# Installation

This page explains how to prepare your environment for running the bot.

Please consider using the prebuilt [docker images](docker.md) to get started quickly while trying out freqtrade evaluating how it operates.

## Prerequisite

### Requirements

Click each one for install guide:

* [Python >= 3.7.x](http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/starting/installation/)
* [pip](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/)
* [git](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git)
* [virtualenv](https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/installation.html) (Recommended)
* [TA-Lib](https://mrjbq7.github.io/ta-lib/install.html) (install instructions below)

 We also recommend a [Telegram bot](telegram-usage.md#setup-your-telegram-bot), which is optional but recommended.

!!! Warning "Up-to-date clock"
    The clock on the system running the bot must be accurate, synchronized to a NTP server frequently enough to avoid problems with communication to the exchanges.

## Quick start

Freqtrade provides the Linux/MacOS Easy Installation script to install all dependencies and help you configure the bot.

!!! Note
    Windows installation is explained [here](#windows).

The easiest way to install and run Freqtrade is to clone the bot Github repository and then run the Easy Installation script, if it's available for your platform.

!!! Note "Version considerations"
    When cloning the repository the default working branch has the name `develop`. This branch contains all last features (can be considered as relatively stable, thanks to automated tests). The `stable` branch contains the code of the last release (done usually once per month on an approximately one week old snapshot of the `develop` branch to prevent packaging bugs, so potentially it's more stable).

!!! Note
    Python3.7 or higher and the corresponding `pip` are assumed to be available. The install-script will warn you and stop if that's not the case. `git` is also needed to clone the Freqtrade repository.  
    Also, python headers (`python<yourversion>-dev` / `python<yourversion>-devel`) must be available for the installation to complete successfully.

This can be achieved with the following commands:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade.git
cd freqtrade
# git checkout stable  # Optional, see (1)
./setup.sh --install
```

(1) This command switches the cloned repository to the use of the `stable` branch. It's not needed if you wish to stay on the `develop` branch. You may later switch between branches at any time with the `git checkout stable`/`git checkout develop` commands.

## Easy Installation Script (Linux/MacOS)

If you are on Debian, Ubuntu or MacOS Freqtrade provides the script to install, update, configure and reset the codebase of your bot.

```bash
$ ./setup.sh
usage:
	-i,--install    Install freqtrade from scratch
	-u,--update     Command git pull to update.
	-r,--reset      Hard reset your develop/stable branch.
	-c,--config     Easy config generator (Will override your existing file).
```

** --install **

With this option, the script will install the bot and most dependencies:
You will need to have git and python3.7+ installed beforehand for this to work.

* Mandatory software as: `ta-lib`
* Setup your virtualenv under `.env/`

This option is a combination of installation tasks, `--reset` and `--config`.

** --update **

This option will pull the last version of your current branch and update your virtualenv. Run the script with this option periodically to update your bot.

** --reset **

This option will hard reset your branch (only if you are on either `stable` or `develop`) and recreate your virtualenv.

** --config **

DEPRECATED - use `freqtrade new-config -c config.json` instead.

### Activate your virtual environment

Each time you open a new terminal, you must run `source .env/bin/activate`.

------

## Custom Installation

We've included/collected install instructions for Ubuntu, MacOS, and Windows. These are guidelines and your success may vary with other distros.
OS Specific steps are listed first, the [Common](#common) section below is necessary for all systems.

!!! Note
    Python3.7 or higher and the corresponding pip are assumed to be available.

=== "Ubuntu/Debian"
    #### Install necessary dependencies

    ```bash
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install build-essential git
    ```

=== "RaspberryPi/Raspbian"
    The following assumes the latest [Raspbian Buster lite image](https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/).
    This image comes with python3.7 preinstalled, making it easy to get freqtrade up and running.

    Tested using a Raspberry Pi 3 with the Raspbian Buster lite image, all updates applied.


    ```bash
    sudo apt-get install python3-venv libatlas-base-dev cmake
    # Use pywheels.org to speed up installation
    sudo echo "[global]\nextra-index-url=https://www.piwheels.org/simple" > tee /etc/pip.conf

    git clone https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade.git
    cd freqtrade

    bash setup.sh -i
    ```

    !!! Note "Installation duration"
        Depending on your internet speed and the Raspberry Pi version, installation can take multiple hours to complete.
        Due to this, we recommend to use the prebuild docker-image for Raspberry, by following the [Docker quickstart documentation](docker_quickstart.md)

    !!! Note
        The above does not install hyperopt dependencies. To install these, please use `python3 -m pip install -e .[hyperopt]`.
        We do not advise to run hyperopt on a Raspberry Pi, since this is a very resource-heavy operation, which should be done on powerful machine.

### Common

#### 1. Install TA-Lib

Use the provided ta-lib installation script

```bash
sudo ./build_helpers/install_ta-lib.sh
```

!!! Note
    This will use the ta-lib tar.gz included in this repository.

##### TA-Lib manual installation

Official webpage: https://mrjbq7.github.io/ta-lib/install.html

```bash
wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ta-lib/ta-lib-0.4.0-src.tar.gz
tar xvzf ta-lib-0.4.0-src.tar.gz
cd ta-lib
sed -i.bak "s|0.00000001|0.000000000000000001 |g" src/ta_func/ta_utility.h
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
sudo make install
cd ..
rm -rf ./ta-lib*
```

!!! Note
    An already downloaded version of ta-lib is included in the repository, as the sourceforge.net source seems to have problems frequently.

#### 2. Setup your Python virtual environment (virtualenv)

!!! Note
    This step is optional but strongly recommended to keep your system organized

```bash
python3 -m venv .env
source .env/bin/activate
```

#### 3. Install Freqtrade

Clone the git repository:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade.git
cd freqtrade
git checkout stable
```

#### 4. Install python dependencies

```bash
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
python3 -m pip install -e .
```

#### 5. Initialize the configuration

```bash
# Initialize the user_directory
freqtrade create-userdir --userdir user_data/

# Create a new configuration file
freqtrade new-config --config config.json
```

> *To edit the config please refer to [Bot Configuration](configuration.md).*

#### 6. Run the Bot

If this is the first time you run the bot, ensure you are running it in Dry-run `"dry_run": true,` otherwise it will start to buy and sell coins.

```bash
freqtrade trade -c config.json
```

*Note*: If you run the bot on a server, you should consider using [Docker](docker.md) or a terminal multiplexer like `screen` or [`tmux`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmux) to avoid that the bot is stopped on logout.

#### 7. (Optional) Post-installation Tasks

On Linux, as an optional post-installation task, you may wish to setup the bot to run as a `systemd` service or configure it to send the log messages to the `syslog`/`rsyslog` or `journald` daemons. See [Advanced Logging](advanced-setup.md#advanced-logging) for details.

------

## Conda (Miniconda or Anaconda)

Freqtrade can also be installed with Miniconda or Anaconda. Conda (Miniconda or Anaconda) would automatically prepare and manage the extensive library-dependencies of the Freqtrade program.

##### What is Conda?

It is: (1) package, (2) dependency and (3) environment management for any programming language : https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/index.html

Shortly : Conda < Miniconda < Anaconda. Check : https://linuxnetmag.com/miniconda-vs-anaconda/

It is recommended to install Miniconda, not Anaconda. The difference between both lies in the amount of packages that would be installed upfront. Difference is at least like 1:8.

https://www.dunderdata.com/blog/anaconda-is-bloated-set-up-a-lean-robust-data-science-environment-with-miniconda-and-conda-forge


#### 1. Instal Conda

3 step installation instruction can be found here :
https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/install/linux.html#install-linux-silent

Confirm with `yes` all questions. After installation, it is mandatory to turn your terminal OFF and ON again.


#### 2. Prepare Conda environment

##### Change the channels with upgrades:

After opening terminal, you already will be in default `base` conda environment

If you want, you can prevent the (base) conda environment from being activated automatically.

```bash
conda config --set auto_activate_base false
```

enter the conda base environment:

```bash
conda activate base
```

Conda as a package manager can download new packages from "channels". The best developed Conda channel, is not the default channel and is called `conda-forge`. The code below switches to it.

```bash    
# adding forge
conda config --env --add channels conda-forge

# make it strict
conda config --env --set channel_priority strict 	
```

You can check the status of conda with the following code.

```bash
conda info
conda config --show channels
conda config --show channel_priority
```

#### 3. Freqtrade Conda Environment

Now you have conda, but only (base) environment,

```bash
conda env list
```

It is time to setup environment of the Freqtrade itself:

The conda command `create -n` automatically installs all nested dependencies for the selected libraries

general structure of installation command is:

```bash
conda create -n [name of the environment] [python version] [packages]
```

so it can be

```bash
conda create -n freqtrade-conda python=3.8 pandas numpy ta-lib git wheel virtualenv
```

or if you expect, to use later jupiter for [data-analysis](data-analysis.md), use

```bash
conda create -n freqtrade-jupyter-conda python=3.8 pandas numpy ta-lib git wheel virtualenv jupyter
```

the same works: for [docker](docker.md), for spyder and other useful programs.

Further read on the topic:

https://towardsdatascience.com/a-guide-to-conda-environments-bc6180fc533?gi=1db972389cd1

https://metager.de/meta/meta.ger3?eingabe=ardsdatascience+guide+to+conda+environment

!!! Note "New heavy packages"
    It may happen that creating a new Conda environment, populated with selected packages at the moment of creation, takes less time than installing a large, heavy dependent, GUI package, into previously set environment. Great example: Spyder


##### Enter/exit freqtrade-conda venv:

to enter choosen conda environment

```bash
conda activate freqtrade-conda

```

to exit conda environment

```bash
conda deactivate						
```

#### 4. Freqtrade Instalation

Within the newly created freqtrade-conda environment, download and install Freqtrade. To process --install command, may take a few minutes

```bash
# download freqtrade
git clone https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade.git

# enter downloaded directory 'freqtrade'
cd freqtrade      

# run setup
./setup.sh --install                                        
```

Create virtual environment (yes, python3-venv environment, inside conda-environment), where Freqtrade program can run.

Running python3-venv seems to be requirement of the Freqtrade program itself.

```bash
# create venv environment, inside hidden directory /freqtrede/.env
python3 -m venv ./.env/

# run the python3-venv environment
source ./.env/bin/activate

# install last required package            
pip install -e .						
```

##### pip install within conda, a reminder:

The documentation of conda says that pip should NOT be used within conda, because internal problems can occur.
However, they are rare

That is, why the conda-forge channel is preferred: (and if no library is available in conda, you have to use pip)

* more libraries are available (less need for pip)
* conda-forge works better with pip
* the libraries are newer


#### 5. You are ready

You are ready to run, create the user directory and configuration file [Bot Configuration](configuration.md), run the program `dry_run: True` to verify that everything is working, and run a backtest to double check.

```bash
# Prerequisite
freqtrade create-userdir --userdir user_data

# set up config file
# make sure to run it set the `dry_run : true` as you start
freqtrade new-config --config config.json


# run `dry_run` trades
freqtrade trade --strategy SampleStrategy
```

important shortcuts

```bash
# activate base environment
conda activate

# activate freqtrade-conda environment
conda activate freqtrade-conda

#deactivate any conda environments
conda deactivate

# list installed conda environments
conda env list

# activation/deactivate the venv
source ./.env/bin/activate
deactivate                                      
```

Happy trading!


-----
## Troubleshooting

### MacOS installation error

Newer versions of MacOS may have installation failed with errors like `error: command 'g++' failed with exit status 1`.

This error will require explicit installation of the SDK Headers, which are not installed by default in this version of MacOS.
For MacOS 10.14, this can be accomplished with the below command.

```bash
open /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg
```

If this file is inexistent, then you're probably on a different version of MacOS, so you may need to consult the internet for specific resolution details.

### MacOS installation error with python 3.9

When using python 3.9 on macOS, it's currently necessary to install some os-level modules to allow dependencies to compile.
The errors you'll see happen during installation and are related to the installation of `tables` or `blosc`.

You can install the necessary libraries with the following command:

```bash
brew install hdf5 c-blosc
```

After this, please run the installation (script) again.

-----

Now you have an environment ready, the next step is
[Bot Configuration](configuration.md).