Sub-account

A sub-account is a separate account inside your main exchange account, with its own balance, positions and API keys. It helps you separate strategies and cap risk.

How it works

The main account controls sub-accounts: it creates them, moves funds between them and sets permissions. Identity verification is usually done once, on the main account. Transfers between sub-accounts on the same exchange are typically free and instant.

Sub-accounts keep tasks apart: long-term holdings in one place, leveraged trading in another, a bot in a third. A liquidation or a mistake in one sub-account does not touch the funds in another, as long as they do not share margin.

They are especially handy for bots: you create an API key for the sub-account only and put a limited amount there. Even if the key leaks or the bot misbehaves, only that amount is at risk.

Example with numbers

You have $5,000 on an exchange. You keep $4,000 on the main account in spot and move $1,000 to a sub-account for a grid bot with its own API key. If the bot loses 30% in a bad market, that is $300, and the main $4,000 is untouched.

Common mistake

A common mistake is using sub-accounts to get around exchange rules, for example opening them for other people or with someone else's documents. That breaks the terms and can get you banned. Use sub-accounts only to separate your own funds and strategies.

Questions and answers

What is an exchange sub-account in simple terms?

It is an extra account inside your account. It has its own balance and positions, but you control it from the main account.

Does a sub-account need separate verification?

Usually not: sub-accounts run under the main account's verification. The details depend on the exchange.

Why would a beginner need a sub-account?

To keep experiments with bots or leverage apart from your main money, so a mistake in one strategy does not hit your whole capital.

Sub-account

How it works

Questions and answers

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