Introduction

cTrader Copy is a fully integrated cTrader application and a flexible investment platform that allows for copying trading strategies, as well as providing one’s own strategies for copying by other traders.

It is an easy-to-use reliable solution with a clearly defined fee system and transparent strategies information and history that offers an easy copying mechanism for a better trading experience.

Once a trader is logged in to the cTrader web application with cTrader ID, he can proceed to the Copy section, check the available strategies, compare their history, details, and fees, allocate the funds, and start copying any of them in just two clicks.

All the strategies can be discovered and copied from the cTrader Copy main page without any long-term commitment, and any trader signed in with cTrader ID can invest in a strategy as long as their broker offers cTrader Copy.

While using cTrader Copy, you may encounter these terms:

Strategy - aggregated actions of a trader provided for copying to investors under certain conditions.
Investor - a trader who allocates a certain amount of funds from their trading account for copying a strategy under certain conditions (investing).
Copy-trading account - an account created by allocating a certain amount of funds from a trading account for copying a strategy.
Strategy provider - a social trader who provides their trading strategy for copying by other traders.

cTrader Copy offers a powerful toolkit for partners allowing them to effortlessly share strategies, promote them via different channels, earn investor fees and gain referrals.

General Copying Logic¶

The general logic of the copying mechanism in cTrader Copy is that an investor can allocate their funds to copy a specific trading strategy under specific conditions.

The funds allocated from the investor’s account are moved to a copy-trading account, which is a separate trading account under the same cTID that can be used only for copying the specific strategy.

A strategy provider executes trades from their trading account, and all investors copying the strategy automatically copy all its trades.

Example

If a strategy provider modifies the current open positions on their strategy account (e.g., closes some positions), the same actions will be copied for the investor as well.

Warning

cTrader Copy forbids copying any trades made for symbols representing stocks/shares. While a strategy provider can still place new orders and open new positions for these symbols (e.g., AAPL or TSLA), these trades will not be copied by their investors.

cTrader automatically adjusts the volume of open positions and future trades based on both the provider's and investor's withdrawals or deposits. The equity-to-equity ratio is used as the copying model of cTrader Copy.

Warning

The prices of the strategy provider and the investor may differ due to variations in trading conditions and execution time.

The strategy provider's trades will not be copied by the investor's copy-trading account in the following cases:

There are not enough funds in the investor’s account.
The investor does not have the trading instruments that the strategy provider is operating with.
The investor's leverage is lower than the strategy provider’s leverage, and there is a chance that the investor’s free margin will not be enough to copy all the trades of this strategy.

Equity-to-equity Ratio¶

The copying model of cTrader Copy is based on the equity-to-equity ratio, which means that the volume of a trade that will be copied is defined according to both the strategy provider’s and the investor’s equities.

According to the equity-to-equity copying model, a volume to be copied for trade by a copy-trading account is calculated as follows:

Investor’s Equity / Strategy Provider’s Equity * Strategy Provider’s Volume

Example

The strategy provider's equity at the moment of copying is 4,000 USD, and the investor’s equity is 1,000 USD.

The provider opens 4 lots for trading.

This trade will be copied with the copying volume: 1,000 of the investor’s equity divided by 4,000 of the strategy provider equity and multiplied by 4 lots traded equals 1 lot, or:

1,000 ÷ 4,000 × 4 = 1

Example

An investor is going to copy a strategy with the following parameters:

Own funds: USD 100,000 - the funds on the strategy provider’s trading account. The strategy provider’s own funds can change depending on the provider’s deposits and withdrawals.
Min investment: USD 100.

An investor allocates 1,000 USD and starts copying this strategy. After some trades, the investor decides to stop copying. The copy-trading history will look as follows:

Strategy History	Investor History
USD 1,000,000 → Buy EURUSD Entry 1.12261 - Close 1.12261 (com -0.10) = -0.06 USD 999,999.94	Not copying yet
USD 999,999.94 → Sell EURJPY Entry 121.161 - Close 121.175 (com -9.00) = -20.55 → USD 999,979.39	Starts copying: USD 1,000 → Sell EURJPY Entry 121.161 - Close 121.175 (com -0.06) = -0.19 → USD 999.81
USD 999,979.39 → Buy EURJPY Entry 121.145 - Close 121.175 (com -9.00) = 98.19 → USD 1,000,077.58	USD 999.81 → Buy EURJPY Entry 121.145 - Close 121.175 (com -0.06) = 1.15 → USD 1,000.96
USD 1,000,077.58 → Buy EURJPY Entry 121.268 - Close 121.248 (com -9.00) = -25.50 → USD 1,000,052.08	USD 1,000.96 → Buy EURJPY Entry 121.268 - Close 121.248 (com -0.06) = -0.25 → USD 1,000.71

Deposits and Withdrawals¶

All deposits and withdrawals are taken into account, and the position sizes are kept relative to the amounts that each party has invested.

Warning

Depositing or withdrawing funds by the strategy provider to/from their strategy account with open positions can cause losses for investors' copy-trading accounts. Since equity is recalculated every time the account balance changes, the current open positions and future trades will be adjusted according to the equity-to-equity model.

Investors can add or remove funds to/from their copy-trading accounts at any time while copying strategies. Similarly, this will affect the volume of the copied positions and future trades.

Note

When the copied positions are recalculated due to balance operations (i.e., deposit or withdrawal) on the strategy provider’s or investor’s account, the volume fee will not be charged.

The amount deposited by an investor to a copy-trading account should be equal or higher than the minimum investment requirement when copying is in progress. This means that an investor can only withdraw amounts exceeding the minimum investment while copying a strategy.

If investors want to withdraw all funds including the minimum investment, they should stop copying the strategy and remove all funds. See our guide for investors on how add and remove funds.

Exceptions¶

When you start copying a strategy, all the existing open positions of the strategy will be opened for your copy-trading account with the current market rates, and all the strategy actions will start being copied.

In some cases, the copying mechanism may undergo some exceptions. For example:

In cases when after calculation based on the equity-to-equity ratio the volume of a trade to be executed in a copied strategy is lower than the minimum trading volume allowed by the investor's broker, the trade size will be defined based on the step allowed by the broker.
In cases when the volume of a trade to be executed in a copied strategy is higher than the maximum ticket size allowed by the broker, then no position will be opened.
In cases when the market is closed for a certain symbol trading in a strategy, the position for such a symbol will be opened only when the market is opened.
In case of insufficient margin on your account, the position will not be copied.