BitMEX has closed: what it means for your Autoview connection

Autoview · Guide · Updated October 5, 2026

This page used to walk new users through opening a BitMEX account and connecting it to Autoview. With BitMEX closed, no order sent to it can be placed, so the setup steps further down are kept only as a record of how the connection worked. If you were looking for BitMEX Testnet, the BitMEX Testnet guide covers what happened to it and where to test Autoview commands on demo funds instead.

If you had a BitMEX account: what to do now

• Withdraw your balance through BitMEX's own site. A balance left on a KYC-verified account is charged the account fee described above.
• Save your records. BitMEX says you can still log in to see your wallet balance and historical transaction information.
• Remove the BitMEX connection in Autoview. Disconnect it the same way you'd disconnect any exchange you no longer use.
• Point your alerts at a new exchange. Whatever sent your BitMEX commands, a TradingView alert or any other webhook source, can drive any exchange on Autoview's supported exchanges list once you connect it and update the symbol.

Everything below, from connecting credentials to syntax and troubleshooting, describes BitMEX as it worked before the closure. It no longer places orders.

Step 0: Pick your platform

Autoview comes in two forms, and BitMEX works with both.

• The Chrome extension runs in your browser. It connects directly to TradingView alerts, and it only executes while your computer and Chrome are on.
• The webhook platform runs on our servers. It accepts a POST from anywhere: TradingView, TrendSpider, a Python script, your own cron job. It executes whether or not any browser is open.

If you want trades to fire while your laptop is closed, use the webhook platform. If you're tied to the extension's live TradingView link, use the extension. The setup below covers both; the command syntax differs by a single parameter, and I'll flag it where it does. Compare them side by side on the platforms page.

Step 1: Live or testnet, if you have an existing account on either

BitMEX ran a full parallel exchange at testnet.bitmex.com, and Autoview connected to it exactly like the live one. The testnet home page now redirects to BitMEX's closure notice, and BitMEX hasn't said what happens to testnet. Its testnet API was still listing open contracts with a live order book when we checked on October 5, 2026, so a testnet connection may still place orders. The BitMEX Testnet guide has the details and the testnets to use instead.

Whichever you use, credentials from one don't work on the other. A testnet key only trades on testnet; a live key only trades live.

Step 2: Create API credentials on BitMEX

API credentials are what let Autoview place orders on your account without ever touching your password. You generate them inside BitMEX, not inside Autoview, on whichever site you picked in Step 1 (www.bitmex.com or testnet.bitmex.com). BitMEX keeps its own walkthrough current, so follow theirs for the exact clicks, under Account > API Keys.

When you create the key, two rules are non-negotiable:

• Grant order permission. Autoview needs to place and cancel orders, and read your balances and open positions. Without it, nothing executes.
• Never grant withdrawal permission. No automation strategy needs it, and a key that can't move funds off the exchange is a key that can't drain your account if it leaks.

BitMEX calls the two pieces you'll paste into Autoview ID and Secret. Copy both somewhere safe before you leave the page. If you lose the Secret, you delete the key and generate a new one; BitMEX doesn't show it to you twice.

Step 3: Add the credentials to Autoview

Same credentials, slightly different door depending on your platform.

On the extension

Open the extension options, find BitMEX in the left menu, and click Add account. Paste in the ID and Secret. Leave the key unnamed unless you plan to run more than one BitMEX key. Naming it means every command has to address it with a=, so skip the name if you only have one.

On the webhook platform

Log in, open the BitMEX configuration, and enter the ID and Secret there. Here, naming the key is what lets you wire it to a specific webhook later, so a clear name is worth it. Save, and watch for the confirmation that the account connected.

If you're using a testnet account, make sure you're adding it as BitMEX Testnet, not BitMEX. They're two separate connections in Autoview, matching the two separate accounts on BitMEX's side.

Step 4: Fire a test order, then cancel it

This is the step people skip, and then they wonder why a live signal did nothing. Don't skip it, and if you're on testnet there's no reason not to run it exactly like a live order.

A note if you're on the live account: BitMEX has no separate sandbox for a live key, so trade a size at BitMEX's minimum for the contract, and place a limit order far enough from the market that it won't fill while you're testing. On testnet, skip the caution and just fire it.

Start with a dry run. Add d=1 to any command and Autoview parses it, shows you exactly what it would have done, and sends nothing to BitMEX. Get a clean dry run before you send a live one.

Then send the real thing. The cleanest trigger is a single-fire TradingView alert on an active market; a condition like "price greater than 0" fires it almost instantly. BitMEX trades in contracts, and it names Bitcoin XBT rather than BTC, so check the exact instrument code on BitMEX before you send. A limit buy 5% under the market looks like this:

• Extension: e=bitmex s=<BITMEX_SYMBOL> b=buy p=-5% q=1
• Webhook: s=<BITMEX_SYMBOL> b=buy p=-5% q=1

The only difference is e=bitmex, which tells the extension which exchange to route to. On the webhook platform the webhook already knows its exchange, so you leave it out. On testnet, both forms work the same way against your testnet account.

The example above hard-codes a price offset and a quantity, which is what you want for a controlled test. In real use you'll often want a live value instead. A TradingView alert can write one in: p={{close}} tells TradingView to substitute the candle's close at fire time, and Autoview just receives the number. The {{close}} token is TradingView's, not Autoview's. The point is that the alert sender supplies the value, so a Python script or another platform builds the same command its own way and posts a plain number where {{close}} would sit.

Fire it, then open the Autoview log and your BitMEX orders. You should see the resting limit order in both. Now cancel it:

• Extension: e=bitmex s=<BITMEX_SYMBOL> c=order
• Webhook: s=<BITMEX_SYMBOL> c=order

Order placed, order cancelled, both confirmed in the log and on BitMEX. That's the full round trip. Your setup works.

One BitMEX quirk worth knowing before you build a real strategy

BitMEX places one order per alert. If you send an entry with a stop-loss or take-profit attached in the same command, BitMEX doesn't bracket them together the way some exchanges do. Send the entry in one alert, and send the stop-loss or take-profit as its own separate alert. Each one lands as its own order on BitMEX, and each one works, they just don't ride together in a single command.

Trailing stops don't have that limitation. Autoview can place one directly, and it follows the price as the trade moves in your favor, the same as it would on an exchange with combined-order support.

A caveat on trailing stops, as of October 4, 2026: a review of Autoview's BitMEX code against BitMEX's API docs found that a trailing stop protecting a long position goes out with a positive offset, and BitMEX's docs call for a negative offset on sell stops. That stop may be rejected or sit on the wrong side of the price. A trailing stop protecting a short isn't affected. This comes from reading the code and hasn't been confirmed on a live account. It only matters on testnet now, so if you test a long there, use a fixed stop-loss instead of a trailing one until this page says otherwise.

Step 5: Troubleshoot the usual snags

Most first-run problems are one of three things.

• Invalid API credentials. Autoview rejects the key. Almost always a typo on paste, or a key created without order permission. Re-paste both halves and confirm the permission on BitMEX's side.
• Account shows disconnected. Nothing executes while it does. Re-check the ID and Secret, and confirm you added them under the right connection, BitMEX or BitMEX Testnet.
• BitMEX rejects the order. The error in your log comes straight from BitMEX, often because the quantity sat below the contract's minimum or the instrument code was wrong. Bump the size, recheck the symbol, and resend.

When a command behaves oddly, put d=1 back on it. The dry-run output is the fastest way to see what Autoview thinks you asked for versus what you meant.

BitMEX stopped trading on September 23, 2026, so none of the steps above can place an order on BitMEX's live exchange now. To rebuild the same automation elsewhere, pick an exchange from the supported list below, or rehearse it first on one of the demo accounts linked from the BitMEX Testnet guide.

See Autoview's supported exchanges