🎓 Academy/Lesson 05
Lesson 5 of 6 COMPASS Nodes Academy

The Agent Key: Trade-Only Security

Exactly what our key can and cannot do — and why you’re safe.

This is the lesson to read twice, because it’s the heart of why a Node is trustworthy. When you activate your Node, you approve something called an agent key. Let’s be precise about what it is and — more importantly — what it can never do.

What the agent key can do

  • Place and cancel trades on your account — this is how the engine works your capital.
  • Read your positions and balances — so it knows the current state to trade against.

What the agent key can never do

  • Withdraw your funds. Impossible. The exchange rejects it.
  • Move your money anywhere — not even between your own two pockets.
🔑 Your Agent Key Place & cancel trades Read your positions 🚫Withdraw your funds 🚫Move money anywhere Enforced by the exchange itself — not a promise, a protocol rule. You can revoke the key with one tap, any time.
Trade: yes. Touch your money: no. Enforced at the protocol level, not by our promise.

Why this is protocol, not policy

The critical thing: these limits aren’t a company policy we choose to honor. They’re enforced by Hyperliquid itself, at the protocol level. We tested it on-chain before launch — the exchange literally rejects any attempt by an agent key to move funds. That means the safety doesn’t depend on trusting us; it depends on math that’s already running.

And you stay in the driver’s seat: the agent key is revocable by you at any time with a single tap in your exchange app. Cancel your subscription and we stop trading; revoke the key and we can’t even do that. Either way, your funds never budge.

Key takeaways

  • The agent key can trade and read — nothing more.
  • It physically cannot withdraw or move your money — enforced by the exchange.
  • You can revoke it anytime. Safety by protocol, not by promise.