Binance remembers every fill, but only for a while, and exporting the list by hand every month is a chore you will skip. SetupBook can read your fills through a read-only API key. You create the key once, paste it, and your futures and spot trades arrive by themselves. It takes about five minutes.
This guide shows each step with pictures. For how every platform connects, read the overview of all connections. If you trade on Bybit as well, see the Bybit guide.
Before you start
- A SetupBook account with Pro. Connecting a platform is part of Pro, and every journal starts with 14 days of it: start 14 days free.
- A Binance account that can create API keys. Binance asks for two-factor authentication, identity verification and a deposit of any size in the Spot wallet before it lets you make one.
- Five minutes.
The key only reads. You will tick one box, Enable Reading, and leave every trading and withdrawal box off. SetupBook never places an order and never moves money. It stores the key sealed on the server and uses it to read your trade history.
1. Open API Management and create a key
On the Binance website click your profile icon, then Account, then API Management, and press Create API. In the Binance app the path is More, then the Other section, then API Management.
Binance offers two types of key. Choose System-generated API keys: Binance makes the key and the secret for you, and those are the two things SetupBook asks for. Give the key a name you will recognise, for example SetupBook, and confirm with your two-factor device or passkey.
2. Tick Enable Reading and nothing else
On the key's restrictions, tick Enable Reading. Leave every trading permission off (spot, margin and futures trading) and leave withdrawals off. A key without an IP restriction can only be set to read anyway, which is exactly what you want here.
IP restriction: leave it off. We cannot give you a fixed address to allow yet. If you want one, ask us through the feedback form under the connections. With a read-only key nothing can be traded or withdrawn either way.
3. Copy the API key and the secret
Binance shows the API key and the secret key. Copy both now into a safe place, such as your password manager. Exchanges usually show the secret only once, so if you lose it, make a new key.
4. Paste them into SetupBook
In SetupBook open Accounts → Connections and press Add connection. Choose Binance, leave Environment on Live, and paste the key into API key and the secret into API secret.
Under Markets tick the ones you trade: USDⓈ-M futures and Spot. For spot, Binance has no "what did I trade" call, so write the pairs you trade in Spot pairs, separated by commas, for example BTCUSDT, ETHUSDT. Pairs of coins you hold are added by themselves, and futures symbols are found from the account.
Leave Into account on Create from the platform account, or pick one of your accounts, and press Check the key and connect.
SetupBook checks the key with Binance first. If the key can do more than read, it warns you; delete that key on Binance and make a read-only one.
5. Watch the first sync
The first sync starts at once. When it finishes, the connection shows Active, the time of the last sync and the number of trades. After that SetupBook looks for new fills every hour, and you can press Sync now at any moment.
What you get:
- Positions, not loose fills. Fills are grouped into positions the same way as the file import, so a position closed in three parts is one trade with three exits.
- Locked fields. Symbol, side, times, prices, size, fees and the net result come from Binance and stay exact (they feed your net P&L). A fee paid in BNB is converted to the quote currency. Plan, setup quality, mistakes, notes and screenshots stay yours.
- Time zone. Binance times are UTC, so there is nothing to set.
- Not included. Coin-margined (inverse) contracts and funding payments are not read.
How far back it goes
The first sync reaches three months back, because Binance's API serves no more. For older history, use Binance's own trade history export (Orders → Trade History → Export) and import the file: see the import guide. The two paths skip duplicates against each other.
Demo Trading
Binance Demo Trading is a separate place with separate keys. Switch to Demo Trading on Binance (demo.binance.com), create a key under API Management there, then in SetupBook choose Demo in the Environment box and paste that key. Its trades land in a Demo account. A Demo key works only with Demo selected, and a live key only with Live.
Replacing a key
Keys can expire, and you may want to rotate yours. Open the connection's menu, choose Edit and press Replace the key. Paste the new key and secret and save: SetupBook checks them, forgets the old ones and uses the new ones from the next sync. The trades stay.
Problems
Trouble connecting? Write to us from the connections page with what you tried. We answer by email within 30 minutes, every day.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe? Can SetupBook trade or withdraw?
No. With Enable Reading only, the key cannot place an order or withdraw, and SetupBook has no code that tries. The key is stored sealed on the server and is never sent to your browser. If you ever want to stop, delete the key on Binance and the connection simply stops.
Do I need to restrict the IP address?
No. Leave the IP restriction off. We cannot give you a fixed address to allow yet; if you want one, ask us in the feedback form. A read-only key cannot trade or withdraw with or without an IP rule.
Which Binance markets are read?
USDⓈ-M futures and spot. Coin-margined contracts and funding payments are not read yet.
Why do I have to list my spot pairs?
Binance has no call that returns the spot pairs you traded. You list the pairs, and SetupBook adds the pairs of coins you hold on top. Futures need no list.
Does it cost anything?
Connecting is part of Pro. Every journal starts with 14 days of Pro, and nothing is charged in those 14 days. Cancel before they end and you stay on the free plan, which keeps manual entry.
Prefer a file? The import still works: see the user guide. To connect another exchange, read the OKX guide.