This guide shows you how to make authenticated requests to the Kalshi API in three simple steps.

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Step 1: Get Your API Keys

  1. Log in to your Kalshi account (demo or production)
  2. Navigate to Account & security → API Keys
  3. Click Create Key
  4. Save both:
    • Private Key: Downloaded as a .key file
    • API Key ID: Displayed on screen (looks like a952bcbe-ec3b-4b5b-b8f9-11dae589608c)
Your private key cannot be retrieved after this page is closed. Store it securely!

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Step 2: Set Up Your Request

Every authenticated request to Kalshi requires three headers:
HeaderDescriptionExample
KALSHI-ACCESS-KEYYour API Key IDa952bcbe-ec3b-4b5b-b8f9-11dae589608c
KALSHI-ACCESS-TIMESTAMPCurrent time in milliseconds1703123456789
KALSHI-ACCESS-SIGNATURERequest signature (see below)base64_encoded_signature

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How to Create the Signature

The signature proves you own the private key. Here’s how it works:
  1. Create a message string: Concatenate timestamp + HTTP_METHOD + path
    • Example: 1703123456789GET/trade-api/v2/portfolio/balance
  2. Sign with your private key: Use RSA-PSS with SHA256
  3. Encode as base64: Convert the signature to base64 string
Here’s the signing process in Python: 
import base64
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import hashes
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives.asymmetric import padding

def sign_request(private_key, timestamp, method, path):
    # Create the message to sign
    message = f"{timestamp}{method}{path}".encode('utf-8')

    # Sign with RSA-PSS
    signature = private_key.sign(
        message,
        padding.PSS(
            mgf=padding.MGF1(hashes.SHA256()),
            salt_length=padding.PSS.DIGEST_LENGTH
        ),
        hashes.SHA256()
    )

    # Return base64 encoded
    return base64.b64encode(signature).decode('utf-8')

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Step 3: Get Your Balance

Now let’s make your first authenticated request to get your account balance: 
import requests
import datetime

# Set up the request
timestamp = str(int(datetime.datetime.now().timestamp() * 1000))
method = "GET"
path = "/trade-api/v2/portfolio/balance"

# Create signature (using function from Step 2)
signature = sign_request(private_key, timestamp, method, path)

# Make the request
headers = {
    'KALSHI-ACCESS-KEY': 'your-api-key-id',
    'KALSHI-ACCESS-SIGNATURE': signature,
    'KALSHI-ACCESS-TIMESTAMP': timestamp
}

response = requests.get('https://demo-api.kalshi.co' + path, headers=headers)
balance = response.json()

print(f"Your balance: ${balance['balance'] / 100:.2f}")

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Complete Working Example

Here’s the minimal code to get your balance: 
import requests
import datetime
import base64
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import serialization, hashes
from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives.asymmetric import padding

# Configuration
API_KEY_ID = 'your-api-key-id-here'
PRIVATE_KEY_PATH = 'path/to/your/kalshi-key.key'
BASE_URL = 'https://demo-api.kalshi.co'  # or 'https://api.kalshi.com' for production

def load_private_key(key_path):
    """Load the private key from file."""
    with open(key_path, "rb") as f:
        return serialization.load_pem_private_key(f.read(), password=None, backend=default_backend())

def create_signature(private_key, timestamp, method, path):
    """Create the request signature."""
    message = f"{timestamp}{method}{path}".encode('utf-8')
    signature = private_key.sign(
        message,
        padding.PSS(mgf=padding.MGF1(hashes.SHA256()), salt_length=padding.PSS.DIGEST_LENGTH),
        hashes.SHA256()
    )
    return base64.b64encode(signature).decode('utf-8')

def get(private_key, api_key_id, path, base_url=BASE_URL):
    """Make an authenticated GET request to the Kalshi API."""
    timestamp = str(int(datetime.datetime.now().timestamp() * 1000))
    signature = create_signature(private_key, timestamp, "GET", path)

    headers = {
        'KALSHI-ACCESS-KEY': api_key_id,
        'KALSHI-ACCESS-SIGNATURE': signature,
        'KALSHI-ACCESS-TIMESTAMP': timestamp
    }

    return requests.get(base_url + path, headers=headers)

# Load private key
private_key = load_private_key(PRIVATE_KEY_PATH)

# Get balance
response = get(private_key, API_KEY_ID, "/trade-api/v2/portfolio/balance")
print(f"Your balance: ${response.json()['balance'] / 100:.2f}")

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Common Issues

ProblemSolution
401 UnauthorizedCheck your API Key ID and private key file path
Signature errorEnsure timestamp is in milliseconds (not seconds)
Path not foundPath must start with /trade-api/v2/

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Next Steps

Now you can make authenticated requests! Try these endpoints:
  • /trade-api/v2/portfolio/positions - Get your positions
  • /trade-api/v2/portfolio/orders - View your orders
  • /trade-api/v2/markets - Browse available markets
For more details, see the Complete Order Lifecycle guide or explore the API Reference.