How API connection works
SmartDOM does not store your exchange passwords and does not log in to the exchange website. It works through an API key: a pair of strings you create on the exchange that gives the terminal limited rights to your account.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”- On the exchange you create an API key and choose what it is allowed to do: read the balance, trade. The terminal does not need withdrawal and it should not be enabled.
- The key is pasted into SmartDOM once. The terminal verifies it by contacting the exchange and stores it encrypted on your computer.
- From then on SmartDOM signs every request to the exchange with this key: it receives balances and positions, places and cancels orders.
Which exchanges can be connected
Section titled “Which exchanges can be connected”| Exchange | Trading | Passphrase | Demo (testnet) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | Spot, Futures | no | yes |
| Bybit | Spot, Futures | no | no |
| OKX | Spot, Futures | required | no |
| MEXC | Spot, Futures | no | no |
| Bitget | Spot, Futures | required | no |
| BingX | Spot, Futures | no | no |
| Gate | Spot, Futures | no | no |
| KuCoin | Spot, Futures | required | no |
| Hyperliquid | Spot, Perp — view only | — | no |
Named connections
Section titled “Named connections”You can add several connections with different keys to one exchange, for example the main account and a sub-account, and switch between them. Only one connection per exchange can be active. When you activate a second one, the terminal warns: “Only one connection to an exchange can be active. Connection: … will be disconnected.”
Each connection is shown as a card: name, the first four characters of the key, the markets that passed verification (Spot, Futures), the date added and the buttons Connect / Disconnect, Edit, Delete.
Where the keys are stored
Section titled “Where the keys are stored”On your computer, encrypted. The encryption key is derived from the PIN code you enter when the terminal starts. The keys of the active connection are additionally protected by the Windows system store. Therefore:
- the keys cannot be read without the PIN, even if the files are copied;
- if the PIN is forgotten or entered wrongly three times in a row, all saved connections are deleted and the keys have to be entered again;
- connections are not included when exporting terminal settings. On a new computer they have to be added manually.
Details: Settings → Security.
Keys from the personal account
Section titled “Keys from the personal account”If you added API keys in your SmartDOM personal account on the website, the terminal can accept them automatically: a “Sync with personal account” window appears asking whether to add the connection. After confirmation the keys are verified the same way as with manual entry, and the connection is created inactive.