How to create a Shark Exchange API key

Before you start

Two things about Shark that are easy to get wrong, and both cost a session if you find them halfway through.

• It has to be a computer: Shark's mobile app has no create-key screen at all. A laptop or desktop browser is the only way. Their limit, not ours.
• Permissions come last, not first: Shark creates the key and only then lets you edit its restrictions, so "Trade Futures" is ticked after the secret is already on screen — exactly when the flow feels finished.

Set up Shark Exchange — step by step

Follow these in order. The only part done outside TradeGuardX is creating the API key on Shark.

1. 1

   Create your TradeGuardX account

   Sign up at tradeguardx.com/signup with email or Google. No card is needed to start.

2. 2

   Start adding your Shark account

   In the dashboard, open Accounts → "Add trading account" and choose Shark Exchange.

   • Name the account. Keep this form open — it shows the IP you need to whitelist and is where you paste your key.
   • The API Key and Secret are required to create the account, so you will finish this form in step 4.
3. 3

   Create the API key on Shark Exchange

   Open sharkexchange.in/user/api-management on a laptop or desktop. The order here is not the obvious one — Shark creates the key first and only lets you edit its permissions afterwards, so the scope you actually need comes after the secret is already on screen:

   • Log in on a laptop or desktop. Shark's mobile app has no create-key screen at all — this cannot be done on a phone.
   • Profile icon, top right → API Management, then Create API key.
   • Label API and Add IP addresses — name it (we suggest "tradeguardx"), paste our IP (13.205.214.83) into the address field, then Create.
   • Enter Verification Code — Shark texts a 6-digit code to your registered number. It expires, and there is a resend link if it does.
   • Copy the API key and secret from this screen now. The secret is never shown again.
   • Tick "Trade Futures" under Edit API Restrictions, then tick that you have stored the keys and Save & Complete.

   Shark issues every key as Read only. Without "Trade Futures" we can watch the account and send alerts, but we can never close a position — the kill switch would do nothing. This is the step people miss, because it comes after the secret appears and the flow feels finished.

4. 4

   Connect the key in TradeGuardX

   On the Add-account form, paste your API Key and Secret and create/connect.

   • We validate the key against Shark immediately and show the linked account on the Accounts card.
   • If Shark rejects it, the IP whitelist is the usual cause — Shark answers "IP address not whitelisted" to every request from any other address.
   • Your secret is encrypted (KMS) before storage and is never shown again.
5. 5

   Set your guardrails

   Open Rules and configure the protections you want — daily loss limit, max trades per day, loss-streak cooldown, risk per trade, and more. On Shark these are rupee amounts, because Shark settles in INR.

   • Each rule has a "How it works" toggle explaining exactly what it does.
   • Saving a tighter limit applies instantly; loosening one waits 24 hours — a cooling-off so you cannot weaken protection on impulse.
   • Shark is in beta. No rule has yet fired against a real open position, so start with limits you are comfortable testing.