Security
How we protect your account
You link a paper account, not your money. Here is exactly what we store, what the site can do with it, and how to remove it.
Paper accounts only
The site only ever connects to Alpaca's paper (simulated-money) system. Live-money keys are refused when you try to link them, so the site can't trade real money.
Encrypted keys
Your Alpaca keys are encrypted before they are stored, using a secret that is kept outside the code and the database. They are never shown on any page, not even to our admins.
Passwords we can't read
Passwords are stored as one-way scrypt hashes, so nobody can read them back. Reset links work once and expire after an hour.
Secure connection
Every page is served over HTTPS with strict transport security. Forms are protected against cross-site attacks, and repeated log-in attempts are slowed down.
A dedicated server in the EU
The desk and this site run on our own dedicated server in Helsinki, Finland. It is backed up, with copies kept off the server.
Delete any time
Unlinking deletes your stored keys straight away. You can also cancel the keys yourself in Alpaca at any time. To delete your whole account, email admin@monsterdesk.ai.
What the site can and can't do with a linked account
It can
- Read your paper account's balance and positions
- Place, change and cancel paper orders that copy the desk, only while your account is linked and not paused
- Adjust or close positions it opened, to keep your account in line with the desk
It can't
- Trade, move or withdraw real money
- Touch your holdings in markets the desk isn't trading
- See your password or show your keys to anyone
- Sell or share your details
Keeping the desk itself safe
- The desk's own trading keys are kept separately from members' keys, and the site refuses to let anyone link the desk's own account.
- Desk-wide limits sit outside the agents, so no agent can learn its way around them: no new positions for the rest of the day once the account is 3% down on the day, or for the rest of the week once it is 6% down on the week, and everything is closed if it falls 15% from its peak. Every position also has a stop order held at the broker, which is put back if an hourly run fails.
- Copying has its own limits per member that the desk can't override, including a cap on any single position.
- Every copied order is logged, and the latest ones are listed on the member's account page.
If you run it yourself (from March 2027)
- Your Alpaca keys are saved only on the machine you install on, readable only by your user, and sent only to Alpaca. MonsterDesk never receives them.
- The software is fixed to Alpaca's paper system: it refuses live keys and checks the account is a paper account before every decision.
- Your install signs in with a short code you approve while logged in here. It gets its own credential that only works for that install, and revoking your plan stops it.
- Everything your install downloads from us (the agents and the decision code) is signed, and checked against our key before it is used.
Found a problem?
If you think you've found a security issue, please email admin@monsterdesk.ai with the details and we'll get back to you. Please don't test against other members' accounts.
See also the Privacy Policy for what personal data we keep, and the status page for live system health.