How to create a read-only Gate.io API key

Open Gate API Management ↗

We checked these steps against Gate.io's own documentation on 25 September 2026. Gate.io can rename a button at any time. If a label differs, look for the same permission.

Before you start

• An account on Gate's global site, gate.com. Gate US accounts are not supported.
• Identity verification completed on your Gate account.
• A fund password and 2FA (two-factor authentication) set up on Gate.

Permissions

Turn on only:

• Spot Trade (or Spot/Margin Trading): Read Only
• Perpetual Futures: Read Only
• Margin Trading (Unified Account): Read Only

Keep these off:

• Withdraw
• Wallet
• Subaccount
• Earn
• Loan
• Read And Write (on any permission)

Steps

Sovereign connects to Gate.io from one fixed IP address. The connection form in Sovereign shows it next to these steps, with a copy button.

1. On a computer, click the button above, log in to Gate, then click “Create API Key”.
2. In “API Key Remark”, type a name you will recognise, such as “Sovereign”.
3. Under “IP Permissions”, choose “Bind IP” and paste Sovereign's IP address into the box.
4. Under “API Key Type”, choose “API v4 Key”. Under “Account Type”, choose the trading account, not “Testnet”.
5. Under “Permissions”, find three rows: “Spot Trade” (Gate may label it “Spot/Margin Trading”), “Perpetual Futures” and “Margin Trading (Unified Account)”. Set each one to “Read Only”, never “Read And Write”.
6. Leave every other permission off, then click “Submit”.
7. In “Risk Reminder”, tick all three boxes and click “I Accept”.
8. In “Security Verification”, enter your “Fund Password” and your 2FA code, then click “Confirm”.
9. Copy the API Key and Secret Key Gate shows straight away, because Gate may not show the Secret Key again.
10. Paste the API Key and Secret Key into the API KEY and API SECRET fields in Sovereign, then press “Connect & Sync”.

Where each value goes in Sovereign:

• API Key → API KEY
• Secret Key → API SECRET

Does a Gate.io API key expire?

• With an IP restriction: No fixed expiry.
• Without an IP restriction: Disabled 90 days after it's created.
• If unused: Deleted if left unused for about 60–90 days, with or without an IP.

Sovereign uses the key every six hours while the connection is on, which normally keeps it from counting as unused.

“Spot Trade”, “Perpetual Futures” and “Margin Trading” are Gate's names for the MARKETS the key may look at, not for trading rights. The “Read Only” setting beside each one is what decides what the key can do, and it allows reading balances and positions only — which is why the list says to switch those rows on. · Sovereign reads spot, margin and USDT-, BTC- or USD1-settled perpetual futures on the account the key belongs to; sub-accounts are not included. Delivery futures, options, Earn, Loan and copy trading are not synced.

If something goes wrong

• If futures or margin balances are missing: check in Gate that the key's permissions match the list above, then sync again.
• If you edited the key and the sync still fails: wait 5 minutes, because Gate can take that long to apply changes, then try again.
• If you lost the Secret Key: create a new key, because Gate may not show the secret again.
• If Gate won't create another key because you have reached its key limit: delete an old key on the “API Key Management” page first.

Sources

• www.gate.com/help/guide/faq/17521/how-to-utilize-api
• www.gate.com/docs/developers/apiv4/en/#apiv4-permissions
• www.gate.com/docs/developers/apiv4/en/#authentication