API error messages

Permission denied errors are returned when the API client is attempting a task for which the API key does not have permission. For example, if an API client attempted to retrieve the account balance using an API key that was configured to allow trading access but not account management access, then the permission denied error would be returned. You can review your API keys and their settings (such as their permissions) via the Settings -> API tab of account management. You would need to make sure that the API keys being used by your third party apps have all of the settings and permissions that your apps require.

This error is returned when the API key used for the call is either expired or disabled, please review the API key in your Settings -> API tab of account management or generate a new one and update your application.

You can pull the complete list of our asset pairs from the AssetPairs public call and look for the pair name as the entry of the Json headers or by the parameter "altname": https://api.kraken.com/0/public/AssetPairs

This error is returned when a method is called without the required parameters. For example, calling the QueryOrders method without specifying a valid transaction ID (txid) parameter would cause the invalid arguments error to be returned. Calling a method with unnecessary parameters would still not return the invalid arguments error because the unnecessary parameters would simply be ignored.

Invalid signature errors occurs if either your API key or API secret are written incorrectly in your program or because the POST data used in the authentication and the POST data sent to the API do not match.For additional reference, the following is example Python code to implement the API signature algorithm. The appropriate API public key should be copied and pasted from account management, and the API method and POST data should be updated appropriately. The output value can be used directly as the value for the API-Sign HTTP header. #!/usr/bin/env python

# Import required Python libraries
import time
import base64
import hashlib
import hmac

# Decode API private key from base64 format displayed in account management
api_secret = base64.b64decode("nmlrD83t1J+yVWKUBx9vD6j26C5zhC11tFfXpN+Ww+8oOVuGgse5AeADcvl95jYaD+UAi3D5CrVfFr8GfQ7zhA==")

# Variables (API method, nonce, and POST data)
api_path = "/0/private/TradeBalance"
api_nonce = str(int(time.time()*1000))
api_post = "nonce=" + api_nonce + "&asset=xxbt"

# Cryptographic hash algorithms
api_sha256 = hashlib.sha256(api_nonce + api_post).digest()
api_hmac = hmac.new(api_secret, api_path + api_sha256, hashlib.sha512)

# Encode signature into base64 format used in API-Sign value
api_signature = base64.b64encode(api_hmac.digest())

# API authentication signature for use in API-Sign HTTP header
print(api_signature)The SHA256 is calculated using the nonce value itself and the POST data for the API method and the POST DATA is comprised of the name/value pairs for the nonce (again) and the API method parameters. An example of the data that should be passed to the SHA256 for the TradeBalance method would be as follows:SHA256 = SHA256 of "1541933977000nonce=1541933977000&asset=xxbt"The string value that is passed to the SHA256 should not contain any additional null (\0) values and the string value should not be encoded as base64 or hex (i.e. the string value should be a plain text string).The URI path is the entire URL of the API method except for the "https://api.kraken.com" prefix, so the URI path of the TradeBalance method (for example) would be the string value "/0/private/TradeBalance" without any additional null values.The HMAC SHA512 is calculated using the URI path and the previously calculated SHA256 digest, with the base64 decoded API private key as the HMAC key. An example of the data that should be passed to the HMAC would be as follows:HMAC SHA512 using base64 decoded private key = HMAC of "/0/private/TradeBalanceSHA256"The API-Key and API-Sign HTTP headers are the only two required custom HTTP headers. The API-Key header is an exact duplicate of the API public key from account management. The API-Sign header is the HMAC SHA512 digest encoded using base64.

You can find more information about this error here:https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001148063And more about Nonce and Nonce Window here:https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000906023https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001148023

Invalid session errors are returned via the WebSocket API, when an attempt is made to subscribe to an authenticated (private) feed using an authentication token that is no longer valid (has already expired, for example).

The solution is simply to request a new authentication token via the REST API GetWebSocketsToken endpoint, and use the new token for all subsequent authenticated (private) subscription requests.

A bad request error indicates that there is something incorrect about the underlying HTTP request (not the subsequent API request), such as mismatched URLs between REST/WebSocket, or not including the HTTP POST data correctly:

% curl --data "" https://api.kraken.com/0/private/GetWebSocketsToken

{"error":["EAPI:Bad request"]}

This error is returned when the endpoint being called is not a valid endpoint.

You have surpassed the API rate limit.

While adding and canceling orders does not count against our standard API counter limits, these operations do have their own add and cancel order counter. This counter works in a way where the longer orders are left on the order book, the more orders clients are able to add or cancel.

Temporary lockout error messages can occur if you had too many failed API calls or too many invalid nonce errors in a short period of time or invalid signatures. Even though these calls return an error, that error still counts against your API limits and may result in a temporary lockout.

Temporary lockouts last approximately 15 minutes. After receiving the temporary lock out error, please wait 15 minutes before sending any new API requests. If you are triggering several invalid nonce errors, please increase the nonce window as this can help reduce the frequency that these errors will occur. Please try to reduce the frequency of your private API calls also.

Opening new spot positions on margin has been temporarily suspended for trading engine maintenance. The feature will be making a return soon and you can follow along with updates on status.kraken.com.

Another reasons may be that spot positions on margin are not currently available for clients residing in certain countries.

On Kraken you cannot open a long and short position for the same pair.

If wishing to open a long and short position for the same currency, please choose different trading pairs with the same currency as the base or quote currency. Ex: short XBT/USD, long XBT/EUR.

This error occurs when you have exceeded the margin allowance limits for your current verification level. Margin allowance limits for each currency varies based on your current verification level.

We have limited funds available for margin extensions. The "insufficient margin" message indicates that we are out of funds in the applicable margin pool for the time being. This can change at any time. You may be able to successfully place your order just seconds or minutes later, but high volume orders and orders placed during high volume times may take longer. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience.

This error occurs when there is insufficient Free Margin to open a new position on the account or if the current attempt to open a position would result in the account's Free Margin dropping below 100%.

You do not have the funds available to place this order. Please review your open positions and orders for items that may be holding up your funds.

You have not met the minimum order volume for this asset.

You have exceeded the maximum amount of open orders available to your account.

These limits are based on your verification level. Please close some of your open orders or verify your account to a higher level.

If you are a US retail client and receive the error EOrder:Reduce only:Non-ECP when placing leveraged orders through the API or WebSocket, this means your order is being routed through the wrong trading pair.

US retail margin trading is processed through Bitnomial Exchange, which requires a different pair format. Instead of using the standard pair name (for example, BTC/USD), you need to append :BTNL to the pair (for example, BTC/USD:BTNL). This applies to all order endpoints, including REST API and WebSocket.

How to fix it

Update your order request to use the :BTNL pair format. For example, instead of BTC/USD use BTC/USD:BTNL, and instead of XBT/USD use XBT/USD:BTNL.

To see the full list of pairs available for US retail margin trading, make the following public API call: https://api.kraken.com/0/public/AssetPairs?execution_venue=bitnomial_exchange

Note: If your order passes validate=true but fails when submitted live, this is expected -- validation checks order formatting only and does not verify account routing. The :BTNL pair format is required for the actual order to go through.

You have exceeded the maximum amount of open positions available to your account.

These limits are based on your verification level. Please close or settle some or all of your open positions or verify your account to a higher level if possible.

An attempt was made to edit an existing (open) order but the modifications could not be completed successfully. Possible reasons include insufficient funds for the new order, some partial fill scenarios, and some leveraged orders.

The new volume is less than the already executed/filled volume.

The order sized exceeded the margin position size limit of the trading pair.

The display volume has not met the minimum order volume.

The display volume must be less than the volume of the order.

Iceberg orders are not compatible with any other order types besides a limit order.

Each crypto currency has a maximum of 5 new (unused) deposit addresses, after which any attempt to create a 6th new address will return an error.

This error is returned whenever the funding endpoints are called with an invalid or missing "method" parameter. 

The "key" input parameter does not correspond to the address description set within account management (via the Funding -> Withdraw).

The minimum withdrawal amounts by currency varies and any attempted withdrawal below the minimum would result in this error.

This is a generic error indicating that a funding request could not be completed (for example, clients from certain locations attempting to make on chain staking requests would cause this error).

The requested withdrawal could not be completed, because the destination address is missing the required beneficiary/recipient information (note that this currently only applies to select withdrawals from Canadian accounts).

The service errors you are experiencing should only be temporary. You may wish to resubmit your requests if they have failed. We will be monitoring the issues and will update our page:

https://status.kraken.com/

When we are facing API degradation issues, these can translate into problems for Kraken in the form of service unavailable messages and site outages.

This issue has to do with the security of your account which may have been compromised. Please change your password and Two-Factor Authentication and contact our Support Center.

This error occurs when a flag or input parameter is disabled temporary or permanently. The error should come from one of the inputs passed, please contact our support sending a log with the complete informations used for the call that generated the error.

These 5xx and 10xx errors are not actually API errors, but rather are web server errors from Cloudflare.

API errors are always returned in JSON format such as “error”:[“ErrorType:ErrorMessage”], so any time that an error in a different format is received (such as an HTTP status code of 520, 504, 502, 1020, etc.), the interim solution is to try the API call again shortly afterwards and hopefully the call will then be successful.