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Limitations to exchange account connections

There are some things exchange account connections do not import

Written by Advait

Limitations to Exchange Account Connections

Why some transactions may not import and why your balance might look different.

Connecting your exchange account to Delta via an API key is an incredibly powerful way to track your portfolio automatically. Generally, these connections flawlessly import your normal buy and sell trades, as well as your deposits and withdrawals (if you toggled them on during setup).

However, it is important to know that exchange APIs are not a perfect one-stop solution. Because every exchange builds its API differently, there are strict limitations on what third-party apps like Delta are allowed to see. Because of these limits, your imported balances in Delta may occasionally differ from what is currently reported on your exchange.

Here is a breakdown of the most common API limitations and how Delta handles them.

1. General Unsupported Transactions

For your security and privacy, most major exchanges explicitly hide complex or non-standard transactions from their Read-Only API feeds. Almost all exchange connections will not automatically import the following transaction types:

  • Margin Trades and Shorting (Delta does not currently support these via API, so they may import incorrectly)

  • Staking rewards, Farming yields, and Distributions (like GAS or VTHO)

  • Airdrops and Forked coins

  • Delisted coins

  • Conversions (direct crypto-to-crypto swaps outside of the standard spot market)

  • Stop-Limit Orders

  • Referral Bonuses and Sub-Account Trades

If you participate in any of the above activities, you will need to add those specific transactions to Delta manually or via CSV import to keep your balance perfectly accurate.

2. Time-Based API Limitations

Many exchanges simply do not allow us to pull your entire lifetime trading history. The following exchanges restrict how far back Delta can look to import your trades:

  • Bybit: Past 2 years only.

  • Bitfinex: Past 300 days only.

  • Crypto.com, OKX, & Binance (Conversions/OTC): Past 90 days only.

  • MEXC & Yobit: Past 7 days only.

  • Digifinex: Past 3 days only (and does not support deposits/withdrawals).

  • HTX: Past 2 days only.

  • Poloniex: Only imports trades made after July 3rd, 2021.

3. Binance-Specific Limitations

Because Binance offers a massive ecosystem of financial products, their API has several unique restrictions you should be aware of:

  • KYC Required: Binance requires you to pass "Intermediate" identity verification (KYC) before they will allow your API key to sync with third-party apps.

  • History Cutoff: Complete trade history can only be imported from 2021 onwards.

  • Unsupported Earn Features: There is no API support for Binance Liquid Swap, Savings Interest, or USD-M/COIN-M Futures. Staking rewards from your Earn wallet will not appear until you move them back to your Spot wallet.

  • Fiat Purchases: Direct fiat purchases made via your "Cash balance" are not provided by the API and must be added manually.

  • Zero Balances: If you completely sold out of a coin and have zero transfers for it, Binance will not push those historical trades to Delta automatically. You must initiate a "Full Sync" manually from the connections menu.

4. KuCoin & Bitfinex Specifics

  • KuCoin: Delta cannot import transactions for coins where you currently have a 0 balance, 0 withdrawals, and 0 deposits. (For example, if you bought a coin, sold it entirely, and never transferred it off KuCoin, the API hides that history).

  • Bitfinex: Internal exchange "settlements" are not imported.

5. How Delta Fixes the Gaps: Balance Adjustments

If an exchange API prevents Delta from importing your complete trade history, the app will notice that the history it imported does not match the actual balance the exchange is reporting today.

To fix this gap and ensure your total wealth is completely accurate, Delta will automatically generate a Balance Adjustment transaction.

  • This acts as a synthetic deposit or withdrawal that bridges the gap between your imported trades and your actual exchange reality.

  • Important note on Cost Basis: Because Delta does not know how or when you acquired these missing adjustment funds (since the API hid the original purchase), balance adjustments are treated as deposits with a zero cost basis. This means the full market value of those specific adjusted coins will appear as unrealized profit.

If you prefer to have a perfectly accurate cost basis instead of relying on a Balance Adjustment, we recommend manually adding the missing trades that the exchange API refused to send us, or importing them via a CSV file 🙂

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