# HTTP status code: 403 Forbidden

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/errors/http/403, 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.

As text you can copy:

```
403 Forbidden
```

- Kind: Status code
- Read from: [RFC 9110, HTTP Semantics, section 15.5.4](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#section-15.5.4)
- Status: verified. Source: [rfc-editor.org](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#section-15.5.4), checked 2026-10-09.

## What does 403 Forbidden mean in HTTP?

The server understood the request and refuses to fulfil it. If credentials were sent, the server considers them insufficient, and the standard says a client should not automatically repeat the request with the same credentials.

## What it means in trading API work

With a trading API, 403 usually means the key or account is known but not allowed to do this: a permission not granted, a product the account cannot use, an address that is not on an allow list. Some APIs also use 403 for an exceeded allowance, so read the body.

This part is this site's own explanation, written for people learning to call a trading API. It is not part of the source cited above and it describes no particular broker.

## What should I do about 403 Forbidden?

Read the API's own code in the body. Check the permissions on the key and the account type. Logging in again with the same credentials will not help.

This page is an independent explanation in plain words. The definition itself is in [the source it was read from](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#section-15.5.4), which is the authority if the two ever differ.

## Where to go next

- [Everything decoded for HTTP](https://openbrokerapi.com/errors/http)
- [Getting started with API trading](https://openbrokerapi.com/guides/getting-started-with-api-trading): What an API is, what you need and how to make a first call safely.
- [Brokers](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers): The record for each broker: access, limits, endpoints and error codes.
- [Platform APIs](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms): APIs that belong to trading software offered by many brokers.
- [Error codes](https://openbrokerapi.com/errors): What each error means, and the fix where the source gives one.

## 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: HTTP status code: 403 Forbidden. Broker API Hub, https://openbrokerapi.com/errors/http/403, newest check 2026-10-09.

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.