An API key that cannot withdraw

What permissions does a trading tool actually need?

Three things: read your balances, read your orders, and place or cancel orders. That is the entire set. Every exchange also offers withdrawal or transfer permission on the same screen, and a trading tool has no use for it.

This matters because permissions are the only real limit on what a key can do once it exists. If a key is stolen — from the vendor, from a laptop, from a screenshot — what the thief can do with it is exactly what you ticked when you made it. A key without withdrawal permission cannot move coins off the exchange no matter who is holding it. The exchange refuses the request; there is no setting on the vendor's side that overrides it.

Which boxes to tick

The three exchanges name these differently. These are the exact permission sets Trade Leopard asks for, and the ones it never does:

Two details are easy to miss. OKX defaults a new key to Read only, which lets a dashboard show balances but never place an order — if orders are not appearing, this is usually why. Coinbase hides the choices inside API restrictions and Advanced Settings, and calls withdrawal Transfer.

What is an IP allowlist, and does it help?

An IP allowlist ties the key to a specific internet address, so the exchange refuses any request that arrives from anywhere else. All three exchanges support it — Kraken calls it IP address restriction, OKX calls it binding, Coinbase calls it an allowlist.

It is the strongest single thing you can do to a key you have given out, and it costs nothing. A stolen copy of an allowlisted key is refused everywhere except the one machine it was issued for. Trade Leopard places every order from one fixed address, which the app shows you with a copy button when you connect an exchange.

One consequence to know about: restricting the key to one address locks it to that tool alone. Your own scripts, or another app sharing the same key, will be refused. Make a second, unrestricted key for those.

What else should you check before connecting anything?

• Is the secret ever shown back to you? A key that can be read out of the interface after you save it can be read by anyone who gets into that account. Trade Leopard encrypts keys before storage and never returns them to the browser.
• Can the tool sell? “Trade” permission covers buys and sells — no exchange separates them. So the limit has to come from the software, and it should be stated plainly. Trade Leopard only buys out of the box; the one thing it can ever sell on its own is the scheduled trim, which is off until you switch it on, sells only a holding's profit, and never sells at a loss.
• Can you see an order before it happens? Lump-sum buys, percentage sells and rebalances should show you the exact orders — asset by asset — before anything is placed.
• How fast can you stop it? Deleting the key at the exchange cuts the connection immediately. Nothing on the vendor's side can outlive a key you revoke.

How do you revoke a key?

On the same screen you made it. Kraken: Settings → API. OKX: your profile → API. Coinbase: the Developer Platform at portal.cdp.coinbase.com, under Access → API keys. Deleting the key takes effect at once and needs nothing from the tool you gave it to. It is worth doing for any key you are no longer using — an unused key with trade permission is a live one.