Onboarding

Getting started

About 20 minutes of your time, plus 1-2 days for the broker's KYC.

You'll open a broking account in your own name, then give the desk permission to place orders in it. At no point do you send us your password.

What you'll need to hand

• PAN card
• Aadhaar, with the mobile number linked to it (the OTP goes there)
• Bank account details — account number and IFSC
• A cancelled cheque or bank statement
• A signature on plain white paper, photographed
• Your selfie / photo for in-person verification
• Income proof — only if you want F&O enabled (a payslip, ITR or a 6-month bank statement)

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STEP I
Open a Shoonya account

Shoonya is Finvasia's platform. Account opening is free (₹0), and it is the broker this software integrates with.

Open an account at prism.shoonya.com →

Complete the KYC with the documents above. Verification usually takes a day or two. You'll receive a client ID (your user ID) by email when it's approved — keep that message.

STEP II
Fund it — but only what you intend to risk

Add money from the bank account you registered. Start with an amount whose total loss would not change your life. You can always add more later; you cannot un-lose money.

STEP III
Get your API credentials

Algorithmic access needs a developer key. It's free and takes a minute.

1. Log in at prism.shoonya.com with your client ID.
2. Open the profile menu and choose API Key.
3. Copy the API Key, the Vendor Code, and the Secret.

STEP IV
Send us four things — and nothing else

Reply to your invitation with:

STEP V
Authorise the desk (this is the clever bit)

We'll send you a one-time link. It goes to Shoonya's own login page, not ours.

1. Open the link. Check the address bar says shoonya.com.
2. Log in there with your own password and 2FA. We never see either.
3. Shoonya redirects you to a page with a code= value in the address bar.
4. Send that code back to us. It's single-use and short-lived.

We exchange it for an access token. That token is what lets the desk place orders — and you can revoke it from your Shoonya account at any time, without asking us, which instantly stops any further trading.

This is the same mechanism that lets you connect an app to Google or Facebook without handing over your password. It is also what SEBI's algorithmic trading rules require, so it isn't optional for us either.

STEP VI
Watch it in paper mode

We provision your private desk and send you a dashboard link and login. It starts in paper mode. From there you can see positions, cash, P&L and a decision log explaining every action it took and why, plus a daily report by email.

Stay in paper as long as you like. We'd rather you saw it have a bad week before you go live — we earn the same either way.

STEP VII
Going live is your switch

When you're ready, you enable live trading on your own dashboard and set the capital you're allocating. Not us. You can pause, stop, or leave at any moment.

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Optional: alerts to your phone

The desk can message you when something needs attention — a failed exit, an expired session, an unusual position. Email works out of the box. For Telegram, message @BotFather, create a bot, and send us the token and your chat ID.

If something goes wrong

• KYC rejected — usually a mismatch between PAN and Aadhaar names, or a blurred document. Shoonya's support will say which.
• No API Key option in Prism — the trading account must be fully active first. Wait for the approval email.
• The authorisation link expired — they are short-lived on purpose. Ask us for another.
• You want out, right now — revoke access in Shoonya and email us. See refunds & cancellation; we never sell your holdings on our own initiative.

Stuck anywhere? Email and we'll walk you through it.