Invest in strategies¶

Once you are logged in with your cTrader ID and you have created a demo or live account, you can start copying strategies as an investor.

Demo accounts deal with virtual funds only, but you can still use them for copying live strategies (if allowed by the strategy provider). Live accounts deal with real funds but can still be used for copying demo strategies.

Usually, the ability to copy certain types of strategies is regulated by the broker, by providing investors with two types of membership, such as Full membership and Demo membership.

• Investors with Full membership can copy any available strategies.
• Investors with Demo membership can copy only free strategies.

Check your account membership type before you start copying a strategy. The FM and DM icons in the account list under the Copy tab denote Full and Demo membership respectively.

By selecting the three dots icon, you can open the account settings menu and become a strategy provider yourself. The entire flow of the strategy provision and management is explained in this section.

Copy strategies¶

Demo strategies are marked with the blue Demo icon and are always free to copy as they deal with virtual funds only. Live strategies that are marked with the green Live icon can be free as well, however, strategy providers usually charge fees. Before you start copying a live strategy, check the fee information that can be found on the Start copying button.

• P – performance fee in percentage, which applies to the net profit using the HWM model and is paid at the end of each month.
• M – management fee in percentage, which is the annual percentage of the investor's equity calculated daily and paid at the end of each month.
• V – volume fee in USD, which is based on the volume traded while copying the strategy and charged for opening and closing each position.

1. To start copying, select a strategy from the strategy list and tap Start copying.

Alternatively, select a strategy to open its individual page and tap the Start copying button in the strategy summary section.

2. In the Start copying window that will pop up, select your preferred account from the drop-down list and input the amount of funds to invest in the strategy you are planning to copy.

If only one account is linked to your cTrader ID, there will be no alternative options for the account selection. Make sure that the amount of allocated funds is equal to or higher than the minimum investment specified in the Fees and conditions section.

Hover over the information icons to learn more about the fees and conditions fields in the Start copying window. When done, confirm that you agree with the terms and conditions and select the Start copying button.

3. Now, the funds allocated from your account are deposited into a special copy-trading account, this account starts copying the chosen strategy. You can review your investment statistics per strategy on dedicated pages that are available in the accounts list.

The strategies list can be filtered according to a strategy status. By selecting the cog icon, you can set up what strategies will be displayed. Upon selecting a strategy from the list, you will access the strategy statistics (how your account has performed copying this strategy).

The Started copying status in the Investment stats section of your copied strategy page indicates that the strategy is being copied. In the accounts list, strategies with an active copying status are marked with a green indicator. If you stop copying, the strategy status will change to Stopped and the indicator will turn orange.

Manage copy-trading account¶

When copying a strategy, you can manage the corresponding copy-trading account. It is possible to add and remove funds, set equity stop loss or just stop copying.

To open all available options, select the three dots icon to the right of the corresponding strategy in the list.

Alternatively, open the drop-down list with available actions on the investment statistics page of a specific strategy.

Add Funds¶

While copying a strategy, you can add funds to the corresponding copy-trading account at any time.

1. To add funds to a copy-trading account, select the Add funds button (shown where to locate it above).

2. In the Add funds window, specify the amount of funds to be added to the copy-trading account from the account you originally chose for copying this strategy.

You can type in the desired amount or use toggles. Check the total available amount of funds in your account, the added amount cannot exceed it.

Tap Add funds to complete this action. The equity amount will be automatically updated in the copy-trading account preview.

Remove funds¶

While copying, your invested funds can be withdrawn from a copy-trading account at any time.

1. To withdraw funds from the copy-trading account to the parent account, select Remove funds.

2. In the Remove funds window, specify the amount of funds you would like to withdraw from the copy-trading account. The funds you are removing will be transferred back to the account they were originally allocated from. Check the available amount of funds for removing, as you cannot withdraw more than this amount.

To withdraw all the available funds, select the All available funds icon.

Also, when you remove funds from a copy-trading account, a certain amount of unrealised performance and management fees can be realised proportionally to the withdrawn amount. This amount of fees will be automatically calculated and displayed at the bottom of the Remove funds window before you submit your funds removal.

Select Remove funds to complete this action. The equity amount will be automatically updated in the copy-trading account preview.

Set equity stop loss¶

The equity stop loss for a copy-trading account can be set at any time while copying. This functionality allows investors to limit losses when copying strategies.

Once the equity drops below the specified level, the copying is stopped and all the opened positions copied from the strategy are closed automatically.

1. To set equity stop loss, select Set equity stop loss in the strategy settings menu.

2. In the Set equity stop loss window, specify the needed equity stop-loss level. After the copying is stopped, all the funds of the copying account will be automatically transferred to the parent account. You can input the value manually, use toggles or use the slider.

Select OK to confirm your action.

To modify the equity stop-loss level, select the same button and adjust your settings in the Set equity stop loss window.

Stop copying¶

An investor can stop copying a strategy at any time.

1. To stop copying, select Stop copying in the strategy settings menu or in the drop-down list to the right of the Add funds button.

2. The Stop copying window will display the approximate amount of unrealised performance and management fees that will be charged to you once you stop copying the strategy.

Select Stop copying to confirm your action.

The strategy that is not being copied is marked with an orange indicator.

Sometimes, when you stop copying a strategy, the market can be closed for some of the copied positions. In this case, the copy-trading account will obtain the Stopping status and will be marked with a grey indicator. Once the market is opened, the open positions are closed, and the fees are charged, the status will change to Stopped automatically.

Restart copying¶

An investor can restart copying a strategy at any time as long as it is still provided for copying and there are sufficient funds to invest. If the copying is stopped, the Restart copying buttons will headline both the account settings menu and the investment statistics controls.

After selecting Restart copying, you will have to specify your invested volume again.

If the balance of your copy-trading account is lower than the minimum investment of the strategy, you will not be able to restart copying until you deposit funds.

Open strategy page¶

If you need to access the individual page of a strategy with its all time performance, select Open strategy page, in the account settings menu or in the dropdown menu of the Investment stats section.

Email statements¶

After selecting the Email statements option in the account settings menu or in the drop-down menu of the Investment stats section, you will start receiving email statements that will keep you updated about the latest status of your strategy.

Investment profile¶

The Investment stats section serves as an investment profile and offers detailed information about the trading activity of the account copying a specific strategy. select a strategy in the accounts list under the expandable Copy tab.

The Investment stats section provides the following information:

• Type of the copying account (live or demo)
• Name of the strategy being copied by the account (able to expand the all time strategy statistics)
• All time ROI for the copy-trading account
• Current equity of the copy-trading account
• Equity stop-loss level set for this copy-trading account
• Copying status (started, stopped, stopping or close only):
  • Started – the copying process is on.
  • Stopped – the copying process is off.
  • Stopping – the copying process is being stopped. Once the open positions are closed and fees are charged, the status will change to Stopped
  • Close only – new positions are not being copied, only closing positions are copied. It is only possible due to specific broker conditions. In case you see this status, you should contact your broker for assistance.

Charts¶

Further, the investment profile of the strategy you are copying contains a selection of charts for fast and convenient tracking of the trading dynamics while copying.

Scroll down the profile page to view them all. The following charts are available below: ROI (%), equity, ROI (monthly), performance and volume breakdown. Hover the cursor over these charts to view the exact information at the required point.

ROI (%)¶

The ROI (%) chart displays the time on the X-axis and the profit in percentage on the Y-axis. The chart allows for tracking the percentage of income while copying the strategy compared to the balance from the beginning of copying.

In the upper left corner, you can select a period from one week up to all the time. The ROI chart is updated daily.

Check the ROI calculation section to learn more about how ROI is calculated in cTrader Copy.

Equity¶

The Equity chart plots the time on the X-axis and the cash value on the Y-axis. This chart depicts the changes in the copy-trading account equity regarding the account balance over the chosen period.

ROI (monthly)¶

The ROI (monthly) chart displays the return on investment the copied strategy has generated per month since the investor started copying it.

Performance¶

The Performance chart displays the correlation between the winning and losing trades of the strategy. Use the time toggles to display the desired period. Hover over the chart to see the exact number of trades and their percentage.

Volume breakdown¶

The Volume breakdown pie chart displays the symbols that were traded, their respective volumes, and the percentage of the total volume traded on this symbol.

Details¶

The copied strategy details are displayed in the Details section of the investment profile.

Here you can find the exact date and time when you started copying the strategy, the strategy currency and leverage and the copying conditions.

The Conditions section contains the required minimum investment amount and the fees the investor will be charged for copying.

• Minimum investment – the minimum amount of funds required to be allocated from a trading account to a copy-trading account to start copying the strategy. The funds cannot be withdrawn from a copy-trading account if it results in equity falling below the minimum investment while the strategy is being copied.
• Performance fee – the amount charged for copying the strategy on net profit made using the HWM model.
• Management fee – the amount that a strategy provider charges investors for managing their funds.
• Volume fee – the amount an investor is charged per one million of the volume copied.

You can read more about how fees are calculated in cTrader Copy here.

Tables¶

The investor's positions, history, transactions, and other trading statistics are displayed in the tables with configurable columns.

You can drag and drop the column headings to adjust their sequence. Right-click on a column heading to enable or disable the columns to be shown.

Positions¶

In the Positions table, the investor's current open positions are listed.

This is a standard configurable table for positions in cTrader Copy without an additional Unrealised volume fee column.

This column displays the amount of the volume fee to be charged by a strategy provider when closing the position. To enable the Unrealised volume fee column, right-click on any column heading in the chart and check Unr. volume fee in the drop-down list.

History¶

The History table lists all the deals that have filled or attempted to fill the orders while copying the strategy.

This is a standard History table in cTrader Copy without an additional Volume fee column. This column displays the amount of volume fee charged by a strategy provider. To enable the Volume fee column, right-click on any column heading in the table and check Volume fee in the dropdown menu.

Transactions¶

The Transactions tab contains details of all the copy-trading account deposits and withdrawals, as well as of the fees charged, with the following details:

• ID – the transaction unique ID
• Time – the exact time of the transaction
• Type – the type of the transaction (withdrawal or deposit)
• Amount – the amount of the transaction
• Note – the detailed explanation of the transaction (a deposit from an account, a fee, etc.)

Trades¶

All the copied trades statistics are listed in the Trades table. The trades information can be filtered by the standard period from one day to all time, or by a custom period you specify.

In the chart, you can find the following trades statistics with the division into all trades, long trades and short trades:

• Net profit – the net realised profit and loss of all the copied trades.
• Profit factor – the ratio of the total net profit divided by the total net loss.
• Commission – the total amount of commission paid to the broker.
• Max balance drawdown – the maximum amount of balance drawdown based on the end-of-day balance.
• Total trades – the total number of trades taken.
• Winning trades – the total number of the winning trades.
• Largest winning trade – the closing deal with the largest positive result.
• Losing trades – the total number of the losing trades.
• Largest losing trade – the closing deal with the largest negative result.
• Average trade – the average profit for all trades.
• Total pips won – the total number of pips won minus the pips lost by the investor.
• Average pips won per trade – the total pips divided by the number of trades.
• Average trade duration – the total period that the account had an open trade divided by the number of trades.
• USD volume traded – the total amount traded in USD.

Symbols¶

The Symbols tab lists all the symbols a copy-trading account is trading based on the closed positions considering the statistics of trades, pips, net profit and won and lost percentage in the corresponding columns.

You can filter the list of symbols by a standard period from one day to all time, or by a specified custom period.

Performance stats¶

The Performance stats section contains the details on all the trades of the strategy:

• Total trades – the total number of trades.
• Winning trades – the total number and percentage of the winning trades of the strategy.
• Long – the total number and percentage of all the long winning trades.
• Short – the total number and percentage of all the short winning trades.
• Losing trades – the total number and percentage of all the losing trades.
• Long – the total number and percentage of all the long losing trades.
• Short – the total number and percentage of all the short losing trades.

Summary¶

In the Summary section, the basic financial statistics of a copy-trading account is displayed. Here you can review the following:

• Net profit – the total net profit of the copy-trading account.
• Profit factor – the ratio of the total net profit divided by the total net loss.
• Percent profitable – the number of winning trades divided by the total number of trades.
• Max balance drawdown – the maximum amount of balance drawdown.
• Starting balance – the account balance when it started copying the strategy.
• Current balance – the account deposits plus the total realised net profit and loss (with all withdrawals deduced).
• Equity – the account balance plus the unrealised net profit and loss.
• Deposits – the total deposits to the copy-trading account.
• Withdrawals – the total withdrawals from the copy-trading account.
• Margin used – the maximum margin between the sum of all long or all short positions margin used.
• Active since – the time when the copy-trading account was created.