binance-mcp-demo

A local stdio MCP server for Binance Spot, written in TypeScript for Node.js 20+. It uses native fetch, Node's crypto module, the official @modelcontextprotocol/sdk, and no Binance SDK wrapper.

Environments

Binance Demo Mode and Spot Testnet are different systems. Keys created at demo.binance.com must use https://demo-api.binance.com, not https://testnet.binance.vision. Spot Testnet keys for testnet.binance.vision are separate from Demo Mode keys.

Related MCP server: Binance MCP Server

Install and configure

npm install
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env and set the appropriate key and secret. Credentials are never hardcoded, and .env is ignored by Git.

BINANCE_ENV=demo
BINANCE_API_KEY=your_demo_api_key
BINANCE_API_SECRET=your_demo_api_secret
BINANCE_RECV_WINDOW=10000
BINANCE_ALLOW_LIVE_TRADING=false
BINANCE_LOG_LEVEL=info

Build and run:

npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build
npm start

The server communicates over stdio, so normally Hermes starts it rather than you running npm start interactively.

Diagnose

The diagnostic command checks server time and the signed account endpoint. It prints only a masked API key and never prints the secret or signature.

BINANCE_ENV=demo \
BINANCE_API_KEY='your_demo_api_key' \
BINANCE_API_SECRET='your_demo_api_secret' \
npm run diagnose

It exits with status 0 when /api/v3/account succeeds and non-zero otherwise.

Demo-only integration test

Normal npm test never contacts Binance and never places an order. The opt-in integration command refuses to run unless BINANCE_ENV=demo; it checks account access and a market snapshot, then does nothing unless DEMO_INTEGRATION_TRADING=true:

BINANCE_ENV=demo DEMO_INTEGRATION_TRADING=false npm run test:demo

For the optional buy-then-close smoke test, provide a deliberately small, valid demo quantity (the command immediately submits a MARKET SELL afterward):

BINANCE_ENV=demo DEMO_INTEGRATION_TRADING=true DEMO_SYMBOL=BTCUSDT DEMO_QUANTITY=0.001 npm run test:demo

Never use this command with live or testnet credentials. Demo keys and Spot Testnet keys are separate.

Hermes Agent configuration

Hermes reads MCP server configuration from ~/.hermes/config.yaml. Use the absolute project path so Hermes does not depend on its working directory.

Demo:

mcp_servers:
  binance-spot:
    command: node
    args:
      - /home/ahmed/binance-mcp-demo/dist/src/index.js
    env:
      BINANCE_ENV: demo
      BINANCE_API_KEY: ${BINANCE_API_KEY}
      BINANCE_API_SECRET: ${BINANCE_API_SECRET}
      BINANCE_RECV_WINDOW: "10000"
      BINANCE_ALLOW_LIVE_TRADING: "false"
      BINANCE_LOG_LEVEL: info

Live (safe, read-only/order-query behavior until explicitly enabled):

mcp_servers:
  binance-spot-live:
    command: node
    args:
      - /home/ahmed/binance-mcp-demo/dist/src/index.js
    env:
      BINANCE_ENV: live
      BINANCE_API_KEY: ${BINANCE_API_KEY}
      BINANCE_API_SECRET: ${BINANCE_API_SECRET}
      BINANCE_RECV_WINDOW: "10000"
      BINANCE_ALLOW_LIVE_TRADING: "false"
      BINANCE_LOG_LEVEL: info

Only set BINANCE_ALLOW_LIVE_TRADING: "true" after intentionally deciding to allow live place/cancel actions. Trading tools remain visible when the guard is off, but return a clear MCP error if called.

Available tools

• binance_connection_info

• binance_server_time

• binance_price

• binance_order_book

• binance_symbol_info

• binance_klines

• binance_ticker_24h

• binance_account

• binance_open_orders

• binance_order_status

• binance_all_orders

• binance_my_trades

• binance_order_list_status

• binance_place_order

• binance_place_oco_exit

• binance_cancel_order

• binance_cancel_all_orders

• binance_cancel_order_list

• binance_portfolio_summary

• binance_market_snapshot

• trading_cycle_begin

• trading_cycle_end

• trading_state_get

• trading_state_update

• trading_journal_append

• trading_journal_recent

• trading_performance_summary

Example Hermes prompts:

• “Show my Binance connection info and server time.”

• “What is the current BTCUSDT price and the top 20 order-book levels?”

• “Show the BTCUSDT trading rules, tick size, lot size, and notional limits.”

• “Show my account balances and open ETHUSDT orders.”

• “Check order 12345 for BTCUSDT.”

• “On the configured non-live environment, place a LIMIT BUY for 0.001 BTCUSDT at 50000 USDT.”

• “Cancel all open BTCUSDT orders.”

binance_place_order loads the symbol rules before submitting an order. It rejects prices or quantities that are out of range or not aligned to Binance's tick/step sizes, and reports the normalized value for the user to review. It never silently submits a materially adjusted order.

Troubleshooting -2015

Binance error -2015 means the API key, IP, or permissions are invalid for the request. Check all of the following:

1. The key belongs to the selected environment. Demo, Spot Testnet, and live keys are not interchangeable.

2. BINANCE_ENV selects the matching base URL shown above.

3. The key has the required Spot/account or trading permissions.

4. Any IP allowlist on the key includes the machine running Hermes.

5. The key and secret were copied without whitespace or shell interpolation.

6. The key has not expired, been deleted, or been regenerated.

Run npm run diagnose after correcting the configuration.

Autonomous loop architecture

Hermes can run a long-only Spot strategy as a guarded sequence:

1. trading_cycle_begin atomically claims a strategy/cycle lock. Duplicate cycles are rejected and locks older than 20 minutes are recovered.

2. binance_portfolio_summary and binance_market_snapshot provide account, completed-candle indicators, liquidity, and stale-data checks.

3. A strategy can submit one idempotent BUY with binance_place_order, then immediately call binance_place_oco_exit after the fill.

4. trading_state_update records the position and protection IDs; trading_journal_append records every decision and result.

5. The cycle ends with trading_cycle_end. Performance is read from SQLite by trading_performance_summary.

This server supports Spot long-only behavior: it does not short, borrow, or trade Futures. OCO protection is the expected exit workflow. If an automated workflow cannot place protection after a filled BUY, use the emergency recovery helper in src/trading-actions.ts, which submits a MARKET SELL and journals the emergency action. If both requests fail, stop automation and manually reconcile the position with binance_account, binance_order_status, and binance_open_orders before acting.

The SQLite database is stored at data/trading.db (ignored by Git). Inspect it with the SQLite CLI, for example:

sqlite3 data/trading.db 'select timestamp,strategy_id,cycle_id,action,realized_pnl from trading_journal order by timestamp desc limit 20;'

Example daily Hermes cron entry (adjust the command to your Hermes install):

*/15 * * * * cd /home/ahmed/binance-mcp-demo && hermes chat --prompt 'Run one guarded demo Spot cycle for strategy btc-breakout; use completed candles, acquire a cycle lock, protect any filled BUY with OCO, journal every decision, and end the cycle.' >> /tmp/binance-hermes.log 2>&1

The indicators, risk sizing, journal calculations, and safety checks are mechanical safeguards—not evidence of profitability. Paper/demo results do not predict live performance; never enable live trading automatically.