The moment before a trading bot places its first live order is the moment to be most deliberate. Almost every avoidable problem with a Kraken API bot traces back to a step skipped at launch — a key scoped too widely, a risk policy never loaded, an audit trail no one had checked. This checklist is the disciplined path from a tested strategy to a live one. Work through it in order; do not let enthusiasm reorder it.
1. Confirm the keys are scoped to least privilege
Open the live Kraken API key and confirm it grants only what a bot needs: querying balances and orders, and placing and cancelling orders. Withdrawal permission stays disabled — a trading bot has no reason to move funds off the exchange, and a key that cannot withdraw cannot be used to drain the account if it is ever compromised.
2. Confirm the paper run actually proved something
Check that the strategy ran in paper mode against real prices long enough to clear its costs and track its backtest — not for a single lucky session. Paper trading is where the model meets the live market risk-free; a thin or flattering paper record is not proof, and launching on it defeats the purpose of the gate that follows.
3. Confirm the risk policy is loaded and active
Before any live order can fire, make sure the per-trade limit, the daily loss cap, the consecutive-loss cooldown, the maximum-drawdown threshold, and the kill switch are all configured. These are not optional extras to add later; they are the protective layer the bot enforces on every order. A live bot without an active risk policy is the single most dangerous configuration there is.
4. Confirm the audit trail is readable
Open the audit trail and confirm that signals, placed orders, and transparent rejections are all logging clearly. This is the record you will rely on to understand what the bot did and why — and to recover calmly if the kill switch ever fires. Verify it works before you need it, not after.
5. Clear the paper-to-live gate deliberately
Only when every box above is genuinely ticked, complete the explicit paper-to-live confirmation. The bot will not flip itself to live on your behalf; going live is a decision, not a default. Treat clearing the gate as the last step of this checklist, not the first.
If anything is uncertain, stop
A checklist only protects you if a failed item halts the launch. If a key is over-scoped, the paper record is thin, or the risk policy is incomplete, the correct response is to fix it and run the list again — never to wave it through. Discipline here costs minutes; skipping it can cost the account.
For the steps behind individual items, read how to create and scope Kraken API keys and how to clear the paper-to-live gate. For what the modes mean, see paper mode vs live mode on a Kraken bot. Nothing here is financial advice, and no profit is ever promised.