Trading bot maintenance through exchange API changes
Exchanges change their APIs, and software that worked last month stops working. Fincode tracks those changes for the platforms your software uses, tests against them and prepares compatibility releases for you to approve. Maintenance covers the software and API compatibility, not strategy changes or position monitoring.
How a trading bot stops working when nothing in it changed
One large exchange's public spot API changelog has 38 dated entries for 2025 and 32 for 2026 through 30 October. These examples come from official documents read on 5 November 2026. We leave the platforms out because this page is not about any one of them; our guides name them.
A method is retired
That same exchange deprecated its older user data stream in April 2025, then said the related methods would no longer be available from 20 February 2026. Software still on that route stops receiving order and balance updates. See our exchange API guide.
An API key stops working
The same exchange's documentation now marks HMAC keys as deprecated and recommends moving to other key types. Elsewhere, a key with no IP restriction can expire on its own: after 90 days on some platforms, and after 14 days of inactivity on another if it can trade or withdraw. See creating an API key.
A port or host goes away
Another large exchange announced that connections to one WebSocket port would fail from 31 October 2026 on the public internet. The fix is one line, if someone knows it is coming.
A check stops meaning anything
The same exchange fixed its order book checksum field to 0 in June 2026 while leaving the field in its messages. Code that still compares it either fails on nearly every update or checks nothing. See local order books.
A format shifts
One exchange's bulk spot files moved to microsecond timestamps from 1 January 2025. New fields, renamed values and changed types do the same to live messages: strict parsers crash, and lenient ones misread without telling you.
Symbol rules move
Tick sizes, lot sizes and minimum order values change per symbol, and symbols get renamed or delisted. Values hard-coded last year start producing rejected orders.
Limits change
Request weights and connection limits are revised: the first exchange above raised one endpoint's weight from 1 to 4 in April 2025. Software that sat inside its limit starts getting rate-limit responses.
Your own stack ages
Libraries such as CCXT change behavior between versions, runtimes reach end of life, logs fill disks and server clocks drift until signed requests are refused. None of it needs a change at the exchange.
Who this suits
Your developer has moved on
You had a bot built, it runs on your own account, and nobody who knows the code is still around.
Software on several platforms
Each platform has its own changelog, its own notices and its own dates, and reading them is nobody's job.
Developers with other priorities
Your own developers work on your product and would rather not track exchange changes.
Software Fincode builds for you
Maintenance is an optional step after go-live.
How a change is handled
Each relevant change goes through the same four steps, and you see the result of each.
- 1
Notice
Official changelogs and notices for your platforms are read and logged.
- 2
Impact note
A short note says whether the change touches your software, where, and by when.
- 3
Change and test
The change is made and run on a testnet where the platform offers one, with your failure cases.
- 4
Your approval
You get release notes and rollback steps. Nothing reaches your live system without your approval.
What you receive
- A written maintenance scope: which software, which platforms, which sources are watched
- Contract checks: scheduled read-only comparisons of what the API returns today with what your software expects, on public endpoints or test environments
- Pinned dependencies, updated on purpose, with regression tests before each release
- Compatibility releases with release notes and rollback steps
- Fault-finding from logs you share with secrets removed: is it the software, the platform or the server?
- A maintenance log: what changed, why, and what was tested
Tests show how the software behaves, not future results. Trades can lose money.
What Fincode does not do
- Strategy changes, new rules or parameter tuning
- Position monitoring or trade decisions
- Running the software or holding your live keys
- Getting around a regional block, identity checks or rate limits
- Round-the-clock response
Where maintenance stops
Your positions
Fincode does not look at your positions, decide anything about them or react to a market move. Alerts from the software go to you.
A fault while positions are open
Your own emergency stop and your own decisions apply, which is why those have to exist before maintenance starts.
New features, platforms and rules
Separate work, quoted separately. Rule changes come from you, in writing.
Outages
Outages caused by the exchange, the server or the connection cannot be ruled out entirely, and maintenance does not change that.
What a maintenance scope looks like
This page publishes no response targets or fix windows. The brackets show what your contract would set.
| Item | Sample entry |
|---|---|
| Software covered | [repository and version] |
| Platforms covered | [platforms you name], on [API versions] |
| Sources watched | [official changelog and notice pages] |
| Contract checks | [list of read-only checks], run on [schedule agreed in the contract] |
| Response target | [agreed in the contract] |
| Fix window | [agreed in the contract] |
| Who deploys | [you, or someone you name] |
| Keys | Test-environment keys only. Live keys stay with you |
| Fee basis | [agreed in the contract]. Fees depend on scope and effort, not on trading volume or results |
| Out of scope | Strategy changes, parameter changes, position monitoring |
What is checked first
Source code, and the right to change it
Maintenance needs the complete source and your right to have it modified. A compiled bot or a rented product cannot be maintained here.
Whether it builds and runs from scratch
Build steps, pinned dependencies, configuration and tests. If those are missing, the first step is a written review and a test harness: see trading bot code review.
Whether it fails safely today
An emergency stop, logs and alerts that reach a person. If any are missing, we say so first, because maintenance cannot protect what is not there.
How it can be tested
A testnet where the platform offers one. One large exchange's spot test network resets to a blank state about once a month with no prior notice, so tests set up their own state. Where there is no test environment, we agree read-only checks and a small live run that you approve.
Which platforms, and your country
For customers outside Türkiye, which platforms can be used depends on the law of your country and the platform's terms. For customers resident in Türkiye, we work with platforms on the Capital Markets Board's list that offer an API; being listed does not mean a platform is authorized. Article 99/A of Capital Markets Law No. 6362 treats activity by foreign crypto-asset platforms directed at Turkish residents as unauthorized. This is general information, not legal advice.
What it is used for
Your own account, under rules you wrote. We decline software that runs on other people's accounts, copies trades or sells signals, and that includes keeping such software running.
Whether it depends on TradingView
TradingView's Terms of Use (opens in a new tab), read on 5 November 2026, license alerts and webhooks for display use and prohibit using them for automated trading, including through third-party products or services. If your software turns them into orders, say so in your brief, read those terms and take legal advice. We may decline to maintain that part.
When you do not need us
If your bot runs on a subscription platform, the vendor keeps its exchange connections working. If you or a developer you trust reads the changelogs, pinned dependencies and an alert on failed orders may be all you need. If the bot is no longer in use, revoke its keys and retire it; do not pay to maintain it.
If you have one fault to fix, you do not need ongoing maintenance. Read the exact error and the platform's changelog first, and if that does not settle it, a one-off code review and repair fits better.
Building something new?
Cost drivers for the whole life of a bot are in our guide to trading bot cost. For new work, see trading bot development or exchange API integration.
Questions about trading bot maintenance
Why is my trading bot not working?
Common causes are a changed key permission or IP restriction, clock drift, changed symbol rules, rate limits, a retired endpoint or a stream that went stale. Read the exact error and the platform's changelog first; our guide to exchange error codes shows how on one large exchange. If the cause is a regional restriction or an identity check, stop and ask the platform: maintenance does not route around those.
Will you watch my positions or restart the bot after a loss?
No. Maintenance covers the software and API compatibility, not strategy changes or position monitoring. Fincode does not make trading decisions in your account.
Can you change my strategy or settings?
Not under maintenance, and we do not suggest rules or parameters. If you write new rules, coding them is a separate piece of work with its own proposal.
Can you maintain a bot someone else wrote?
Yes, if you have the complete source and the right to have it changed. We start with a written review, so you know what you are maintaining.
Do you need my live API keys?
No. Work happens with test-environment keys where they exist, and the live key stays on your server. Send logs with secrets removed.
What if an exchange changes something without notice?
It happens. The first sign is then a failed check, a rejected order or a stale stream, so the software has to stop safely and alert you. A fix follows the same four steps as any other change.
What if a platform stops serving my country?
Maintenance ends there. Moving a server does not change where you are or which rules apply, and we do not build routes around blocks or identity checks.
How fast do you respond?
This page publishes no response targets or fix windows; if you go ahead, the contract sets them. Fincode does not offer round-the-clock response.
How is the price set?
You get a written proposal before work starts. Fees depend on scope and effort, not on trading volume or results.
Read more
Have software that needs looking after?
Tell us what it does, which platforms it uses, whether you have the source and your timeline. Do not include API keys. Fincode is a software company and does not provide investment advice, portfolio management or crypto asset services. Trades can lose money.