest)
-   [CeFi direct FIX](https://docs.truemarkets.co/api/fix/overview)
-   [CeFi direct WebSocket](https://docs.truemarkets.co/api/websocket/institutional)
-   [Exchange documentation](https://docs.truemarkets.co/documentation/exchange-overview): trading rules, fees, price bands and increment sizes.

Next: [Access and credentials](https://docs.truemarkets.co/institutional/access-and-credentials)