diff --git a/ibind/base/rest_client.py b/ibind/base/rest_client.py
index 9113f50a..bbc5e842 100644
--- a/ibind/base/rest_client.py
+++ b/ibind/base/rest_client.py
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ def request(self, method: str, endpoint: str, attempt: int = 0, log: bool = True
             Exception: For any other errors that occur during the request.
 
         """
+        endpoint = endpoint.lstrip("/")
         url = f"{self.base_url}{endpoint}"
 
         # we want to allow default values used by IBKR, so we remove all None parameters
diff --git a/test/integration/base/test_rest_client_i.py b/test/integration/base/test_rest_client_i.py
index a9ce10c3..a9d5825c 100644
--- a/test/integration/base/test_rest_client_i.py
+++ b/test/integration/base/test_rest_client_i.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def setUp(self):
 
         self.response = MagicMock()
         self.response.json.return_value = self.data
-        self.default_path = '/test/api/route'
+        self.default_path = 'test/api/route'
         self.default_url = f'{self.url}/{self.default_path}'
         self.result = Result(data=self.data, request={'url': self.default_url})
         self.maxDiff = 9999