Non-custodial means zengtrade never takes possession of user funds. Paper trading involves no real money at all; if live execution is ever armed for an eligible strategy (see three-key safety), orders are placed directly through the user's own exchange account via their own API keys, scoped to trading only, never withdrawal, rather than funds being deposited into a platform-controlled wallet.
This is structurally different from custodial platforms, where users deposit funds into the platform's own accounts and trust the platform to manage withdrawals correctly and keep those pooled funds secure. That's a model with a much larger blast radius if the platform itself is compromised or mismanaged.
The practical implication for users: connect an exchange API key with trade permissions only (never withdrawal-enabled), and funds never leave the user's own exchange account under zengtrade's control at any point.
Educational content, not investment advice. zengtrade is paper-first and non-custodial.