Getting Started with Chainless - Complete Setup Guide

2025-06-20 Chainless Team

Getting Started with Chainless

This guide walks you through getting Chainless running from purchase to first trade execution.

⚠️ First-Time Users: We strongly recommend using a paper trading account when you first run Chainless to ensure everything works correctly before trading with real money.

Prerequisites

System Requirements

  • Windows: Windows 10+ (no additional installs needed)
  • macOS: macOS 12+ (no additional installs needed)
  • Ubuntu: Ubuntu 20.04+ (officially supported Linux distribution)

Ubuntu Additional Setup

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0 libgl1-mesa-glx

Interactive Brokers Account

  • Active IBKR account with trading permissions
  • TWS or IB Gateway installed

Step 1: Purchase Chainless

  1. Visit chainlessapp.com/#pricing
  2. Choose your preferred plan
  3. Complete checkout with your email
  4. Save your license key from the confirmation email

Step 2: Download & Install

Download

  1. Go to chainlessapp.com/download
  2. Enter your license email and key
  3. Download for your platform

Install

Windows:
1. Run the .exe file directly
2. If Windows Defender/SmartScreen warning appears:
- Click "More info" then "Run anyway"
- Or go to Downloads folder, right-click the file > Properties > "Unblock" > OK

macOS:
1. Open .dmg file
2. Drag to Applications folder
3. If security prompt: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > "Open Anyway"

Ubuntu:
1. Extract the downloaded archive to a folder of your choice
2. Run the automatic installation script by first changing the permission chmod +x install.sh
3. Run the automatic installation script ./install.sh
3. The script will automatically handle dependencies, desktop integration, and PATH setup

Step 3: Configure Interactive Brokers

Enable API Access

TWS (Trader Workstation):
1. File > Global Configuration > API > Settings
2. Check "Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients"
3. Uncheck "Read-Only API" (required for trading)
4. Set Socket port: 7497 (paper) or 7496 (live)
5. Add 127.0.0.1 to Trusted IP Addresses
6. Click Apply and OK

IB Gateway (Recommended):
1. Launch IB Gateway
2. API Settings:
- Check "Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients"
- Uncheck "Read-Only API" (required for trading)
- Set Socket port: 4002 (paper) or 4001 (live)
- Add 127.0.0.1 to trusted IPs
3. Click OK

Important: The account type you use to login to TWS/Gateway (paper or live) determines what account Chainless will access. Login with your paper account to trade paper money, or live account for real trading.

Configure Chainless Connection

  1. In Chainless, go to Configuration tab
  2. Set connection parameters:
    • Host: 127.0.0.1
    • Port:
      • TWS: 7497 (paper) / 7496 (live)
      • Gateway: 4002 (paper) / 4001 (live)
    • Client ID: 1
  3. Click "Save Settings"

Step 4: Connect & Test

  1. Ensure TWS/Gateway is running and logged in
  2. In Chainless, click "Connect"
  3. Wait for green connection status
  4. Test: Add symbol "AAPL" and verify options data loads

Step 5: First Trade (Use Paper Trading)

Recommended: Start with paper trading ports to practice risk-free
- TWS paper: port 7497
- Gateway paper: port 4002

Basic Flow

  1. Research in TWS/charts
  2. Execute trades in Chainless
  3. Monitor positions
  4. Manage exits/adjustments

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

  • "Connection failed": Check TWS/Gateway is running, port numbers match, and 127.0.0.1 is trusted
  • "API not enabled": Enable API in settings and restart TWS/Gateway

License Issues

  • "Invalid license": Verify email/key exactly as received, check for extra spaces

Ubuntu Display Issues

If GUI doesn't display properly:

# Install additional dependencies
sudo apt install libfontconfig1 libfreetype6 libx11-6
Related: About Chainless, Features, Download, More Posts.
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