Bybit has
opened a dedicated account type that lets AI trading bots operate inside a
walled-off space, separate from a client’s main funds. The crypto exchange is
pitching the feature, which it calls the AI Subaccount, at developers and
traders across the Middle East and North Africa.
The launch
lands in the middle of a fast-moving shift. Over the first half of 2026, at
least ten retail brokers and platform vendors wired AI agents into live client
accounts, according
to a FM Intelligence study, most of them running on the same open plumbing.
Bybit’s move pulls a crypto exchange into that group.
According
to the company, the AI Subaccount confines all bot activity to the segregated
account, with no access to the main account or other subaccounts.
Access runs
through an API-only layer, and clients can set leverage caps, maximum
allocation and withdrawal limits. The exchange says users keep read-only
oversight of the bots in real time.
Bybit
describes the setup as a new standard for risk control in what it calls agentic
trading. That claim sits against a market where several brokers built
near-identical guardrails months earlier.
The pattern
Bybit is joining took shape fast. Interactive Brokers connected Claude
to its customer accounts on June 1, routing every agent-generated order into a review tab a
human has to approve.
Days
earlier, Robinhood opened ring-fenced agent
accounts to its
funded customers, keeping the bot activity walled inside a dedicated
sub-account.
Others land
in between. eToro hands an AI agent a funded
sub-account
starting at $200, letting clients delegate trades while the platform caps what
the agent can reach.
Platform
vendors are in too. Spotware opened the cTrader platform
to AI agents
through a pair of Model Context Protocol servers that let third-party tools
place trades in plain language.
Most of
these run on the same rail, the Model Context Protocol, an open standard
Anthropic released in late 2024 that lets a platform expose its trading API
once and accept whichever model a client plugs in.
The
FM Intelligence study named Anthropic’s Claude in nine of the ten launches
it tracked.
A Security Model the
Brokers Already Built
Bybit’s
core pitch, that an agent can trade but never touch deposits or withdrawals, is
already familiar across the wave.
When ThinkMarkets launched its own MCP
server, co-founder
Nauman Anees drew the same line, saying the AI “cannot access traders’
funds or make deposits or withdrawals,” but it can place orders.
Crypto
venues have been inching the same way. Bitrue said it would let users hand
crypto portfolios to AI models including GPT-5 in late 2025, with clients picking which model manages
their money and how much to allocate.
The data
side moved first. Crypto.com began piping real-time
market data straight into models like Claude and ChatGPT, positioning itself as a supplier to the agents
rather than a host for them.
Bybit Pushes Further Onto
the Brokers’ Turf
The AI
account fits a wider Bybit push into territory once held by retail brokers. The
exchange recently scrapped commissions and swap fees
on stock CFDs
across more than 380 instruments, and it has rolled out 24/5 stock CFD trading on names such as Apple and Tesla.
The MENA
framing is not incidental. Bybit holds a full crypto licence in the United Arab
Emirates and has leaned on the region for growth, including direct AED bank transfers through a payments tie-up.
Derek Dai
Derek Dai,
the exchange’s regional head for MENA, said the region “is not just
participating in the AI revolution; it is actively shaping it.” Bybit is
betting that local appetite for automation will carry the product.
That push
runs alongside regulatory friction elsewhere. Singapore’s central bank this
month added Bybit to its investor alert
list, next to
Binance and KuCoin, and the exchange pulled back from onboarding new users in
Japan last year.
No Rulebook for the Bots
Yet
For all the
security language, the rules around AI agents trading retail accounts remain
thin. No regulator has written a framework aimed specifically at the practice.
The FCA’s first horizon scan flagged AI as a shift it is watching, but
supervisors including the SEC and ESMA have so far leaned on existing rules
rather than new ones.
That leaves
open questions the marketing does not answer, namely who is liable when an
agent misfires, and whether automated strategies are suitable for the retail
clients being invited to run them. For an exchange that lost about $1.5 billion
in a 2025 cold-wallet breach, the security framing carries extra
weight.
Whether
walled accounts and read-only oversight are enough will be tested as bots, not
people, place more of the orders. For now, Bybit is wagering that being early
with a crypto-native version beats waiting for the rulebook.
Bybit has
opened a dedicated account type that lets AI trading bots operate inside a
walled-off space, separate from a client’s main funds. The crypto exchange is
pitching the feature, which it calls the AI Subaccount, at developers and
traders across the Middle East and North Africa.
The launch
lands in the middle of a fast-moving shift. Over the first half of 2026, at
least ten retail brokers and platform vendors wired AI agents into live client
accounts, according
to a FM Intelligence study, most of them running on the same open plumbing.
Bybit’s move pulls a crypto exchange into that group.
According
to the company, the AI Subaccount confines all bot activity to the segregated
account, with no access to the main account or other subaccounts.
Access runs
through an API-only layer, and clients can set leverage caps, maximum
allocation and withdrawal limits. The exchange says users keep read-only
oversight of the bots in real time.
Bybit
describes the setup as a new standard for risk control in what it calls agentic
trading. That claim sits against a market where several brokers built
near-identical guardrails months earlier.
The pattern
Bybit is joining took shape fast. Interactive Brokers connected Claude
to its customer accounts on June 1, routing every agent-generated order into a review tab a
human has to approve.
Days
earlier, Robinhood opened ring-fenced agent
accounts to its
funded customers, keeping the bot activity walled inside a dedicated
sub-account.
Others land
in between. eToro hands an AI agent a funded
sub-account
starting at $200, letting clients delegate trades while the platform caps what
the agent can reach.
Platform
vendors are in too. Spotware opened the cTrader platform
to AI agents
through a pair of Model Context Protocol servers that let third-party tools
place trades in plain language.
Most of
these run on the same rail, the Model Context Protocol, an open standard
Anthropic released in late 2024 that lets a platform expose its trading API
once and accept whichever model a client plugs in.
The
FM Intelligence study named Anthropic’s Claude in nine of the ten launches
it tracked.
A Security Model the
Brokers Already Built
Bybit’s
core pitch, that an agent can trade but never touch deposits or withdrawals, is
already familiar across the wave.
When ThinkMarkets launched its own MCP
server, co-founder
Nauman Anees drew the same line, saying the AI “cannot access traders’
funds or make deposits or withdrawals,” but it can place orders.
Crypto
venues have been inching the same way. Bitrue said it would let users hand
crypto portfolios to AI models including GPT-5 in late 2025, with clients picking which model manages
their money and how much to allocate.
The data
side moved first. Crypto.com began piping real-time
market data straight into models like Claude and ChatGPT, positioning itself as a supplier to the agents
rather than a host for them.
Bybit Pushes Further Onto
the Brokers’ Turf
The AI
account fits a wider Bybit push into territory once held by retail brokers. The
exchange recently scrapped commissions and swap fees
on stock CFDs
across more than 380 instruments, and it has rolled out 24/5 stock CFD trading on names such as Apple and Tesla.
The MENA
framing is not incidental. Bybit holds a full crypto licence in the United Arab
Emirates and has leaned on the region for growth, including direct AED bank transfers through a payments tie-up.
Derek Dai
Derek Dai,
the exchange’s regional head for MENA, said the region “is not just
participating in the AI revolution; it is actively shaping it.” Bybit is
betting that local appetite for automation will carry the product.
That push
runs alongside regulatory friction elsewhere. Singapore’s central bank this
month added Bybit to its investor alert
list, next to
Binance and KuCoin, and the exchange pulled back from onboarding new users in
Japan last year.
No Rulebook for the Bots
Yet
For all the
security language, the rules around AI agents trading retail accounts remain
thin. No regulator has written a framework aimed specifically at the practice.
The FCA’s first horizon scan flagged AI as a shift it is watching, but
supervisors including the SEC and ESMA have so far leaned on existing rules
rather than new ones.
That leaves
open questions the marketing does not answer, namely who is liable when an
agent misfires, and whether automated strategies are suitable for the retail
clients being invited to run them. For an exchange that lost about $1.5 billion
in a 2025 cold-wallet breach, the security framing carries extra
weight.
Whether
walled accounts and read-only oversight are enough will be tested as bots, not
people, place more of the orders. For now, Bybit is wagering that being early
with a crypto-native version beats waiting for the rulebook.