# Capital.com API POST /api/v1/session

Independent and unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any broker or platform named here. Educational only: nothing here is advice, and nothing here recommends a broker or a trade.

This is the markdown version of https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/capital-com/endpoints/post-session, written from the same records as that page.

Risk warning: CFDs and spread bets are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You can lose money on these products, and each provider publishes its own loss figure under FCA rules. You should consider whether you understand how they work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Automated and API trading can amplify losses through bugs, connectivity failures and runaway orders.

Log in with your API key, login identifier and API key password. The CST and X-SECURITY-TOKEN tokens come back in the response headers.

- Request: `POST /api/v1/session`
- Version: v1
- Group: Session
- Status: verified. Source: [open-api.capital.com](https://open-api.capital.com/), checked 2026-10-12.
- Official reference: https://open-api.capital.com/

Note: Confirmed on the official reference. Limited to 1 request per second per API key. Tokens stay valid for 10 minutes after last use. You need 2FA switched on before you can generate an API key. Method, path and request parameters were re-read on open-api.capital.com on 12 Oct 2026 and agree with this record; the mock reply was not compared field by field.

## Parameters

- `identifier` (in body, type string, required): Your Capital.com login identifier. Placeholder only: never enter it on this site.
- `password` (in body, type string, required): The custom password you set for the API key. Placeholder only: never enter it on this site.
- `encryptedPassword` (in body, type boolean, optional): True only if you encrypted the password with the key from GET /api/v1/session/encryptionKey. Default false.

### Authentication headers

- `X-CAP-API-KEY` (type string, required): Your API key from Settings > API integrations. Placeholder only: never paste a real key into this site.

## Request

Written from the method, path and parameters recorded on this page, against the demo host. Not executed against a live or demo account. Credentials are read from environment variables on your own machine and are never entered on this site. The request builder at https://openbrokerapi.com/tools/request-builder writes these same snippets, from the same record.

This call takes a request body. The samples send it as JSON with a placeholder for each of the 2 body fields the record marks as required. Each placeholder has to be replaced with a real value before the request can succeed.

### Python

```python
# Set CAPITAL_API_KEY, CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER, CAPITAL_PASSWORD as environment variables first. Never paste real values into code.
# Optional and not shown: body fields encryptedPassword.
import os
import requests

BASE_URL = "https://demo-api-capital.backend-capital.com"  # the demo host
headers = {
    "X-CAP-API-KEY": os.environ["CAPITAL_API_KEY"],
}
body = {"identifier": os.environ["CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER"], "password": os.environ["CAPITAL_PASSWORD"]}
resp = requests.post(BASE_URL + "/api/v1/session", headers=headers, json=body, timeout=10)
resp.raise_for_status()
print(resp.json())
```

### JavaScript

```javascript
// Set CAPITAL_API_KEY, CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER, CAPITAL_PASSWORD as environment variables first. Never paste real values into code.
// Optional and not shown: body fields encryptedPassword.
// Run as a module, for example a .mjs file, on a Node version that has fetch built in.
const BASE_URL = "https://demo-api-capital.backend-capital.com"; // the demo host
const res = await fetch(BASE_URL + "/api/v1/session", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "X-CAP-API-KEY": process.env.CAPITAL_API_KEY,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({"identifier": process.env.CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER, "password": process.env.CAPITAL_PASSWORD}),
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);
console.log(await res.json());
```

### curl

```bash
# Set CAPITAL_API_KEY, CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER, CAPITAL_PASSWORD as environment variables first. Never paste real values into code.
# Optional and not shown: body fields encryptedPassword.
curl -X POST "https://demo-api-capital.backend-capital.com/api/v1/session" \
  -H "X-CAP-API-KEY: $CAPITAL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"identifier\": \"$CAPITAL_IDENTIFIER\", \"password\": \"$CAPITAL_PASSWORD\"}"
```

## Response

A mock response. The values are invented, so check field names against the [official reference](https://open-api.capital.com/).

```json
{
  "_mock": true,
  "accountType": "CFD",
  "accountInfo": {
    "balance": 1000,
    "deposit": 1000,
    "profitLoss": 0,
    "available": 1000
  },
  "currencyIsoCode": "USD",
  "currencySymbol": "$",
  "currentAccountId": "MOCK-ACCOUNT-001",
  "streamingHost": "wss://api-streaming-capital.backend-capital.com/",
  "accounts": [
    {
      "accountId": "MOCK-ACCOUNT-001",
      "accountName": "Mock USD",
      "preferred": true,
      "accountType": "CFD"
    }
  ],
  "clientId": "MOCK-CLIENT-01",
  "timezoneOffset": 1,
  "hasActiveDemoAccounts": true,
  "hasActiveLiveAccounts": false,
  "trailingStopsEnabled": false
}
```

## Response schema, HTTP 200

Every field this site's OpenAPI file for Capital.com (https://openbrokerapi.com/specs/capital-com.json) declares for this response.

- `accountType` (string): Not recorded
- `accountInfo` (object): Not recorded
  - `balance` (number): Not recorded
  - `deposit` (number): Not recorded
  - `profitLoss` (number): Not recorded
  - `available` (number): Not recorded
- `currencyIsoCode` (string): Not recorded
- `currencySymbol` (string): Not recorded
- `currentAccountId` (string): Not recorded
- `streamingHost` (string): Not recorded
- `accounts` (array of objects): Not recorded
  - `accountId` (string): Not recorded
  - `accountName` (string): Not recorded
  - `preferred` (boolean): Not recorded
  - `accountType` (string): Not recorded
- `clientId` (string): Not recorded
- `timezoneOffset` (integer): Not recorded
- `hasActiveDemoAccounts` (boolean): Not recorded
- `hasActiveLiveAccounts` (boolean): Not recorded
- `trailingStopsEnabled` (boolean): Not recorded

Status: unverified. No source opened. This schema is not sourced to a page of the provider's own that we opened, so check field names against the official reference.

## Limits that apply at Capital.com

- Headline limit: 10/s per user
  - Scope: user
  - Status: verified. Source: [open-api.capital.com](https://open-api.capital.com/), checked 2026-09-18.
  - Note: Orders and new positions: 1 per 0.1 s. POST /session: 1 a second per API key. Demo: 1000 an hour for POST /positions and /workingorders.

## More on the Capital.com API

- [All Capital.com API endpoints](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/capital-com/endpoints): 36 documented, grouped by what they do.
- [Capital.com API quickstart](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/capital-com/quickstart)
- [All Capital.com API error codes](https://openbrokerapi.com/errors/capital-com)
- [Capital.com API page](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/capital-com): The full record: access, authentication, limits and the source for each.
- [Capital.com API as an OpenAPI file](https://openbrokerapi.com/specs/capital-com.json): Generated from these endpoint records. Independent and unofficial.

## Licence and how to cite

The records behind this page are all rights reserved. This file is the page itself, at its own address, in another format. It is not part of the CC BY 4.0 downloads listed at https://openbrokerapi.com/data. Quote from it with a link to the page.

Cite as: Capital.com API POST /api/v1/session. Broker API Hub, https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/capital-com/endpoints/post-session, newest check 2026-10-12.

Where you rely on a single figure, cite the source and the checked date printed beside it as well. Where this page and a broker's own documentation differ, the documentation wins.