Setting up copying: three steps and what sits behind each
The connection wizard has three steps, and each governs its own level of risk: how much money, at what volume and under what conditions to stop.
Step 1. Capital share
A donut chart shows what percentage of the deposit is already taken by other strategies and how much is available for copying. The Allocated share field sets the share of the new subscription — in percent or in currency, by hand or with a slider. The share can be changed at any time, and free funds remain at the user’s disposal.
Step 2. Risk limiting
Here you choose between Smart copying — automatic risk control based on the strategy’s behavior — and manual configuration. Manual mode exposes four parameters, each of which affects trade volume.
- Calculation method
- The way volume is calculated relative to equity. Proportional calculation by equity scales the provider’s trades to the size of your account.
- Minimum lot rounding
- The rule for rounding the minimum lot. Rounding down is safer: on a small deposit, rounding up noticeably increases the real risk per trade.
- Lot multiplier
- A multiplier on the provider’s volume, 1.00x by default. Values above one multiply not only profit but drawdown too.
- Maximum lot per position
- An upper ceiling on the volume of a single position — insurance against an abnormally large provider trade.
Step 3. Position management
- Copy trades in the opposite direction
- Mirror copying: the provider’s trades are reproduced the other way around. Used rarely and deliberately — a losing strategy does not become profitable when reversed, because of the spread and commissions.
- Copy all positions
- Copy every position the provider holds, including ones already open at the moment you subscribe. Entry into an existing position happens at the current price, not the provider’s entry price.
- Close subscription if floating loss exceeds
- Automatic closure of the subscription when floating loss is exceeded, 15% by default. A hard cap on the damage from a single strategy.
- Do not copy positions while provider floating loss is below
- Do not open new positions while the provider is sitting in a floating loss, 5% by default. A filter against connecting at the moment a strategy is already in trouble.
The hidden risk of starting a subscription
The “copy all positions” option looks convenient at first: the subscription immediately mirrors the provider’s portfolio. But open positions are copied at the current market price, not the author’s entry price. If the provider is in profit on a trade, you enter at a worse level and take on the pullback risk without the accumulated cushion of profit.
A more conservative option is to begin copying only from new trades, accepting that the subscription will look less active for the first few days.
Frequently asked questions
Smart copying or manual configuration?
Smart copying is a sensible starting point: it adapts risk control to the strategy’s behavior. Manual mode is justified when there is a specific reason to deviate — for example, you need a hard cap on a single position’s volume, or to scale down for a small deposit.
What floating-loss thresholds should I pick?
The defaults (15% to close the subscription and 5% to pause copying) are a reasonable start. Tune them from the specific strategy’s historical drawdown: a threshold below its usual drawdown will keep closing the subscription on normal working pullbacks.
What is reverse copying for?
Formally — for hedging, or for working with a strategy that is systematically wrong about direction. In practice it is rarely used: spread and commission costs are paid in both directions, so mirror-copying a losing strategy usually does not produce a mirror profit.