Getting started with Kraken on Autoview
By the end of this guide your Kraken account is connected to Autoview, your API keys carry the right permissions, and you've fired one real test order and cancelled it. That last part matters. A dry-run tells you your syntax parses. Only a live order tells you the whole chain works.
This guide covers Kraken spot. Kraken Futures is a different product with its own host, its own API credentials, and its own Autoview connection; see the Kraken Futures section below rather than assuming spot setup carries over.
Two things to settle first: which Autoview you're running, and what your alerts will look like.
Step 0: Pick your platform
Autoview comes in two forms, and Kraken 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: Create API keys on Kraken
API keys are the credentials that let Autoview place orders on your account without ever touching your password. You generate them inside Kraken, not inside Autoview. Kraken keeps its own walkthrough current, so follow theirs for the exact clicks: How to create an API key.
When you create the key, two rules are non-negotiable:
- Grant trading permission. Autoview needs to place and cancel orders, and read your balances and open positions. Without order permission, 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.
Kraken also lets you whitelist IP addresses, so a key only works from an address you approve. On the webhook platform that address is the zone your signals run from. Autoview shows it to you when you add the key, so set the key up first and come back to whitelist once you know the IP.
Kraken shows the private key once, at creation. Copy both the API key and the private key somewhere safe before you leave that screen. There's no recovering the private key later. You'd just delete it and make a new one.
The permission checkboxes, precisely, and the host they apply to. Spot API keys are created and scoped entirely on Kraken's spot side, which Autoview talks to at api.kraken.com. On Kraken's key-creation screen, check Query Funds, Modify Orders, and Cancel/Close Orders; leave Withdraw Funds unchecked. Those three checked boxes are what let Autoview place, size, and cancel a spot order and read your balance; nothing here can move funds off Kraken.
Step 2: Add the keys to Autoview
Same credentials, slightly different door depending on your platform.
On the extension
Open the extension options, find Kraken in the left menu, and click Add account. Paste in the API key and private key. Leave the key unnamed unless you plan to run more than one Kraken 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 Kraken configuration, and enter the API key and private key 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.
Step 3: Fire a test order, then cancel it
This is the step people skip, and then they wonder at 3am why a live signal did nothing. Don't skip it.
A real warning before you send anything: Kraken commands hit your live account. There's no separate sandbox order here, so trade a size at or above Kraken's minimum for the pair, and place a limit order far enough from the market that it won't fill while you're testing.
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 Kraken. 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. Use Kraken's own pair code in the s= symbol. Kraken's tickers don't always match the everyday name, so check the pair on Kraken before you send. A limit buy 5% under the market looks like this:
- Extension:
e=kraken s=<KRAKEN_PAIR> b=buy p=-5% q=1 - Webhook:
s=<KRAKEN_PAIR> b=buy p=-5% q=1
The only difference is e=kraken, which tells the extension which exchange to route to. On the webhook platform the webhook already knows its exchange, so you leave it out.
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 Kraken orders. You should see the resting limit order in both. Now cancel it:
- Extension:
e=kraken s=<KRAKEN_PAIR> c=order - Webhook:
s=<KRAKEN_PAIR> c=order
Order placed, order cancelled, both confirmed in the log and on Kraken. That's the full round trip. Your setup works.
What that round trip resolves to, and the real order it's traced to. A dry-run market sell, e=KRAKEN s=XBTUSD b=sell q=0.00005 t=market d=1, resolves to the exact request Autoview sends: {"pair":"XXBTZUSD","ordertype":"market","type":"sell","volume":"0.00005","trading_agreement":"agree"} -- note Kraken's own pair code XXBTZUSD under the hood, not the XBTUSD you typed. A cancel, e=KRAKEN s=XBTUSD c=order d=1, resolves the same way and returns "No open orders." on an empty book. This isn't only a dry-run claim: a real live Kraken spot order has gone through this exact path, Kraken transaction ID OUIDB6-R4DVL-QC2E3B (2026-06-04), confirming the round trip fills and cancels on Kraken's own venue, not just inside Autoview's parser.
Kraken Futures: a separate product, separate setup
Kraken Futures is not the same connection as Kraken spot, and it doesn't share credentials. Autoview talks to Kraken Futures at futures.kraken.com/derivatives, a different host from spot's api.kraken.com. Generate a Kraken Futures API key from Kraken's futures site, not the spot key-management page; Kraken Futures gives you a Public Key and a Private Key, the same field names as spot but a completely separate pair of values that won't work on the spot connection or vice versa. Grant order permission and leave withdrawal off, same rule as spot.
Start futures the same careful way. The order and cancel example above is Kraken spot. On futures, dry-run your first command with d=1, then place one small order and confirm it in the Autoview log and on Kraken Futures before you size up.
Step 4: 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 trading permission. Re-paste both halves and confirm the permission on Kraken's side.
- Account shows disconnected. Nothing executes while it does. Re-check the key, and if you whitelisted an IP, confirm the address Autoview is sending from matches the one you approved.
- Kraken rejects the order. The error in your log comes straight from Kraken, often because the quantity sat below the pair's minimum. Bump the size and resend, or check the pair's minimum on Kraken.
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.
Connected and tested? Good. Next you'll want stop-loss and take-profit parameters layered onto these same commands. That's where the automation gets interesting.