OANDA Practice account: testing Autoview before you trade live
An OANDA Practice account is a free, separate demo account with its own funds, and Autoview connects to it exactly the way it connects to live OANDA. If you want to prove a new alert, a new command, or a whole new strategy works before it touches real money, this is the account to connect first.
Practice funds are separate from your live account. An OANDA Practice account is a different account from your live OANDA account, with its own demo balance. Nothing you do on Practice moves real money, and nothing on Practice affects your live positions.
What OANDA Practice is
OANDA runs a separate practice environment at its own API endpoint, api-fxpractice.oanda.com, distinct from the live endpoint, api-fxtrade.oanda.com. It mirrors live OANDA's account mechanics and order types, but the balance is demo funds OANDA credits you, not real money. It exists so you can place real orders, see real fills, and confirm your automation behaves the way you expect, with nothing at risk.
On Autoview, this shows up as its own exchange connection, OANDA Practice, priced at $0. It's a first-class connection, not a toggle on your live OANDA account -- you add it separately, with its own Account ID and Access Token, and it runs alongside (or instead of) your live connection.
Create a Practice account
Practice accounts are separate from live OANDA accounts, so if you don't already have one, register at register.oanda.com and choose fxTrade Practice, not MetaTrader (MT4). OANDA's v20 REST API, the one Autoview uses, is not available for MT4 accounts -- if your only OANDA account is MT4-only, you cannot connect it to Autoview, on Practice or live.
Generate your Practice credentials
Sign in to hub.oanda.com with your Practice account, then generate an Access Token at hub.oanda.com/tpa/personal_token (or via My Account → My Services → Manage API Access → Generate Personal Access Token). OANDA shows the token once, so copy it immediately -- if you close the page first, you'll need to generate a new one. You'll also need your Account ID, in the format ###-###-#######-###, visible on your account or portfolio view. Full API authentication reference: developer.oanda.com/rest-live-v20/authentication/.
Connect it to Autoview
In Autoview, add an account and choose OANDA Practice from the exchange list rather than OANDA. Paste the values from your Practice account's API management page into the same two fields a live OANDA connection uses: Account ID and Access Token. Run the connection test after saving -- a clean test means the Practice credentials authenticate.
Sending commands: what changes, what doesn't
The command syntax is identical to live OANDA, including the symbol format: instrument names use underscore, uppercase, e.g. EUR_USD, not EURUSD. Every parameter on the OANDA getting-started guide works the same way on a Practice account. Only the account differs.
The one thing that changes is how the Chrome extension picks the exchange. On the webhook platform, a webhook is already tied to whichever account you connected it to, so you never set an exchange in the command itself. On the extension, swap e=oanda for e=oandapractice (or the equivalent e=OANDAPRACTICE / e=OANDA-PRACTICE):
| Live OANDA (extension) | OANDA Practice (extension) |
|---|---|
e=oanda s=EUR_USD b=buy t=limit p=-5% q=1 | e=oandapractice s=EUR_USD b=buy t=limit p=-5% q=1 |
Add d=1 to any command first, on Practice the same as live, and Autoview parses it and reports what it would have done without placing anything. It's a useful habit to keep even on demo funds, since it's the fastest way to confirm the resolved instrument and size look right before you check the order lands correctly on Practice.
Practice and live credentials don't mix
OANDA Practice and live OANDA are separate environments, and each has its own Account ID and Access Token. Pairing a token generated in one environment with an Account ID from the other doesn't throw an obvious error -- it fails authentication silently, which is the single most common reason a first OANDA connection doesn't work. Before you save your credentials, double check that the Account ID and the Access Token you're pasting both came from the same environment: Practice with Practice, live with live.
Once Practice looks right
Practice proves your command syntax and your alert wiring, not your live account's credentials or permissions -- those are separate on OANDA, so a working Practice connection doesn't skip the setup steps on live OANDA. When you're ready, follow the getting started with OANDA guide to connect your live account, generate a live Access Token, and run the same dry-run-then-live check with real funds at a small size.