Bybit API — how to get keys, cost & limits

✓ Last verified: 2026-07-15· Source: official provider pricing page· Auto-monitored — report change →

Bybit's v5 unified API covers spot, USDT perpetuals, inverse contracts and options over REST and WebSocket, with low derivatives fees. Here's how to get keys and what it costs.

What the API does & cost

Use	Cost
Market data (REST/WS)	Free
Spot trading fee	~0.1%
Perpetuals (taker)	~0.055%
API access	Free

⚠️ The Bybit API is free to use — you only pay trading fees on the trades it places. Fees and limits change; confirm on the official docs. Market-data (read-only) endpoints cost nothing. · Report outdated price →

New to Bybit?

Create an account with our referral link — you may get a fee discount and welcome bonuses. You support APICostCalc (we earn a small share of fees, at no extra cost to you).

How to get your Bybit API keys (step by step)

1. Sign up / log in at bybit.com and complete verification.
2. Go to Account → API (API Management).
3. Click Create New Key → System-generated API Keys.
4. Set permissions (Read-Only, or Read & Trade) and add an IP whitelist (required for trade keys).
5. Copy the API Key and Secret — the secret is shown once.

Quick test

# public ticker — no key needed (v5)
curl "https://api.bybit.com/v5/market/tickers?category=linear&symbol=BTCUSDT"

Security — read this

Use Read-Only keys for data/analytics bots. For trading, IP-whitelist is mandatory and worth it. Never enable withdrawal permission unless required. Store the secret in an env var, never in client-side code or git.

Alternatives

Binance has deeper spot liquidity; OKX adds a unified options suite. For just prices, CoinGecko. See Binance and OKX.

Browse all API guides → · trade safely — size positions with RektCalc.

Not affiliated with Bybit. Exchange link is a referral link.

Rate limits

Bybit enforces rate limits per endpoint, tracked separately by UID (your authenticated account) for trading endpoints and by IP address for public market-data endpoints. There is no single global number: order placement, cancellation, position, and query endpoints each carry their own per-second allowance, and Bybit returns the current state in response headers such as X-Bapi-Limit, X-Bapi-Limit-Status, and X-Bapi-Limit-Reset-Timestamp.

Limits are tiered and increase with account activity and VIP level:

Public / market data: capped per IP (a shared IP pool, commonly cited around 600 requests per 5 seconds per IP)

Private / trading (default): per-endpoint per-second limits by UID (for example on the order of 10 requests/sec for order-related endpoints)

VIP / Pro / institutional tiers: substantially higher per-UID limits, upgraded as VIP level rises

Exceed an endpoint's limit and Bybit responds with HTTP 429 (or an API return code such as 10006/10018) indicating too many requests, so you should throttle using the reset headers and, for high-frequency trading, use WebSocket streams instead of polling REST. If you are checking Bybit API rate limits, the key point is that limits are per-endpoint and tiered by VIP level, not a single account-wide cap.

Compare Bybit with our Binance, OKX, and Bybit-vs-competitors exchange API guides to match rate limits to your trading strategy.