Angel One algo trading with SmartAPI: setup and limits
How to enable Angel One's SmartAPI for automated trading, what the key can and cannot do, TOTP and rate limits, and how Firefly runs on it.
Also in: हिंदी
Angel One's SmartAPI is the most common starting point for retail algo trading in India: no API fee, a ten-minute setup, and pledged-margin support that suits rule-based F&O strategies. This is what the setup involves and how Firefly runs on it.
Enabling SmartAPI
With your Angel One client ID. Accept the API terms once.
SmartAPI logins use a time-based one-time password in addition to your PIN. Set it up in the portal with any authenticator app.
Name it (e.g. "Firefly"), set the redirect URL the platform gives you, and copy the API key shown once.
Through the platform's onboarding form, never by chat or email. Firefly stores it encrypted and confirms connectivity with you on the call.
What the key can and cannot do
- Can place, modify and cancel orders; read positions, holdings, margin and order status.
- Cannot withdraw funds, change your bank or nominee details, or see your login password.
- Stops the moment you delete the app in the SmartAPI portal.
Limits worth knowing
SmartAPI rate-limits order placement per second and per minute; Firefly's order flow sits well under it. Under SEBI's 2025 framework Angel One whitelists a static IP for API orders — for a hosted platform that is the platform's server IP, whitelisted against your account with your consent. Details in the rules explainer.
Running Firefly Terra on Angel One
Terra places entries, stops and exits directly through SmartAPI, so every order appears in the Angel One app and in your contract notes. Pledged holdings provide the margin; capital and drawdown limits are set on the onboarding call. If you are opening a new Angel One account for this, we can refer you — the link is on the get started page — and the brokerage is Angel One's normal rate with nothing added.
See Firefly Terra → What the strategies see on NSE today
Questions people ask
Is Angel One's SmartAPI free?
Yes, there is no API fee. You pay Angel One's normal brokerage on the trades.
Can the API key withdraw money?
No. SmartAPI keys place and cancel orders and read positions, holdings and margin. Withdrawals are only possible from your logged-in account to your registered bank.
Why does Firefly recommend Angel One?
The API onboarding is the quickest we have seen, the key needs no monthly fee, and pledged-margin support works well for the strategies. Other brokers work too; this one has the fewest steps.
Fintrens Technologies Pvt Ltd is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser or research analyst. This guide is general information, not advice; trading involves risk of loss.
Keep reading.
How to start algo trading in India without coding
The four things you need, how to create a trading-only API key at your broker, how capital and risk get set, and what the first month looks like.
ReadZerodha algo trading with Kite Connect: cost, limits, setup
Kite Connect's API fee, the 10 orders-per-second limit, static IP whitelisting, what the key can do, and how a rule-based platform runs on Zerodha.
ReadPledged margin for algo trading: use the shares you hold
How pledging shares and fund units gives collateral margin for F&O strategies, the haircuts and 50% cash rule, costs and risks, with worked numbers.
ReadSee what the rules say today.
Signals shows buy zone, wait or avoid for 100+ stocks and coins, free, updated after every close.