A sub-account is a secondary account linked to a main account for organizing trading activity, balances or access. It lets a user or organization separate operational records while retaining a parent account’s administrative relationship.
Why traders use sub-accounts
A trading team might allocate different strategies to different sub-accounts to track positions and performance separately. Where supported, each can have its own API credentials and permissions. This can help restrict a trading system to the functions and funds assigned to it.
For example, a main account could oversee a discretionary strategy and an automated strategy in separate sub-accounts. Whether transfers, withdrawals, shared collateral or independent login are allowed depends on the provider and account type. Those capabilities cannot be inferred from the name alone.
Separation has limits
Separate balances do not automatically create independent legal entities, insolvency protection or complete isolation of risk. Shared collateral arrangements or broad administrator permissions may connect exposures. A compromised main account can also undermine the intended separation.
Eligibility, account limits, identity verification and fee-tier treatment are platform-specific and can change. A sub-account is an organizational feature, not a way to bypass restrictions or establish self-custody. Its permissions and relationship to the main account matter more than its label.