CCXT vs the Crypto.com Exchange API

The Crypto.com Exchange v1 API covers spot, margin, perpetual swaps, futures and options over REST and WebSocket. What it does not come with is a client library: the crypto-com/crypto-exchange repository was archived in November 2021 and now contains only a pointer to the documentation, and the API reference itself lists no official SDK — it provides reference code samples in JavaScript, Python, C# and Java for you to adapt.

Crypto.com does publish cdcx-cli: a Rust CLI, MCP server and terminal dashboard, dual-licensed MIT/Apache-2.0, covering 95 REST endpoints generated from the exchange's OpenAPI specification plus WebSocket streaming. It is a genuinely useful tool — but it is a binary you run, not a library you import.

So the real comparison is CCXT against your own client, and the question is how much of the signing, throttling and stream plumbing you want to own.

TL;DR

• Write against the raw API if you want field-for-field fidelity with Crypto.com's documentation, or if cdcx-cli already does what you need from a terminal or an AI agent.
• Pick CCXT if you want spot, margin, swaps, futures and options behind one client that handles the signature scheme, per-endpoint rate limits, order-book maintenance and the UAT sandbox — in seven languages, with the same API on 103 other venues.
• Choosing CCXT does not hide anything. All 129 Crypto.com endpoints are generated as implicit methods.

At a glance

_{Figures verified September 2026 against CCXT v4.5.77, the Crypto.com Exchange v1 API reference, and the crypto-com GitHub organisation's published repositories.}

The same job, written both ways

Fetch a ticker

import ccxt

exchange = ccxt.cryptocom()
ticker = exchange.fetch_ticker('BTC/USDT')
print(ticker['last'], ticker['bid'], ticker['ask'], ticker['baseVolume'])

Crypto.com's ticker payload uses single-letter keys: i instrument, a last, b bid, k ask, h high, l low, v base volume, vv quote volume, c change, oi open interest, t timestamp. CCXT returns a unified ticker structure with the same names and units you get everywhere else, so nothing downstream needs a Crypto.com-specific decoder ring.

Place a limit order

import ccxt

exchange = ccxt.cryptocom({'apiKey': '...', 'secret': '...'})
order = exchange.create_order('BTC/USDT', 'limit', 'buy', 0.001, 60000)
print(order['id'], order['status'])

Crypto.com's signature is the most intricate in this batch. You sort the parameter keys in ascending order, concatenate them as key + value with no delimiter, then hash method + id + api_key + that parameter string + nonce with HMAC-SHA256 and hex-encode the result. Nested objects and arrays have to be flattened recursively by the same rule — Crypto.com's own reference sample uses recursive helpers for exactly this — and every number in the request must be sent as a quoted string, or the digest the server computes will not match yours.

CCXT implements that once, and switching the same order to a perpetual is a symbol change:

order = exchange.create_order('BTC/USD:USD', 'limit', 'buy', 0.001, 60000)

Stream an order book

import ccxt.pro
import asyncio

async def main():
    exchange = ccxt.pro.cryptocom()
    while True:
        orderbook = await exchange.watch_order_book('BTC/USDT')
        print(orderbook['bids'][0], orderbook['asks'][0])

asyncio.run(main())

The raw socket sends a public/heartbeat message that you must answer with public/respond-heartbeat or the connection is dropped — that is the if in the middle of the loop, and forgetting it is the classic first bug. Past that, the messages are book updates, not a book.

Where the differences actually bite

Rate limits you do not have to model

Crypto.com's limits are per endpoint and not uniform: private/create-order, private/cancel-order and private/cancel-all-orders allow 15 requests per 100ms each, private/get-order-detail allows 30 per 100ms, everything else allows 3 per 100ms — but private/get-trades and private/get-order-history allow 1 request per second. On the socket, the User API accepts 150 requests per second and Market Data 100.

That last one is the trap: a backfill loop written against the general limit will be rejected on history endpoints. CCXT encodes per-endpoint weights in the exchange definition and ships a throttler that is on by default (enableRateLimit = true, rateLimit = 10ms). You call methods in a loop; the library paces them.

Five product lines, one client

Spot, margin, perpetual swaps, futures and options are all served by one ccxt.cryptocom instance. Unified symbols carry the distinction — 'BTC/USDT' for spot, 'BTC/USD:USD' for the USD-settled perpetual — and the method names do not change. Positions, funding rates, funding-rate history, settlement history, leverage and closePosition are unified methods, not per-product code paths.

Order entry over the socket

CCXT Pro implements 12 watch* methods for Crypto.com — watchOrderBook, watchOrderBookForSymbols, watchTicker, watchTickers, watchBidsAsks, watchTrades, watchTradesForSymbols, watchOHLCV, watchOrders, watchMyTrades, watchBalance and watchPositions — plus their unWatch* counterparts for tearing a subscription down without dropping the connection.

It also implements order entry over the same socket: create_order_ws, edit_order_ws, cancel_order_ws and cancel_all_orders_ws. Sending an order on the connection you are already streaming on avoids a second TCP and TLS handshake per request.

exchange = ccxt.pro.cryptocom({'apiKey': '...', 'secret': '...'})
order = await exchange.create_order_ws('BTC/USDT', 'limit', 'buy', 0.001, 60000)

Testnet without a second code path

Crypto.com runs a UAT environment on different hosts — uat-api.3ona.co for REST and uat-stream.3ona.co for both WebSocket endpoints. Written directly, that is a base-URL constant threaded through every module, plus a matching swap for the socket URLs.

exchange = ccxt.cryptocom({'apiKey': '...', 'secret': '...'})
exchange.set_sandbox_mode(True)   # swaps in the UAT REST and WebSocket hosts

One flag, every URL.

One error hierarchy

CCXT maps Crypto.com's numeric code values onto a typed exception tree — InsufficientFunds, InvalidOrder, OrderNotFound, RateLimitExceeded, AuthenticationError, NetworkError, ExchangeNotAvailable and 34 more, all descending from BaseError.

Precision and string math

CCXT loads Crypto.com's market metadata and gives you amount_to_precision, price_to_precision and cost_to_precision, backed by the Precise string-arithmetic class. That matters more here than usual: the API requires numeric fields to be sent as strings, so float formatting is not cosmetic — the same value also feeds the signature.

Nothing is hidden — the implicit API

Alongside the 58 unified capabilities, all 129 endpoints in CCXT's Crypto.com API block are generated as callable implicit methods, with the full signature scheme, nonce handling, throttling and error mapping applied:

response = exchange.v1PublicGetPublicGetTickers({'instrument_name': 'BTC_USDT'})

Browse them on the Crypto.com implicit API page.

What the raw API and cdcx-cli do better

Honest advantages:

• cdcx-cli is a different kind of tool, and a good one. A single ~11MB Rust binary with no runtime dependencies, a full-screen TUI dashboard, a paper-trading engine that needs no credentials, and an MCP server so an AI agent can drive the exchange with safety tiers. CCXT is a library; none of that is in scope for it.
• It is generated from the OpenAPI specification. cdcx-cli exposes 95 REST endpoints derived directly from Crypto.com's spec, so its surface tracks the published contract mechanically rather than through hand-written wrappers.
• Field-for-field fidelity with the docs, and new endpoints on day one. Calling public/get-tickers directly means what the reference says is what you get, and a newly shipped endpoint is callable by URL immediately — a unified CCXT method for it may follow later. CCXT's unified names are a deliberate abstraction, which is one extra hop when debugging against vendor documentation.
• A focused community Python library exists. cryptocom-exchange is an MIT, async-native Python client for the v1 API built on httpx and websockets. If you want one venue, in Python, with a small dependency, it is a real option.

If Crypto.com is your only venue, or you want a terminal dashboard and an MCP endpoint rather than a library, the raw API and cdcx-cli are the better fit.

Migrating from the raw Crypto.com API to CCXT

FAQ

Does Crypto.com Exchange have an official Python SDK? No. The crypto-com/crypto-exchange repository was archived in 2021 and now only links to the documentation, and the API reference lists no client library — it gives reference code samples in JavaScript, Python, C# and Java. Crypto.com's own current tool is cdcx-cli, a Rust CLI, MCP server and TUI. For a Python, PHP, Go, C# or Java library, CCXT is the maintained option, alongside the community cryptocom-exchange package.

Does CCXT support Crypto.com derivatives? Yes. Spot, margin, perpetual swaps, futures and options are served by one ccxt.cryptocom instance, across 58 unified capabilities including positions, funding rates, settlement history and closePosition.

Can I use the Crypto.com sandbox through CCXT? Yes. exchange.set_sandbox_mode(True) swaps in the UAT hosts — uat-api.3ona.co for REST and uat-stream.3ona.co for the market and user WebSocket endpoints — with no other change to your code.

Do I need CCXT Pro separately for WebSockets? No. CCXT Pro is included in the ccxt package. Use ccxt.pro.cryptocom and call watch* methods — 12 of them here — plus create_order_ws, edit_order_ws, cancel_order_ws and cancel_all_orders_ws for order entry over the same socket.

Why do my hand-signed Crypto.com requests fail authentication? Usually one of three rules: parameter keys must be sorted ascending and concatenated as key + value with no separator, nested objects and arrays must be flattened by the same rule recursively, and every numeric field must be sent as a quoted string. The signed payload is method + id + api_key + parameter string + nonce, hashed with HMAC-SHA256 and hex-encoded. CCXT implements all of it — and applies it to all 129 endpoints exposed as implicit methods.

Is CCXT free? Yes. MIT-licensed, including the WebSocket support.

Next steps

• Install CCXT in your language
• Manual — the unified API, structures and conventions
• cryptocom unified API reference
• cryptocom implicit API — every raw endpoint
• CCXT Pro manual — WebSocket methods
• More comparisons