Connecting an exchange account is the entire setup ZeroLoss requires — there's no strategy to configure, no additional software to install, and no ongoing maintenance beyond keeping the connection active. It takes a few minutes once you know where to look on your exchange, and this walkthrough covers each step in the order you'll actually encounter them.
Step one: generate a trade-only API key
In your exchange's API management settings — usually found under account security or API settings, depending on the exchange — create a new API key. When prompted for permissions, enable read and trade access only. Leave withdrawal permission disabled; on most exchanges this is a separate toggle that requires explicit confirmation to enable, precisely because exchanges themselves recognize how consequential that permission is. You should never need to enable it for ZeroLoss or any legitimate trade-only automation product.
Step two: enable futures trading on your exchange account, if your strategy requires it
Depending on the automation strategy you're connecting to, futures trading may need to be separately enabled on your underlying exchange account before automation can execute — this is a distinct setting from the API key itself and is easy to miss on a first setup, since it lives in a different part of most exchanges' account settings than the API management page.
Step three: connect the key in your ZeroLoss dashboard
Paste the API key and its accompanying secret into your ZeroLoss dashboard's connection screen. The secret is typically shown only once, at the moment the exchange generates it — save it securely before navigating away from that screen, since most exchanges won't display it again and you'd need to generate an entirely new key if you lose it.
Step four: wait for automation to activate
Automation typically begins executing within 24 hours of a successful connection, though this can vary slightly depending on current market conditions and whether they meet the system's execution criteria at that specific moment. This isn't a processing delay on our end — it reflects the system evaluating real conditions rather than executing immediately regardless of what those conditions are.
Common setup mistakes worth avoiding
Generating the API key with default settings without explicitly checking the withdrawal toggle is off — always verify this explicitly rather than assuming a default configuration is safe, since exchange defaults vary. Forgetting to enable futures trading on the underlying account when the connected strategy requires it, which will prevent automation from executing even though the API connection itself succeeded. And losing the API secret before saving it, which requires starting the key-generation process over from scratch on the exchange side.
What to check once you're connected
Your ZeroLoss dashboard should show the connection as active, and your exchange's own API management page should show the key with read and trade enabled, withdrawal disabled. Checking both — not just the ZeroLoss side — is worth doing once after initial setup, since it confirms independently, from your exchange's own records, that the permissions are exactly what you intended them to be.