SnapTrade 101: How a Read-Only Brokerage Connection Powers a Verified Record

What SnapTrade is, and how PickVesting uses it

SnapTrade is a brokerage connectivity layer that apps use to link to brokerage accounts, and on PickVesting it is used in one narrow way: read-only verification. When you connect a brokerage, you are not handing PickVesting your trading account. You are authorising a read-only link, made through SnapTrade, that lets PickVesting read your holdings and trade history and nothing more.

That distinction is the whole point of the product. PickVesting is a marketplace of brokerage-verified track records, which means every number on a profile is computed from a real account, not typed into a form and not cropped from a screenshot. SnapTrade is the pipe that makes that possible without ever exposing your login.

This post walks through what the connection can and cannot do, which brokers work today, what actually happens from the moment you link, and how to think about privacy and troubleshooting. If you want the deeper security angle, read Is Read-Only Brokerage Linking Safe? What PickVesting Can and Cannot See.

Read-only versus trade-enabled: PickVesting is read-only

A read-only connection can read history and holdings and that is all. Brokerage connections can in general be scoped for different things, but PickVesting's use is deliberately limited to reading.

Here is what read-only use means in practice:

• It can read your closed and open positions, your fills, and your account history.
• It cannot place trades, move money, or change any settings on your account.
• It never sees or stores your brokerage password, because you sign in on your broker's own screen.

The connection secret that keeps the link alive is sealed with AES-256-GCM before it is stored. There is no execution path, no withdrawal path, and no settings path. The link is a window, not a steering wheel.

Which brokers work, without claiming all of them

A range of brokers connect read-only through SnapTrade, and the home page lists examples rather than a complete map. The point is breadth, not a promise that every broker on earth is covered.

Examples currently shown include:

• Robinhood
• Charles Schwab
• Fidelity
• E*TRADE
• Interactive Brokers
• Webull
• tastytrade
• Public
• Vanguard
• TradeStation
• Alpaca
• Wealthsimple
• Questrade

And more, read-only via SnapTrade. If your broker is not on this list, that does not mean it is unsupported, only that it is not one of the named examples. You can see how verified records look on Discover to get a feel for what a published profile contains before you link anything.

End to end: link, fills become the record, nightly metrics, public URL

The flow from connecting to publishing is short, and every step is driven by your actual account rather than your claims about it.

1. Link. You open the PickVesting flow, choose your broker, and sign in on your broker's own screen. PickVesting never touches your password. The read-only connection is established through SnapTrade.
2. Fills become the record. The record covers the whole linked account: every position, stocks, options and crypto, including option contracts that expired worthless. Nothing is cherry-picked. Entry prices come from brokerage fills, not from a text box.
3. Nightly metrics. Metrics are computed nightly from closed positions: time-weighted return, win rate, and max drawdown, each over 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, and all time. A figure never appears alone. Every return is shown with how long the record has been verified and how many closed positions it covers. For the math behind those numbers, see How PickVesting Calculates Return, Win Rate, and Max Drawdown.
4. Public URL. The result is a verified record you can publish and share. Verification is free, permanently, so you can link a brokerage and publish a record URL without paying anything.

The record is a nightly append-only log. Snapshots are only ever added, never rewritten. A correction is a new row, not an edit to an old one. That is why the record cannot be quietly groomed, and it is the subject of Can a Trader Delete Losing Trades From a Verified Track Record?.

Every profile also states how many brokerage accounts are linked, so an account you choose not to link is a visible absence rather than a secret.

The privacy mental model: your login stays with the broker

The simplest way to hold this in your head: you log in on the broker's screen, and you can revoke at any time. PickVesting is a reader standing on the far side of a one-way window.

• Your brokerage password is entered on your broker's own page. PickVesting never sees or stores it.
• The connection can read history and holdings. It cannot trade, move money, or change settings.
• You can revoke the connection whenever you want, from the PickVesting app or from your broker directly.

Revoking does not erase your history. If you disconnect, the record keeps everything up to that day and then shows a gap after it. Disconnecting is visible, not a delete button. That is deliberate, because a record that could be wiped on a bad week would not be proof of anything.

Troubleshooting: re-authenticate if a connection lapses

If a connection lapses, the fix is usually to re-authenticate, and the record flags the gap honestly while it is down. Brokerage sessions can time out or require a fresh sign-in, which is normal. When that happens, you reconnect on your broker's screen and the nightly record resumes appending.

This is where seals come in. On an idea:

• A green seal means a live brokerage link currently vouches for the position behind the idea.
• A yellow seal means a demo account, test data, or a lapsed connection. The line next to the seal says which.

So a yellow seal is not an accusation. It is a status. If it says the connection lapsed, re-authenticate and it returns to green. If it says demo or test data, that is simply what the link is pointing at. Either way, a reader always sees the current state rather than a stale badge.

For how all of this fits into building and monetising an audience, read How Trading Creators Prove Their Record and Monetise an Audience. You keep posting on X, YouTube, Discord and Whop, and link the record from there.

What this still does not prove

A verified record proves what happened in the linked accounts. It says nothing about accounts you did not link, and that is why the linked-account count sits on every profile.

It also does not know your suitability, your position size, or your taxes. It does not predict the next trade or future results, and it does not vouch for the quality of advice in any chat room. A follower's fill price differs from a creator's, and PickVesting does not place trades for anyone and does not offer copy trading. The record is evidence of a track record. It is not a recommendation to follow it.

Connect read-only and publish

If you want proof instead of screenshots, link a brokerage and publish a verified record through the read-only PickVesting flow. You sign in on your broker's screen, the connection stays read-only, and your fills start building a nightly, append-only record you can share at a public URL.

PickVesting is not an investment adviser and does not provide personalised investment advice. Past performance is not a prediction of future results.