Deploy Freqtrade

Freqtrade — Free & Open Source Crypto Trading Bot

> ⚠️ Trading involves risk. Freqtrade is educational software — always start in dry-run (paper trading) mode, which is the default in this template. Use at your own risk.

Freqtrade is a free, open source crypto trading bot written in Python supporting all major exchanges, controllable via a built-in web UI (FreqUI), REST API, or Telegram. This template deploys the official pinned Docker image (freqtradeorg/freqtrade:2026.8) pre-configured for Railway: FreqUI enabled on port 8080, persistent storage for strategies and databases, and safe dry-run defaults.

Deploy and Host

Deploy with one click. On first boot the container seeds /freqtrade/user_data with a strategy skeleton and a safe default config (spot market, Kraken USD pairs, dry-run wallet of 1000 USD), then starts trading in dry-run mode. Persistent data (config, strategies, SQLite trade database, logs) lives on a Railway volume at /freqtrade/user_data.

About Hosting

• Single service, official freqtradeorg/freqtrade:2026.8 image — no source build
• Persistent Railway volume at /freqtrade/user_data (config, strategies, trades DB, logs)
• FreqUI + REST API served on port 8080 with HTTP basic auth (change the defaults!)
• All config values overridable via FREQTRADE__ env vars (double underscore = nesting)
• Health-checked at /api/v1/ping (unauthenticated API endpoint)
• Runs in dry-run (paper trading) mode by default — no exchange keys needed

Why Deploy

Self-hosting keeps your strategies, API keys, and trade data entirely under your control on infrastructure you own, with no third-party SaaS reading your trading activity. Railway adds persistent volumes, automatic restarts, one-click environment variable overrides, and zero server maintenance — deploy in under two minutes and iterate on strategies from the browser.

Common Use Cases

• Paper trading: Validate strategies risk-free with the default dry-run configuration before committing funds
• Live spot trading: Add exchange API keys once your strategy proves itself in dry-run (Kraken by default — works worldwide including US; switch FREQTRADE__EXCHANGE__NAME to binance/kucoin/gate/okx if your region supports it)
• Strategy development: Hot-edit Python strategies in the mounted volume; the bot reloads them via the API or restart
• 24/7 unattended trading: Railway keeps the bot running with automatic restarts and persistent trade history in SQLite
• Telegram control: Attach a Telegram bot to check profit, force entries/exits, and control the bot from your phone

Dependencies for

Public Dependencies: None — everything runs in a single container with an embedded SQLite database on the attached volume.

Private Dependencies:

• A cryptocurrency exchange account (Kraken by default — dry-run works without keys)
• Telegram bot token (optional, for remote bot control)
• Exchange API key + secret (only for live trading, not dry-run)

Deployment Dependencies

• freqtradeorg/freqtrade:2026.8 — official pinned Docker image (Docker Hub)
• Kraken REST/WebSocket API — market data + paper-trading simulation (no account required for dry-run)
• SQLite — embedded trade database on the attached Railway volume (no external database service needed)

Environment Variables

Full configuration reference: freqtrade.io/en/stable/configuration

Post-Deploy Setup

1. Open your Railway deployment URL — FreqUI loads at the root path
2. Log in with FREQTRADE__API_SERVER__USERNAME / FREQTRADE__API_SERVER__PASSWORD
3. Edit strategies under user_data/strategies/ on the volume (or paste into FreqUI's strategy editor)
4. Set FREQTRADE__STRATEGY to your strategy class name and redeploy
5. When ready for live trading: add exchange keys + set FREQTRADE__DRY_RUN=false

Links

• Freqtrade documentation
• FreqUI guide
• Strategy examples
• Freqtrade GitHub
• Exchange support list