How to create a read-only Robinhood API key
A key that can read your Robinhood balances and nothing else: no trading, no transfers, no withdrawals. These are the steps Sovereign shows when you connect Robinhood.
Open Robinhood crypto settings ↗
We checked these steps against Robinhood's own documentation on 22 October 2026. Robinhood can rename a button at any time. If a label differs, look for the same permission.
Before you start
- A Robinhood Crypto account in the United States. Robinhood offers this API to US customers only.
- Use Robinhood on the web (“web classic”). API credentials are created in your crypto account settings there, not in the app.
Permissions
Turn on only:
- Read crypto accounts
- Read crypto holdings
Keep these off:
- Place crypto orders with fee tiers
- Place crypto orders without fee tiers
- Any other action that places or cancels orders
- Read crypto orders, Read crypto products and Read crypto quotes (not needed)
Steps
- Copy the public key in the box at the top of this form. Sovereign made the key pair for you and keeps its private half encrypted on its server.
- Sign in to Robinhood on the web and open your crypto account settings (button above).
- Select “Add key”.
- When Robinhood asks for your public key, paste the one you copied from Sovereign.
- Under the API actions, select only “Read crypto accounts” and “Read crypto holdings”.
- Create the credential. Robinhood then shows its API key; keys issued since August 2024 start with “rh-api-”.
- Paste that API key into “API KEY” in this form, then press “Connect & Sync”.
Where each value goes in Sovereign:
- API key Robinhood shows → API KEY
- No secret to paste: Sovereign already holds the private key it made for this connection
Does a Robinhood API key expire?
- Robinhood publishes no expiry for API credentials.
Robinhood's documentation says you can modify, disable and delete a credential you created at any time. Removing the connection here does not delete the credential on Robinhood — delete it there too.
Robinhood publishes no clear expiry rule. If the key stops working, Sovereign marks the connection as expired and asks for a new key.
Robinhood Crypto signs every request with a key pair instead of a shared secret. Sovereign makes that pair for you: Robinhood gets the public half, and the private half stays encrypted on Sovereign's server — it is never shown, sent to your browser or written to a log. Your dollar buying power is not imported: it is a spending limit that can include instant deposits or margin, and the dollars themselves sit in your Robinhood brokerage account. This guide was written from Robinhood's own documentation on 22 October 2026 and has not been walked through in a live Robinhood account.
If something goes wrong
- If the sync says the key was rejected: check the credential is still active on Robinhood and was created with the public key Sovereign gave you.
- If you are not sure which public key you pasted: delete that credential on Robinhood, press “New key pair” in this form and add a new credential with the new public key.
- If Robinhood refuses the sync, a read action may be missing. Create a new credential with both “Read crypto accounts” and “Read crypto holdings”.
Which permissions does a read-only Robinhood API key need?
Turn on: Read crypto accounts; Read crypto holdings. Keep off: Place crypto orders with fee tiers; Place crypto orders without fee tiers; Any other action that places or cancels orders; Read crypto orders, Read crypto products and Read crypto quotes (not needed).
Can Sovereign trade or withdraw with my Robinhood key?
No. Sovereign's code does not trade or move funds: it reads balances and positions. A key made with this guide also has no trading, transfer or withdrawal permission, so Robinhood itself refuses such a request.