# Getting Started

> Launch Whale Bot on Telegram, set your language, and open the main menu.

This section walks you through opening **Whale Bot** for the first time, so that you can add your first *watch* and start receiving transfer alerts within a minute.

## Launching the Bot

To begin, find **Whale Bot** on Telegram and tap **Start** (or send **`/start`**). The bot will reply with a welcome message and the main menu.

On first contact the bot picks up your language automatically from your Telegram profile. It supports *English*, *Türkçe*, *中文*, *العربية*, *Русский*, *Français*, *हिन्दी*, and *فارسی*. You can switch at any time from **⚙️ Settings → 🌐 Language**.

> **INFO**
>
> If the bot is ever unresponsive after an update or outage, send **`/start`** again — your watches, thresholds, and nicknames are all persisted, and only the in-progress dialog is reset.

## The Main Menu

The main menu is the hub for every interaction. From here you can tap:

- **🐋 My Watches** — open the paginated list of wallets you are watching. Tap any entry for details.
- **➕ Add Watch** — start watching a new wallet. See [Adding a Watch](/docs/whale/adding-a-watch).
- **⚙️ Settings** — change your language.

When the list is empty, the bot nudges you toward **➕ Add Watch**. Once the first watch is live, every future session opens into the populated list.

## Supported Chains

| Chain         | Address format                                | Notes                                        |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| *Ethereum*    | `0x…` (40 hex characters)                     | EVM-compatible.                              |
| *Base*        | `0x…` (40 hex characters)                     | EVM-compatible.                              |
| *BNB Chain*   | `0x…` (40 hex characters)                     | EVM-compatible.                              |
| *Solana*      | Base58 string (32–44 characters)              | Non-EVM — includes SPL tokens.               |

The same address can be watched on multiple chains — add it once per chain. Each becomes its own watch and counts separately toward the three-watch limit.