Read-only access lets someone see an account's trades and balance without being able to change anything. They can watch every position, every deposit and every drawdown — and they cannot open a trade, close one, or move a penny. For monitoring, verification and copy-trade auditing, it is exactly the access you want: full visibility, zero control.
What it is
A read-only account is not a separate account; it is a viewing-only way into an existing one. In MetaTrader that is the investor password — a second password that unlocks the account for watching but blocks trading. Other platforms do the same job with read-only API tokens or investor logins. You see everything; you touch nothing.
What you can and can't do
- Can — view open and closed trades, balance, equity, full history, and drawdown.
- Cannot — place, modify or close trades; deposit or withdraw; change any settings.
That single limit is the whole point. Handing over read-only access is safe in a way that handing over the master password never is.
Why it matters
- Verification — a copy trader can prove their record without exposing the account to interference.
- Monitoring — you can watch an EA or a managed account with no way to fat-finger a trade into it.
- Investors — a manager can show live results without giving anyone the keys.
The risk in sharing an account has always been that whoever holds the login can trade it. Read-only access removes that risk entirely while keeping everything a monitor needs to see. Where the access is a token rather than a password, it can usually be revoked or reset on its own, so you can grant a monitor today and withdraw them next month without disturbing the account or changing how it trades.
A worked example
You are weighing up a provider, and they send the MT4 investor password. You log in and see the account holds £12,000, down from a £14,500 peak — a real 17% drawdown they never mentioned in the pitch. You watch for three weeks, see how they size trades and how they sit through losses, and then decide. A screenshot would have shown you the £12,000 and none of the fall behind it; the live read-only view showed both. At no point could you have traded that account. Just as importantly, if that password leaked, no one else could trade it either.
Never accept — or hand over — a master password just to monitor an account. Read-only access shows everything a monitor needs and removes the one risk that matters: someone trading an account that is not theirs to trade.
The Karnek note
Karnek connects using read-only access only — the investor password or an equivalent token — so it can show every trade and drawdown live while being unable to trade by design. It cannot open, close or change a position on any account, because the access it holds does not permit it. That limit is the product, not a setting you switch on.
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Written and reviewed by the Karnek Research team. Last updated August 2026.
Educational content only - not financial advice. Past performance does not predict future results. Trading carries significant risk.