Monitoring, copy trading or account management: know which one you are connecting

"Can I give you access to my account so you can keep an eye on it?" sounds like one request. Technically it can mean three very different things, with different risks for the account owner and different obligations for whoever is on the other side. Before connecting any tool or person to a trading account, it is worth knowing which of the three you are actually being offered.

The three models

What each model can do to your account

	Observation-only monitoring	Copy trading / trade copier	Account management
Direction of data	Out of the terminal only	Into your terminal (orders arrive)	Into your account (someone logs in)
Can open or close trades	No	Yes, automatically	Yes, at the manager's discretion
Credential you hand over	None. The EA sends data with an API key	Usually none; a copier EA or the platform's signal subscription	Master password, or a power of attorney (LPOA/PAMM/MAM)
Worst realistic failure	You miss an alert	You copy a loss, or the copier desynchronises and leaves orphan positions	Losses from decisions you did not make
Prop firm stance (typical)	Allowed: nothing external trades	Often restricted: copying between traders or identical trades across accounts	Generally forbidden: the account must be traded by its holder

Observation-only: the narrowest door

In this model the expert advisor posts a description of its state to an external service: which symbol it watches, its last decision, lot sizes, whether trading is allowed, and a heartbeat. Nothing comes back. There is no route the service could use to place, modify or close an order, so the most it can do is tell you something.

That limitation is the feature. You can give a risk manager, a client or an auditor access to the dashboard without giving anyone access to the account. A breach of the monitoring service exposes telemetry, not the ability to trade. And when the evidence is needed later, a record kept by a system that could not have influenced the trades is more credible than one kept by a system that could.

It is also the only one of the three that never needs a password. If a "monitoring" tool asks for your master password, it is not a monitoring tool.

Copy trading and trade copiers

Copying replicates someone else's orders on your account, either through the platform's built-in signals service or through a copier EA linking two terminals. It is legitimate and widely used, but it changes what you are responsible for: the trades are now placed on your account by software reacting to another account.

Three things deserve attention. Sizing: a copier scales lots by balance or by a fixed ratio, and a mismatch in account currency or leverage produces sizes you did not intend. Latency and desync: if the link drops while a position is open, the close signal may never arrive. Rules: many prop firms restrict copying from other traders, and group accounts that show identical trades under a shared exposure limit, even when each trader thinks they are acting independently.

Monitoring and copying are not alternatives. If you copy, you need monitoring more, not less, because the decisions are no longer yours.

Account management

Here a person or firm trades your money at their discretion, through your password, a limited power of attorney or a PAMM/MAM structure. In most jurisdictions, managing third-party money for compensation is a regulated activity that requires a licence; "just send me your investor login and master password" is not a lighter version of it, it is the same thing without the protections.

If you are considering it: verify the licence with the regulator's public register, never share the master password (a proper arrangement uses a power of attorney the broker administers), and keep an independent record of what is done on the account. This paragraph is general information, not legal advice; the rules differ by country and you should check the ones that apply to you.

Questions that reveal which model you are being sold

1. Does it need any password? Monitoring does not. Investor (read-only) passwords are used by statistics sites; master passwords mean someone can trade.
2. Can it send anything to my terminal? Ask for the list of API routes. A monitoring service should be able to show that every route that could alter trading state is refused.
3. What happens if the service is compromised? The answer should be "telemetry leaks", not "positions can be opened".
4. Who is responsible for a loss? If the answer is vague, assume it is you.
5. Is it allowed under my prop firm's terms? Ask the firm in writing before connecting anything that places orders.

Where Quantisentry sits

Quantisentry is deliberately in the first column. The EA sends telemetry through one MQL5 include and an installation key; the platform validates it, tracks freshness, daily loss and lot audits, and serves read-only dashboards. Routes that could change trading state answer 403 by design and are covered by automated tests, so it is a property of the system rather than a promise. It cannot copy trades and it does not manage accounts, and it never asks for a broker password.