Getting Started With Via (Alpha)
The first part of a series of tutorials to get you up and running with Via as quickly as possible.
First off, thank you for being a part of the process that will make Via the most advanced and customizable cryptocurrency trading platform in the world. Early adopters like you are incredibly important. The feedback you provide will shape the future of the platform and improve the trading experience for everyone else. Before we jump into specifics on how to get started, should you ever encounter problems or come up with a great idea, please join us on our slack channel, or email us at info@via.world. Without further ado.
Downloading Via
You can find the latest releases of Via on our releases page here. Please do not download or install Via from any other sources. We have no official distribution partners, so you can assume that any other download link is malicious. Via is currently available for Windows and Mac OSX; Debian and Ubuntu packages can be expected in the future, but are not yet available.
Installing Via
Install Via the way you normally would on your computer. For OSX, just open up the .dmg and drag the app into your Applications folder. For Windows, extract the executable, and run it. Please note, the app code is currently unsigned. This means that your computer may warn you about it being from an “unidentified developer”. If you encounter this problem on a Mac, simply right click the file and select “Open” (as opposed to double clicking to open). This will change as soon as we obtain our signing certificate (they’re expensive, it sucks).
At the moment, Via does not update automatically. In the meantime, you’ll have to download the new version of the app from the releases page each time you want to upgrade the Via core (this may not apply to individual packages which we’ll cover later). To update to the latest build, just drag the old application file to the trash, and run the new one. User preferences and accounts will be saved, the computer may ask you to “reauthorize” Via.
Creating An Account
This part is easy, you’ve done it a million times before. Run the application and select the “Sign Up” option. Enter a valid email address and password. You will receive a confirmation email that you must click eventually (but it’s not 100% necessary to complete the sign up).
We highly encourage you to set up 2-factor authentication (2FA) using Google Authenticator, or Authy. To enable 2FA, simply scan the code with your app, and enter the resulting number into Via to confirm.
What 2FA Does
- Protects your Via trading account from random passers-by who have physical access to your device.
- Protects your account (in the future) from any private issues related to payment, billing, preferences, etc.
What 2FA Doesn’t Do
- Exchange API keys are stored on your device’s internal keychain. They are only as secure as your device itself (and your admin password). This has nothing to do with Via, and Via does not currently add any other special protection on to your keychain (this will change in the future). If your device is stolen or compromised, you should deactivate your API keys immediately through the exchange’s website.
- Via 2FA does not provide extra security on your exchange accounts. These accounts should also have 2FA enabled.
Getting Started With Packages
Via is extremely modular and customizable. It is designed so that you can add and remove features as needed. This reduces the size of the application and can also increase its speed and memory footprint. Almost everything you see, from the symbol explorer, to charts is a separate package. Some packages come bundled with Via, but we’ve tried to keep them to a minimum, as bundled packages are tougher to update. During the alpha phase, we wanted updates to be as quick as possible.
To learn more about packages, and connect to your first exchange, please read the post below.
Customizing Your Interface
One of the things that truly separates Via from the other trading platforms is the customizability of the interface. We have created many default UI packages to cover the basics, and we’ll be producing many more in the future. You can open new UI elements in a few ways: by searching for them in the omnibar at the top of the window, but using the corresponding hotkey, or by interacting with some other element (e.g. by clicking a symbol in the symbol explorer).
Once you have open a few items, try dragging around their tabs to rearrange them into groups. Drag near the edges of a panel to resize it, or drag a panel into one of the left, right, or bottom docks in order to make it quickly available when needed (or out of sight when not needed).
Troubleshooting & Issues
Via is in its alpha phase and as a result you will encounter issues. As a result, there will be issues, there will be bugs, there will be memory leaks, and in rare cases, Via may simply crash.
If you see anything out of the ordinary, please let us know either via Slack, or by reporting an issue on our dedicated Github page. If you encounter an issue that leaves Via stuck in a certain state, we have temporarily enabled the developer menu at the top of the page, in order to help you reload the Via window without having to log in again. To reload the window, go to Developer > Reload Window.
For a list of known issues, please visit our Github. Eventually, we will split issue reporting up by package, but for now, please just report everything under the main Via page.
Roadmap
Our roadmap will be largely influenced by our early adopters. In addition to fixing any outstanding issues on Github and making improvements to application speed, security, and memory footprint, we will post a list of upcoming features or packages to expect.
Wrapping Up
Thanks again for being a part of the early few, and helping to make Via a great trading platform. Don’t hesitate to join us over on our Slack channel or on Twitter to stay on top of the latest updates.
Happy trading!
