CCXT — Cryptocurrency Exchange Trading

You have access to the ccxt CLI tool which lets you interact with 100+ cryptocurrency exchanges (Binance, Bybit, OKX, Kraken, Coinbase, and many more). You can fetch market data, place orders, check balances, and stream live data.

Core Syntax

ccxt <exchange_id> <methodName> [args...] [options]

Before Calling Any Method

If you're unsure about the required arguments for a method, run:

ccxt explain <methodName>

This will show you the required and optional arguments with descriptions.

Available Options

Flag	Purpose
`--verbose`	Show raw request/response data
`--sandbox`	Use testnet/sandbox environment
`--raw`	Output clean JSON without formatting
`--swap`	Target swap/perpetuals account
`--future`	Target futures account
`--spot`	Target spot account
`--option`	Target options account
`--param key=value`	Pass extra exchange-specific params (repeatable)
`--no-keys`	Skip API key loading

Common Operations

Market Data (Public — No API Keys Required)

Fetch markets (list all trading pairs on an exchange):

ccxt <exchange> fetchMarkets --raw

Fetch a single ticker:

ccxt <exchange> fetchTicker "BTC/USDT" --raw

Fetch multiple tickers:

ccxt <exchange> fetchTickers --raw

Fetch order book:

ccxt <exchange> fetchOrderBook "BTC/USDT" --raw

Fetch OHLCV candles:

ccxt <exchange> fetchOHLCV "BTC/USDT" 1h undefined 10 --raw

Fetch recent trades:

ccxt <exchange> fetchTrades "BTC/USDT" --raw

Fetch exchange status:

ccxt <exchange> fetchStatus --raw

Fetch currencies:

ccxt <exchange> fetchCurrencies --raw

Trading (Private — Requires API Keys)

Create an order:

ccxt <exchange> createOrder "BTC/USDT" limit buy 0.001 50000 --raw
ccxt <exchange> createOrder "BTC/USDT" market buy 0.001 --raw

Create order with extra params:

ccxt <exchange> createOrder "BTC/USDT" limit buy 0.001 50000 --param stopPrice=49000 --raw

Cancel an order:

ccxt <exchange> cancelOrder "<order_id>" "BTC/USDT" --raw

Fetch open orders:

ccxt <exchange> fetchOpenOrders "BTC/USDT" --raw

Fetch closed orders:

ccxt <exchange> fetchClosedOrders "BTC/USDT" --raw

Fetch a specific order:

ccxt <exchange> fetchOrder "<order_id>" "BTC/USDT" --raw

Account (Private — Requires API Keys)

Fetch balance:

ccxt <exchange> fetchBalance --raw

Fetch balance for derivatives:

ccxt <exchange> fetchBalance --swap --raw

Fetch my trades:

ccxt <exchange> fetchMyTrades "BTC/USDT" --raw

Fetch positions (derivatives):

ccxt <exchange> fetchPositions --swap --raw

Fetch deposit address:

ccxt <exchange> fetchDepositAddress "BTC" --raw

Derivatives

Fetch funding rate:

ccxt <exchange> fetchFundingRate "BTC/USDT:USDT" --raw

Fetch funding rate history:

ccxt <exchange> fetchFundingRateHistory "BTC/USDT:USDT" --raw

Fetch mark price / index price:

ccxt <exchange> fetchMarkOHLCV "BTC/USDT:USDT" 1h --raw
ccxt <exchange> fetchIndexOHLCV "BTC/USDT:USDT" 1h --raw

Important Rules

Always quote symbols that contain / or : — e.g., "BTC/USDT", "BTC/USDT:USDT".
Use undefined as a positional placeholder to skip optional arguments while providing later ones. For example: ccxt binance fetchOHLCV "BTC/USDT" 1h undefined 10 skips since but provides limit.
Use --raw when you need to parse the output programmatically or when the user needs clean JSON.
Use --sandbox for testing with testnet environments. Always recommend sandbox mode when the user is experimenting with orders.
ISO8601 datetimes (e.g., "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z") are auto-converted to milliseconds.
API keys must be configured via environment variables (e.g., BINANCE_APIKEY, BINANCE_SECRET) or the config file. If a private method fails due to missing credentials, instruct the user to set them up.
Derivatives symbols use the format "BASE/QUOTE:SETTLE" — e.g., "BTC/USDT:USDT" for USDT-margined perpetuals.
Be careful with order methods — always confirm amounts and prices with the user before executing createOrder. The CLI executes immediately with no confirmation prompt.
When the output is large (e.g., fetchMarkets returns hundreds of entries), consider piping through | head or filtering, or suggest the user narrows their query.
For the list of supported exchanges, you can check: ccxt exchanges or refer to https://docs.ccxt.com.

Authentication Setup

Tell users to configure credentials in one of two ways:

Option 1 — Environment variables:

export BINANCE_APIKEY=your_api_key
export BINANCE_SECRET=your_secret

Option 2 — Config file (path shown in ccxt --help):

{
  "binance": {
    "apiKey": "your_api_key",
    "secret": "your_secret"
  }
}

Error Handling

If you get an AuthenticationError, the API keys are missing or invalid.
If you get an ExchangeNotAvailable or NetworkError, the exchange may be down or rate-limiting.
If you get an BadSymbol, the trading pair doesn't exist on that exchange — use fetchMarkets to check available pairs.
If you get an InsufficientFunds, the account doesn't have enough balance for the operation.