Kalshi Trading Bot: How to set up a Kalshi autopilot, step by step

A Kalshi autopilot copies the traders or the trade rules you choose, automatically, on your own Kalshi account, within seconds of the original fill. Setting one up is not complicated, but the order of the steps matters, because the whole point is to make a rule prove itself before it spends any real money. Here is the full setup, start to finish, and what to watch once it is running.

Before you start

You need two accounts: a Kalshi account you have funded, and a Rivo account. Autopilot runs on your own Kalshi API key, so make sure you can generate that key from your Kalshi settings when the time comes. You do not deposit money into the autopilot itself, ever. Your funds stay in your Kalshi account the entire time.

Step 1: Pick who or what to copy

There are two ways to define what the autopilot takes. You can pick a tracked Kalshi trader from their profile and copy their entries. Or you can describe the trades you want as a rule in the strategy builder: an entry price band, a minimum trade size, a category, keywords in the market title, dates. If you are new, starting from a trader with a strong resolved record is the simplest first move. If you have a thesis, write the rule.

Keep the rule specific. "Longshots under 20 cents, over $10K behind them, new positions only" describes one clear behavior. "Any big trade" describes a blur that measures nothing.

Step 2: Run it on paper first

Do not go live yet. Run the rule on paper, where it fills against real Kalshi trades as they happen and gets scored when those markets resolve. Nothing is spent. On creation it can also claim qualifying trades from the past 90 days, most of which have already settled, so you get a record immediately instead of waiting weeks.

Read the record before you trust it. Look at the win rate, the return, and, most importantly, how many trades have actually settled. A strong return on a dozen trades is noise. The same edge across a few hundred settled trades is worth something. This is the step that separates a real strategy from a hope.

Step 3: Connect your Kalshi key

When the record justifies going live, generate your Kalshi API key and connect it in settings. It is encrypted at rest and you can revoke it at any time, which wipes it and stops execution immediately. Every order the autopilot places is placed by your key on your account. There is no Rivo wallet, and Rivo cannot move your funds.

Step 4: Set two ceilings

This is your risk control, and it is entirely yours. Set a maximum per copy and a maximum per day. Start small. A sensible starting preset is $5 per trade against a $25 daily ceiling, which lets you watch it work before you scale. The worst case is bounded by numbers you chose, not by how the bot behaves on a bad day.

Step 5: Confirm and go live

Confirm once, and the same rule that just earned its record starts opening real positions on your Kalshi account within seconds of the trader it follows. The rule is not rewritten when it goes live, so what you tested is what runs.

What to watch once it is running

A few things worth knowing so nothing surprises you.

It opens positions, it does not close them. Exits are your decision unless you separately arm standing stop-loss, take-profit, or trailing rules per position. Do not assume the autopilot is managing risk on the way out.

It skips rather than chases. A trade that aged past the copy window, or a market whose price already effectively decided the outcome, is skipped and logged with the reason. Check the copy log to see what it passed on and why.

It stops itself. Three consecutive execution failures pause the rule. A merely difficult market, like a thin book, does not count against it, so a good rule is not retired just because trading got hard.

You can pause it any time. From the app, you can stop a live rule whenever you want.

Start small and let it earn trust

The healthiest way to run your first autopilot is to keep the caps low, follow one proven rule, and read the copy log for a week before you raise anything. The record you built on paper is your evidence, and the live results will tell you whether it holds.

This is exactly how Rivo autopilot works: pick a trader or write a rule, prove it on paper against resolved Kalshi history, connect your own key, set your caps, and go live, with skip logic, a self-pause, a full copy log, and manual exits. Try it today at rivo.markets