diff --git a/piker/data/marketstore.py b/piker/data/marketstore.py
index 9419a6b5..05ef549a 100644
--- a/piker/data/marketstore.py
+++ b/piker/data/marketstore.py
@@ -21,10 +21,15 @@
 - ticK data ingest routines
 - websocket client for subscribing to write triggers
 - todo: tick sequence stream-cloning for testing
-- todo: docker container management automation
+
 '''
 from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
-from typing import Any, Optional
+from typing import (
+    Any,
+    Optional,
+    # Callable,
+    TYPE_CHECKING,
+)
 import time
 from math import isnan
 
@@ -36,7 +41,12 @@ from trio_websocket import open_websocket_url
 from anyio_marketstore import open_marketstore_client, MarketstoreClient
 
 from ..log import get_logger, get_console_log
-from ..data.feed import maybe_open_feed
+from .feed import maybe_open_feed
+from ._source import mk_fqsn, Symbol
+
+
+# if TYPE_CHECKING:
+#     from ._sharedmem import ShmArray
 
 
 log = get_logger(__name__)
@@ -83,7 +93,7 @@ _tick_map = {
 _ohlcv_dt = [
     # these two are required for as a "primary key"
     ('Epoch', 'i8'),
-    ('Nanoseconds', 'i4'),
+    # ('Nanoseconds', 'i4'),
 
     # ohlcv sampling
     ('Open', 'f4'),
@@ -157,30 +167,87 @@ def timestamp(date, **kwargs) -> int:
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def get_client(
     host: str = 'localhost',
-    port: int = 5993
+    port: int = 5995
 
 ) -> MarketstoreClient:
-    async with open_marketstore_client(host, port) as client:
+    async with open_marketstore_client(
+        host,
+        port
+    ) as client:
         yield client
 
 
-async def backfill_history():
+# class MarketStoreError(Exception):
+#     "Generic marketstore client error"
+
+
+# def err_on_resp(response: dict) -> None:
+#     """Raise any errors found in responses from client request.
+#     """
+#     responses = response['responses']
+#     if responses is not None:
+#         for r in responses:
+#             err = r['error']
+#             if err:
+#                 raise MarketStoreError(err)
+
+
+async def backfill_history(
+    # symbol: Symbol
+
+) -> list[str]:
+    # TODO: 
+    # - compute time-smaple step
+    # - take ``Symbol`` as input
+    # - backtrack into history using backend helper endpoint
+
+    # broker = 'ib'
+    # symbol = 'mnq.globex'
+
+    broker = 'binance'
+    symbol = 'btcusdt'
+
+    fqsn = mk_fqsn(broker, symbol)
 
     async with (
         get_client() as msclient,
         maybe_open_feed(
-            'ib',
-            ['mnq.globex'],
+            broker,
+            [symbol],
             loglevel='info',
             # backpressure=False,
             start_stream=False,
         ) as (feed, stream),
     ):
-        await tractor.breakpoint()
-        await msclient.write(
-            feed.shm.array,
-            tbk='mnq.globex.ib/1Sec/OHLCV',
+        ohlcv = feed.shm.array
+        mkts_dt = np.dtype(_ohlcv_dt)
+
+        syms = await msclient.list_symbols()
+        log.info(f'Existing symbol set:\n{pformat(syms)}')
+
+        # build mkts schema compat array
+        mkts_array = np.zeros(
+            len(ohlcv),
+            dtype=mkts_dt,
         )
+        # copy from shm array
+        mkts_array[:] = ohlcv[[
+            'time',
+            'open',
+            'high',
+            'low',
+            'close',
+            'volume',
+        ]]
+
+        # write to db
+        resp = await msclient.write(
+            mkts_array,
+            tbk=f'{fqsn}/1Min/OHLCV',
+            isvariablelength=True,
+        )
+
+        # TODO: backfiller loop
 
 
 async def ingest_quote_stream(