Manually typing in every trade — or exporting a CSV after each session — gets old fast. Exchange sync skips all of that: you connect your exchange once with a read-only API key, and SniperJournal pulls your trades straight from the source. This guide walks through exactly how it works, where your trades end up, and how to read the results.
Read-Only, Always
First, the important part: SniperJournal only ever uses read-only access. The API keys you connect can look at your trade history and nothing else — they can't place orders, move funds, or withdraw. Your keys are encrypted at rest on our servers and are never shown in plain text again after you save them. When you create the key on your exchange, only enable the "read" permission.
1. Open Connections
Click your profile in the top-right corner and choose Connections (it's also a tab in Settings). That's your connection hub — every exchange and MetaTrader account you link lives here. Click Connect account to add one; the + button in the header gets you there too.
2. Connect an Exchange
SniperJournal syncs with 30+ exchanges and brokers over read-only API — Binance, Bybit, OKX, Bitget, KuCoin, MEXC, Coinbase, Kraken, Gate.io, Crypto.com, HTX, BingX, Bitso, Hyperliquid, Interactive Brokers, and many more you can find by searching. The seven biggest run on dedicated, hand-built integrations; the rest are covered through our universal sync engine, so if your exchange has an API, chances are it's supported.
Pick your exchange from the grid — the most used ones come first, and the search box finds the rest — and you'll get a short form asking for your API key and secret, plus a passphrase for the ones that require it. The same form lets you choose which portfolio the trades should land in (more on that below) and links to the guide for that exchange.
Create the key on your exchange with read-only permissions, paste it in, and hit Connect. SniperJournal validates the credentials on the spot: if they work, the connection is saved; if not, you get an error right away instead of a silent failure.
3. Which Portfolio Do Trades Go To?
This is the part most people wonder about. A connection always feeds one portfolio: the one you pick in the connect form under "Sync to portfolio" (it defaults to the portfolio you have active). From then on, that exchange's trades land in that same portfolio every time you sync — no matter which portfolio you happen to be viewing at the moment. The destination is decided when you connect, so your data never scatters across the wrong accounts.
You can see and change the destination later, right on the connection card, under "Syncs to portfolio." So if you keep your scalping account separate from your swing account, just point each exchange at the right portfolio.
4. Sync Your Trades
New trades also arrive on their own (see the note on timing below). To pull them right away there are two buttons:
Sync Now — On any single connection, click Sync Now to import that exchange's latest trades into its portfolio.
Sync All — The circular arrow in the top bar syncs every connected exchange at once, each into its own portfolio. Handy when you trade across several accounts.
Each sync pulls up to your most recent 500 trades. Already-imported trades are detected and skipped automatically (matched by their exchange order ID), so running a sync twice never creates duplicates.
5. Read the Result
After a sync you get a short summary of what happened. A single-exchange sync tells you how many trades were imported and which portfolio they went to. Sync All shows one consolidated notice broken down by portfolio — for example, "Arch +20 (mexc, bybit)" — so you can see at a glance where everything landed and how many were new. Your dashboard and stats refresh on their own; no reload needed.
Pausing and Removing
Need a break from a connection? Pause it and it stops syncing until you re-enable it — your saved trades stay untouched. Delete removes the stored credentials entirely (again, your imported trades stay). Either way, nothing you've already journaled is affected.
Troubleshooting
"0 trades imported" — Usually means everything was already synced (all duplicates), or the account has no closed trades in the window. Open positions that haven't closed yet won't come through as completed trades.
Invalid credentials — Double-check you enabled read permissions and copied the full key/secret. Some exchanges also require a passphrase; if the form asks for one, it's mandatory.
Connection paused — A paused connection won't sync. Hit Enable to resume.
Automatic sync paused — After several failed syncs in a row (an expired key, for example), automatic sync stops trying. Check the API key on the exchange and click Sync Now to retry.
A Note on Timing
SniperJournal also syncs your connections automatically in the background, so new trades show up without you doing anything. Sync Now and Sync All are there when you want a sync right away, for example at the start of your session. Some sources publish with a delay: Interactive Brokers updates its Flex report once a day, after the close, so a day's trades usually arrive the next day.
That's the whole flow: connect read-only, point each exchange at the right portfolio, and let it sync on its own, or sync in a click. Your trades show up in the Journal ready to tag and analyze. SniperJournal is free to start.
Exchanges & brokers with API auto-sync: MEXC, Binance, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, OKX, Interactive Brokers, Coinbase, Kraken, Gate.io, Crypto.com, HTX (Huobi), BingX, Bitfinex, Gemini, Bitstamp, Upbit, Phemex, WhiteBIT, WOO X, BitMart, CoinEx, Deribit, Hyperliquid, Poloniex, LBank, Bitso, BloFin, Bitvavo, Kraken Futures, Binance US, and BitMEX — with more added regularly. Don't see yours? Use the search box on the connect screen, or reach out and we'll look into adding it.