Trading keys and safety
Prow trades for you with a trading key made on your device. It can place orders. It cannot withdraw your funds or send them to anyone.
On this page
Prow never holds your funds. Your money stays in your own account on Hyperliquid, Aster or Lighter. To trade for you, Prow uses a trading key. This page explains what that key is, where it lives and what it can do.
What a trading key is
A trading key is a separate key that your wallet approves for one venue account. Hyperliquid calls it an API wallet or agent. Aster calls it an API wallet. On Lighter it is an API key in a numbered slot.
- Your browser creates the key when you connect a venue.
- Your wallet signs once to approve it. No network fee. No funds move.
- Prow then signs orders with this key, so you don't need a wallet popup for every trade.
Each device gets its own key. Your phone and your laptop each have one. If you run bots, the account also has a Prow Bots key, shared by its bots. The key's name shows the device, like Prow iPhone k3f on Hyperliquid or Prow-iPhone-k3f on Aster. You see these names on the venue's API page.
What it can and cannot do
| A trading key can | A trading key cannot |
|---|---|
| Place, edit and cancel orders | Withdraw funds |
| Set take profit and stop loss | Transfer funds to another address |
| Change leverage and margin mode | Approve another key |
Withdrawals and transfers out of the account always need a signature from the wallet that owns it. The one move a key makes is on Aster, between your own spot and futures. On Aster, Prow approves every key with withdrawals turned off. If Aster ever reports that a Prow key can withdraw, Prow tells you to revoke it and connect again.
Where the key is stored
The key stays on your device, in this browser. It is encrypted before it is saved. Prow's servers never receive it.
Bots are the other exception. A bot runs on Prow's servers, so it uses its own key, called Prow Bots, which Prow creates and stores encrypted on its bot servers. It can't withdraw or transfer either, and it can only trade inside the limits you sign for each bot. Your device key is never used for bots. See The Prow Bots key.
There is one exception you choose yourself: key backup. If you turn it on, your device encrypts the keys with a passkey first. Prow stores only that encrypted copy and cannot open it. See Key backup below.
Check a key in Settings
Open Settings > Venues. Each linked account has a card.
What the card shows:
- Status. The chip next to the name.
- Connected: this device has a valid key.
- Key expires in N days: less than 14 days left. The card gets an orange outline.
- Key expired: Prow can't trade on this account until you renew.
- Not on this device: the account is linked, but this device has no key. Tap Turn on trading to make one here.
- Balance. Total value of the account.
- Trading key valid N days. The days left on this device's key.
Tap Details on the card (on a phone, the arrow) for a full view, on every venue. It shows the balance, positions and orders, how and when you connected, and the Trading key with its expiry. The Details card on that page holds the rest: the Wallet, the trading key address, what the key can do (Trade is Allowed while this device has a working key, Withdraw is Blocked: the key can't send funds out of your account; on Aster it can only move money between your own spot and futures), and the venue's fees with the Prow fee.
Keys expire
A trading key works for up to 180 days. After that the venue stops accepting it.
From 14 days before, Portfolio's Needs attention shows an item, for example Aster trading key expires in 9 days with Renew key. Prow does not send a notification for it, so look there when you open Prow. Renew before the date to keep trading without a break.
Open Settings > Venues
Find the account. A key that expires soon, expired or is missing shows a Renew trading key button (Turn on trading if this device has no key). For a healthy key, tap Details, then Renew next to the trading key.
Tap Renew trading key
On Hyperliquid, a Renew trading key dialog opens. On Aster, the connect dialog opens for the same account.
Sign in your wallet
One signature. No network fee, no funds move. The new key replaces the old one on this device and is valid for another 180 days.
Renewing needs the wallet that owns the account. If it isn't connected, the dialog asks you to connect it first.
If you connected Hyperliquid with an imported API key, Prow can't renew it. Create a new key on Hyperliquid and connect it again.
Settings > Security
Settings > Security has your sign-in passkeys and Hide balances at the top, and one part about keys under Trading keys: Key backup.
It is an optional backup so your other devices can use your keys. Keys are always made on this device, encrypted in this browser, and can never withdraw.
Key backup
Turn on Key backup to use your trading keys on another device without a wallet signature.
- Your device encrypts the keys with a passkey (iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager, Windows Hello, 1Password, Bitwarden).
- Prow stores only the encrypted copy. It cannot open it.
- On a new device, you unlock the keys with Face ID, Touch ID or your PIN.
Key backup is off by default. Without it, each new device asks your wallet for one signature to make its own key.
If your browser can't use passkeys this way, the row says Unavailable.
Sign out
When you sign out, Prow asks Sign out of Prow? The option Remove trading keys from this device is on by default.
- Leave it on to delete every trading key stored in this browser.
- Turn it off only on a device nobody else uses. Your keys then stay ready for next time.
Removing keys on sign out does not revoke them on the venue. To stop a key everywhere, revoke it. See Disconnect a venue.
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