Every bot, terminal and copier on hyperliquid runs on the same primitive: the api wallet, called an agent in the protocol. Understanding it is the whole of understanding what a copier can do to your account.
what an agent is
A hyperliquid account is an evm address (the master). The master can approve one or more agents: other addresses whose signatures the exchange accepts for trading actions on the master's account. The approval is a signed message, approveAgent, sent by the master. It costs nothing.
An agent can:
- place and cancel orders;
- set leverage and margin mode;
- do what any order-related action needs.
An agent cannot:
- withdraw;
- transfer USDC or spot assets to another address;
- approve another agent;
- approve a builder fee.
These limits are enforced by the exchange, not by the app. There is no configuration to get wrong.
validity and expiry
An agent's validity is capped at 180 days by the protocol; the master chooses any shorter duration at approval. Hypercopy uses 179 days, one day of margin. After expiry the agent's signatures are refused.
Hypercopy reminds you 7 days before expiry, once a day. If nothing happens, the day before expiry it stops your copies and closes their positions while the key still works, rather than leave you with positions it can no longer manage. Re-activating is one new signature.
the no-reuse rule
Hyperliquid tracks nonces per signing address. An agent address that was used once must never be approved again: old signed messages could be replayed. Hypercopy generates a fresh agent address for every approval and wipes the previous one for that wallet. If you ever build on hyperliquid yourself: never reuse an agent address.
named agents
An approval can carry a name, and hyperliquid allows several named agents per master. This is how you can run hypercopy and another tool on the same account at the same time, each with its own key.
seeing and revoking
Hyperliquid's app has an api page under your account that lists approved agents with their names and expiry. You can revoke any of them there. Revoking hypercopy's agent stops it trading for you instantly; your open positions stay yours to manage.
how hypercopy uses it
- On your first copy, the bot asks for one signature:
approveAgentfor an address hypercopy just generated, valid 179 days. - The agent's private key is stored encrypted on hypercopy's servers. It is the only key hypercopy ever holds for you.
- Every copied order is signed by that agent, with a client order id so no order is ever sent twice.
- On re-activation, a new address is generated and the old one is revoked and deleted.
Separately, you approve a builder fee maximum (0.05%) with a second signature from the master; agents cannot do that. See builder fees explained.
faq
is an api wallet the same as an api key on a centralised exchange?
Similar in spirit, stricter in practice. Cex api keys have permission toggles that can include withdrawals if misconfigured. Hyperliquid agents never can.
can an agent drain my account by trading badly?
It can lose money by placing losing trades, like any trading permission. It cannot move money out. That is why picking the trader you copy matters more than any key question.
does approving an agent cost gas?
No. It is a signed message processed by hyperliquid, not an evm transaction.
where do i see the agent key hypercopy uses?
You do not. Hypercopy never displays it, and you never need it. You see the agent's address and expiry on hyperliquid's api page.
copy hyperliquid's best, from telegram.
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