Sub-accounts and multi-account management

How to structure and operate multiple accounts via the API — sub-account creation, fund transfers, and FIX broker management

Institutional clients and professional traders often need to manage multiple accounts — separate strategies, separate risk buckets, or managing on behalf of clients. This page covers the API capabilities for multi-account setups.

Sub-account model

A master account can create and manage sub-accounts (also called subaccounts). Each sub-account:

• Has its own balance
• Can have its own API keys
• Shares the master account’s trading rate limit via the Domain Rate Limit (5× the individual account limit, pooled across all sub-accounts)
• Is accessible from the master account via the sub-account management endpoints

Creating a sub-account

POST /0/private/CreateSubaccount

# Required permissions: Create & Modify Orders (on master account)

Parameters:

Parameter	Description
username	Unique username for the sub-account
email	Email address for the sub-account

{
  "error": [],
  "result": true
}

After creation, the sub-account owner receives an email to complete setup.

Transferring funds between accounts

Use AccountTransfer to move funds between master and sub-accounts in either direction.

POST /0/private/AccountTransfer

Parameters:

Parameter	Description
asset	Asset to transfer (e.g. XBT, ETH, USD)
amount	Amount to transfer
from	Sending account (username or account ID)
to	Receiving account (username or account ID)

{
  "error": [],
  "result": {
    "transfer_id": "TOH3AS2-LPCWR8-JDQGEU",
    "status": "complete"
  }
}

Transfers between accounts are instant and do not incur fees. Both accounts must be under the same master account.

Per-account API keys

Each sub-account can have its own API keys with independent permission sets. This lets you:

• Give a market data service read-only keys on a sub-account
• Give a strategy read/write keys scoped to that sub-account only
• Revoke a single key without affecting other strategies

Generate keys via Settings → API while logged in to the specific sub-account.

Domain rate limit

Spot rate limits normally apply at the account level. When using sub-accounts, the Domain Rate Limit applies: the master account and all sub-accounts share a pooled limit equal to 5× the individual account limit.

This gives multi-strategy setups significantly more throughput than running everything on a single account.

Account type	Spot rate limit
Single account (Starter)	Counter threshold: 60
Single account (Intermediate)	Counter threshold: 125
Single account (Pro)	Counter threshold: 180
Domain (master + sub-accounts)	5× individual tier limit

FIX broker allocation model

Tags 78 and 79 are not sub-account management — they are part of the FIX broker model, which allows a prime broker to allocate orders to client accounts within a single FIX session. This is distinct from Kraken’s sub-account feature.

FIX Tag	Name	Description
78	NoAllocs	Number of allocation entries
79	AllocAccount	Client account identifier for this allocation

A broker uses this to route orders on behalf of multiple end clients without opening a separate FIX session per client. The broker holds a single FIX session and tags each order with the target client account.

FIX broker allocation via Tags 78/79 was added in May 2025. Contact your Account Manager to enable this for your FIX session.

Portfolio-level view

To aggregate balances across master + all sub-accounts, call Balance or BalanceEx once per account. There is no single endpoint that returns an aggregated portfolio view — you must sum across accounts programmatically.

accounts = ["master", "sub1", "sub2", "sub3"]
total_balances = {}

for account in accounts:
    # Use the API key for each account
    balances = get_balance(api_key=keys[account])
    for asset, amount in balances.items():
        total_balances[asset] = total_balances.get(asset, 0) + float(amount)

Futures sub-accounts

Futures has its own sub-account management:

# List sub-accounts
GET /derivatives/api/v3/subaccounts

# Check trading enabled status
GET /derivatives/api/v3/subaccount/{subaccountUid}/trading-enabled

# Enable/disable trading
PUT /derivatives/api/v3/subaccount/{subaccountUid}/trading-enabled

Futures also supports cross-account transfers:

POST /derivatives/api/v3/transfer/subaccount

Common patterns

Strategy isolation: create one sub-account per strategy. Each strategy has its own balance, its own API keys, and its own risk perimeter. A blown strategy can’t draw from other strategies’ funds.

Read-only monitoring: create a sub-account with Query Funds + Query Open Orders keys only. Use this for your monitoring dashboard, keeping trading keys separate.

Gradual rollout: fund a sub-account with a small allocation while testing a new strategy in production. Scale up by transferring more funds once validated.

Related guides

API key permissions

Configure independent permission sets for each sub-account’s keys

Rate limits

Domain rate limit — how throughput pools across master and sub-accounts

API comparison

Sub-account management across REST and FIX (Tags 78/79)