I read that connecting your ledger nano s does not give your private key to ED. Apparently the ledger nano s is configured to make it impossible for any exchange or thing you plug into to obtain access to the private key.
Date: January 7th, 2018 8:32 PM Author: chrome laughsome multi-billionaire
You have to confirm every transaction on the ledger itself so I can't see how anyone could steal your coins short of getting your PIN and passphrase
My concern is not with the Ledger but that if I was ever actually able to buy something on ED that I could have a hard time getting the coins back from the smart contract to the ED wallet without getting the stupid gas fee error again
Yes, you can buy just using MetaMask. This is how I use MM on ED.
Login to MM. Go to ED site. Make transaction. Withdraw coins from ED to MM wallet. Close ED. Then, I simply send the coins I have in my MM wallet to my "top secret" MyEtherWallet.
I don't see how it possible to steal my coins in that situation, unless it is done literally as I'm conducting the transaction. But once it's in my top secret MEW, I think they are 100% secure.