Read-Only API Keys for Bybit Deposit Monitoring

If you want a notification or a dashboard that tells you when funds arrive in your Bybit account, an API key can do that job without you logging in constantly. The problem is that most permission screens are built for traders, not for people who only want to watch a balance. Grant one box too many and a monitoring tool suddenly has the ability to move funds. This guide walks through the safe pattern: create a key whose only job is reading deposit and balance data, bind it to your own infrastructure, and treat it as a credential that expires the moment you stop needing it. Everything below is about permissions and process, not about trading. Confirm the exact wording of each option in the account settings and the help centre before you tick anything, because labels and layouts change and only the official pages are authoritative.

Decide what your monitor actually needs to read

Start by writing down the single question your monitor must answer, for example whether a specific deposit has landed and how much arrived. That question needs read access to wallet and deposit history, and nothing else. Write the answer on paper before you open any settings page, because the permission screen is designed to be ticked quickly and it is easy to grant more than your stated goal.

Separate reading from acting. Reading covers balances, deposit records and transaction history. Acting covers placing orders, transferring between accounts, withdrawing, and managing sub-accounts or internal transfers. A deposit monitor belongs entirely in the first group. If a tutorial or a tool asks for anything in the second group to send you a notification, that tool is doing more than monitoring and you should not connect it.

Decide where the key will live before you create it. A key pasted into a chat message, a screenshot or a public notebook is already compromised. Plan for it to sit in a password manager or an environment file on a machine you control, and plan who else, if anyone, can read that file.

Create the key with the narrowest scope available

Open the API management area of your account settings and start a new key. Give it a name that states its purpose and its owner, such as deposit-watch-home-server, so that a future you can identify it instantly in a list. Never reuse a name across keys, because an ambiguous list is how old keys survive unnoticed.

When the permission options appear, enable only read permissions. Bybit separates read-only access from trade and transfer permissions, and the help centre explains what each category covers. Leave trade, transfer, withdrawal and any sub-account management option disabled. If the screen offers an IP restriction or a bind-to-address field, use it: enter the fixed address of the machine that will run the monitor. If your home connection has a dynamic address, either move the monitor to a host with a stable address or accept that you will need to update the binding when it changes, and note that maintenance cost now rather than discovering it later.

Complete whatever confirmation step the platform requires, such as a code from your authenticator app or an email confirmation. Store the key and secret in your password manager immediately, in the same entry as the key name, the date, and the permissions you selected. If the secret is shown only once, that entry is now the only copy you control.

Connect the monitor and verify what it can and cannot do

Point your monitor at the read endpoints you identified in step one. On first run, check the response against something you already know: compare the balance it reports with the balance shown in the interface, and compare a recent deposit it lists with the deposit record in your account. If the numbers disagree, stop and fix the query before you trust any alert it sends.

Then test the boundary deliberately. Attempt an action the key should not be able to perform, such as a transfer or an order, and confirm that the platform refuses it. A refusal is the result you want, and it proves the permission set is as narrow as you intended. Record the date and the outcome in your notes. Repeat this check whenever you edit the key, because permissions can be widened by accident during an edit.

Set the monitor to alert you on arrival events and on failures, not on every poll. A monitor that pings you constantly gets muted, and a muted monitor is worse than none. Also decide a stop condition in advance: if the key stops working, if the machine running it is rebuilt, or if you stop caring about the alerts, revoke the key that day instead of leaving it dormant.

Review, rotate and retire the key on a schedule

Put a recurring reminder in your calendar, monthly or quarterly, to open the API list and read it line by line. For each key, check the name, the permissions, the IP binding, the last-used information if the platform shows it, and whether the service behind it still exists. Delete anything you cannot explain in one sentence. This single habit prevents most long-lived credential problems.

Rotate on events, not only on dates. Create a replacement key, move the monitor over, confirm the new key works and the old one is refused, then revoke the old key. Do this after any change of hosting provider, after anyone with access to the machine leaves, and after any suspicion that the secret was exposed. If a secret is exposed, revoke first and investigate second, because the credential is the risk.

Keep a short written log for each key: purpose, creation date, permission set, where the secret is stored, and the date it was last reviewed or revoked. When you no longer need deposit monitoring, revoke the key even if it is read-only. A read-only key still reveals your balances and transaction history to anyone who obtains it, and unused credentials are the easiest ones to forget.

Finally, use the help centre and the account settings pages as your reference for permission names and revocation steps, and keep your own notes about what you observed, since you are the only person who can confirm what your monitor is doing with your data.

Risk boundary: Bybit Deposit Guide

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Scenario checkpoint

• Write down the exact question the monitor must answer before creating any key.
• Enable read-only permissions and leave trade, transfer, withdrawal and sub-account options disabled.
• Bind the key to a fixed IP address where the monitor runs.
• Confirm the key is refused when it attempts a transfer or an order.
• Store the key and secret in a password manager with the creation date and permission set.
• Schedule a monthly review and revoke the key when monitoring is no longer needed.