Inspecting Outgoing HTTP Requests to Debug Trading APIs

Summary

The document presents two ways to inspect HTTP requests sent by a hosted trading process when an exchange API call fails. One uses a packet-capture script on the host to print matching HTTP traffic; the other runs a local listener and points the strategy's base address to it. The examples show how to trigger GET and POST calls and inspect request paths, headers, signatures, and bodies, which can help compare actual requests with exchange API expectations.

The approach is a troubleshooting aid rather than a trading method, and it gives no evidence about strategy performance. Its main limitation is that the packet-capture example does not capture HTTPS traffic as shown, so the article changes the base address to plain HTTP for demonstration. That means the observed host header may differ from the real exchange destination. The sample also displays authentication fields, even though the values are labeled as demonstrations; request captures should be handled carefully because real credentials or signed payloads may be sensitive.

Key ideas

• Inspecting the raw request can help diagnose exchange API errors by exposing the path, headers, and body.
• A host-level packet capture and a local network listener are presented as alternative debugging methods.
• The examples demonstrate GET and POST requests and show how to redirect a test request for inspection.
• The packet-capture method shown does not handle HTTPS directly, and a redirected host header may not match production.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.