Flash Loan Simulator Plugin

Simulate and analyze flash loan strategies including arbitrage, liquidations, and collateral swaps across major DeFi protocols.

Features

• Strategy Simulation - Model complex multi-step flash loan transactions
• Profitability Analysis - Calculate net profit after all fees and costs
• Risk Assessment - Identify execution risks and competition levels
• Protocol Support - Aave V3, dYdX, Balancer, Uniswap V3
• Gas Optimization - Estimate gas costs and optimize strategies
• Historical Testing - Backtest strategies against historical data

Installation

/plugin install flash-loan-simulator@claude-code-plugins-plus

FREE RPC Endpoints: No Alchemy Required

Run flash loan simulations using free public RPC endpoints - no Alchemy subscription needed.

Quick Comparison

| RPC Provider | Paid (Alchemy) | FREE (Public RPCs) | |--------------|---------------|-------------------| | Monthly Cost | $49-199/mo | $0/mo | | Requests/day | 300M-1500M | 1M-10M (sufficient) | | Rate Limit | 660 req/sec | 25-100 req/sec | | Setup | Credit card required | No signup |

Annual Savings: $588-2,388 for flash loan development.

Why Free RPCs Work for Flash Loan Simulations

Simulation Requirements:

• Read blockchain state (getBlock, getTransaction, call)
• Query DeFi protocol data (Aave, Uniswap, Balancer)
• Gas estimation (estimateGas)
• Historical data for backtesting

Free RPCs provide:

• 25-100 requests/second (more than enough for simulations)
• Archive node access (historical data)
• Multi-chain support (Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum)
• 99.9% uptime

You DON'T need Alchemy's premium features for simulations (webhooks, NFT API, trace API are for production, not testing).

Free RPC Provider Catalog

1. Ankr (Best for Multi-Chain)

What: Public RPC endpoints for 15+ chains

Limits:

• Ethereum: 30 requests/second
• No rate limits on queries
• Archive data available

Setup:

{
  "rpcEndpoint": "https://rpc.ankr.com/eth"
}

Cost: $0 (no API key required)

Chains: Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, BSC, Avalanche

2. Infura Free Tier

What: Free tier with 100K requests/day

Limits:

• 100,000 requests/day (sufficient for development)
• 10 requests/second
• Requires free account (no credit card)

Setup:

{
  "rpcEndpoint": "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/YOUR_FREE_KEY"
}

Get Free Key: infura.io/register (no payment required)

Cost: $0 (free tier)

3. Chainstack Free Plan

What: 3M requests/month free

Limits:

• 3,000,000 requests/month
• 25 requests/second
• Free account (no card)

Setup:

{
  "rpcEndpoint": "https://nd-XXX-XXX-XXX.p2pify.com/YOUR_FREE_KEY"
}

Get Free Key: chainstack.com/pricing

Cost: $0 (free plan)

4. Public Ethereum RPC (Fastest Setup)

What: Community-run public endpoints

Limits:

• Variable rate limits
• May be slower during peak times
• No signup required

Setup:

{
  "rpcEndpoint": "https://eth.llamarpc.com"
}

Cost: $0 (completely free)

Alternatives:

• https://ethereum.publicnode.com
• https://cloudflare-eth.com
• https://rpc.flashbots.net (MEV-protected)

Configuration with Free RPCs

Option 1: Ankr (Recommended - No Signup)

{
  "protocols": {
    "aave": { "enabled": true, "fee": 0.0009 },
    "dydx": { "enabled": true, "fee": 0 },
    "balancer": { "enabled": true, "fee": 0.001 }
  },
  "simulation": {
    "slippageTolerance": 0.01,
    "gasPrice": "auto",
    "minProfitUSD": 50
  },
  "rpcEndpoint": "https://rpc.ankr.com/eth"
}

Cost: $0 (vs Alchemy $49/mo)

Option 2: Infura Free Tier (Best Features)

{
  "rpcEndpoint": "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/YOUR_FREE_KEY"
}

Setup Steps:

1. Sign up at infura.io (free, no card)
2. Create project
3. Copy API key
4. Paste into config

Cost: $0 for 100K requests/day

Option 3: Multi-Chain Setup (All Free)

{
  "networks": {
    "ethereum": "https://rpc.ankr.com/eth",
    "polygon": "https://rpc.ankr.com/polygon",
    "arbitrum": "https://rpc.ankr.com/arbitrum",
    "optimism": "https://rpc.ankr.com/optimism"
  }
}

Cost: $0 across all chains

Cost Comparison: Flash Loan Development

Paid Approach (Alchemy)

Annual Subscriptions:

• Alchemy Growth: $49/mo → $588/year
• Alchemy Scale: $199/mo → $2,388/year (if high usage)

Advantages:

• 660 requests/second
• Advanced analytics dashboard
• Dedicated support

Free Approach (Public RPCs)

Annual Subscriptions:

• Ankr: $0
• Infura free tier: $0
• Public RPCs: $0
• Total: $0/year

Advantages:

• 25-100 requests/second (sufficient for simulations)
• Archive data for backtesting
• No rate limit concerns for development

Savings: $588-2,388/year with identical simulation quality.

Real Use Case Examples

Flash Loan Arbitrage Simulation

const { ethers } = require('ethers');

// Before (Alchemy - Paid)
const provider = new ethers.providers.JsonRpcProvider(
  `https://eth-mainnet.g.alchemy.com/v2/${ALCHEMY_KEY}`  // $49-199/mo
);

// After (Ankr - FREE)
const provider = new ethers.providers.JsonRpcProvider(
  'https://rpc.ankr.com/eth'  // $0/mo
);

// Same simulation capability, zero cost
const uniswapPrice = await uniswapContract.getAmountsOut(...);
const sushiswapPrice = await sushiswapContract.getAmountsOut(...);
const profit = calculateArbitrage(uniswapPrice, sushiswapPrice);

Cost: $0 (vs $49-199/mo)

Aave Liquidation Simulation

// Using free Infura RPC
const provider = new ethers.providers.JsonRpcProvider(
  `https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/${INFURA_FREE_KEY}`  // $0 (free tier)
);

const aaveContract = new ethers.Contract(AAVE_ADDRESS, ABI, provider);

// Simulate liquidation
const healthFactor = await aaveContract.getUserAccountData(user);
if (healthFactor < 1e18) {
  const liquidationProfit = calculateLiquidationProfit(...);
  console.log(`Profit: $${liquidationProfit}`);
}

Cost: $0 (100K requests/day free)

Performance Comparison

| Metric | Alchemy (Paid) | Free RPCs | |--------|---------------|-----------| | Response Time | 50-100ms | 100-300ms ⚠️ | | Requests/sec | 660 | 25-100 | | Uptime | 99.99% | 99.9% | | Archive Data | ✅ | ✅ | | Cost | $49-199/mo | $0 |

For simulations, 100-300ms response time is acceptable (not production trading).

When Free RPCs Are NOT Enough

Use paid Alchemy if:

• You're deploying live flash loan bots (need <50ms latency)
• You need >100 requests/second
• You require webhooks for mempool monitoring
• Your firm needs enterprise SLA

For 99% of flash loan learning/simulation: Free RPCs are sufficient.

Hybrid Approach

Best of both worlds: Use free RPCs for development, Alchemy only for production.

const RPC_ENDPOINTS = {
  development: 'https://rpc.ankr.com/eth',  // $0
  production: `https://eth-mainnet.g.alchemy.com/v2/${ALCHEMY_KEY}`  // $49/mo
};

const provider = new ethers.providers.JsonRpcProvider(
  RPC_ENDPOINTS[process.env.NODE_ENV]
);

Cost Reduction: $588/year → $49/year (92% savings)

Resources

• Ankr RPCs: rpc.ankr.com (FREE, no signup)
• Infura Free: infura.io/pricing (100K req/day)
• Chainstack Free: chainstack.com/pricing (3M req/month)
• Public RPCs List: chainlist.org (community endpoints)

Bottom Line: For flash loan simulations and learning, free public RPCs save $588-2,388/year with no quality loss.

Usage

The flash loan agent automatically activates when you discuss:

• Flash loan strategies and simulations
• DeFi arbitrage opportunities
• Liquidation strategies
• Collateral swaps and refinancing
• Multi-protocol DeFi transactions

Example Queries

Simulate a flash loan arbitrage between Uniswap and SushiSwap for ETH

Calculate profitability of liquidating this Aave position

What's the optimal flash loan amount for this arbitrage opportunity?

Simulate a collateral swap from USDC to ETH on Aave V3

Build a flash loan strategy to arbitrage these 3 DEXes

Supported Strategies

1. Simple Arbitrage: DEX price discrepancies
2. Liquidation: Undercollateralized position liquidations
3. Collateral Swap: Position refinancing
4. Self-Liquidation: Efficient position closing
5. Debt Refinancing: Moving debt between protocols
6. Triangular Arbitrage: Multi-asset circular trading

Configuration

Create a .flashloan-config.json file:

{
  "protocols": {
    "aave": {
      "enabled": true,
      "fee": 0.0009
    },
    "dydx": {
      "enabled": true,
      "fee": 0
    },
    "balancer": {
      "enabled": true,
      "fee": 0.001
    }
  },
  "simulation": {
    "slippageTolerance": 0.01,
    "gasPrice": "auto",
    "minProfitUSD": 50
  },
  "rpcEndpoint": "https://eth-mainnet.g.alchemy.com/v2/YOUR_KEY"
}

Flash Loan Providers

| Provider | Fee | Assets | Chains | |----------|-----|--------|--------| | Aave V3 | 0.09% | All markets | ETH, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism | | dYdX | 0% | ETH, USDC, DAI, WBTC | Ethereum | | Balancer | 0.01-0.1% | Pool tokens | ETH, Polygon, Arbitrum | | Uniswap V3 | Implicit | Any pair | ETH, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism |

Risk Warnings

️ Critical Considerations:

• Smart contract code must be thoroughly audited
• Gas costs can eliminate profitability
• Front-running by MEV bots is common
• Slippage can cause unexpected losses
• Protocol risks (bugs, exploits)
• Requires advanced Solidity development skills
• For educational purposes only

Simulation Tools

• Tenderly (transaction simulation)
• Foundry (forked network testing)
• Hardhat (mainnet forking)
• Flashbots (MEV protection)

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Support

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs
• Documentation: Full docs

Built with ️ for DeFi developers by Intent Solutions IO