Copy Trading: How It Works and How to Choose a Provider

What you'll learn

• What copy trading is and where the copied trades sit.
• How proportional copying works in MetaTrader 5, with the numbers.
• The types of copy trading, and how copy trading differs from social trading.
• Which settings you control when you copy.
• A practical checklist for choosing a provider.

What is copy trading?

Copy trading is a service that automatically opens, changes and closes trades on your account whenever another trader, the provider, does the same on theirs. The size of each copied trade is scaled to your account. The trades sit on your account, so their profit or loss is yours, while you keep control of size and limits.

Definitions

• Provider (signal provider): the trader being copied. You are the subscriber.
• Proportional copying: each copied trade is scaled by the ratio between the two accounts.
• Slippage: the gap between the price you expected and the price you got, explained in the news, gaps and slippage lesson.

Unlike an Expert Advisor, which follows coded rules, a copied signal follows a person whose rules you cannot see.

What are the types of copy trading?

There are three types of copy trading: automatic, where every provider trade is copied to your account straight away; semi-automatic, where you get each trade as an alert and approve it; and manual, where you read the provider's posted trades and place them yourself. MetaTrader 5 Signals is automatic.

Mirror trading is a related form in which a preset strategy, rather than a person, is copied. Automatic copying keeps your fills closest to the provider's, while manual copying gives you the most control and the most slippage, because each trade reaches you later.

How does copy trading differ from social trading?

Copy trading places another trader's trades on your account automatically, while social trading is sharing ideas, charts and results in a community where you decide whether to act. Social trading informs your decisions; copy trading hands the trade decisions to the provider, while you keep control of size and limits.

Many traders use both: they learn from what others share, then copy a provider whose record they have checked, or trade their own plan.

How does a copy trading platform work in MetaTrader 5?

In MetaTrader 5, copy trading runs through the Signals service: you subscribe to a provider, choose your copy settings, and the platform places scaled versions of the provider's trades on your account. According to the MetaTrader 5 help on subscribing to signals, the volume is multiplied by the ratio of the subscriber's and provider's balances.

The main settings:

1. Use no more than X% of deposit: the share of your deposit used for copying. At 50%, copied volumes are halved.
2. Deviation (slippage): how far, measured in spreads, the fill price may move from the requested price before the order is refused.
3. Copy Stop Loss and Take Profit: places the provider's stop and target levels on your account too.
4. Stop if equity is less than: if your equity falls below this level, copying stops and all copied positions are closed.

The help adds that your account "must always be on and connected to the server", which is why some subscribers use a VPS (see the forex VPS lesson), and strongly recommends not trading manually on it. If your leverage is lower than the provider's, copied volumes shrink in proportion.

What do you still control when you copy trades?

When you copy trades, you control whether you copy, how much of your deposit is used and where copying stops, but you do not control what the provider trades or when. Your settings set the size and limits of your copying, while the provider decides every trade. The table separates the two.

How do you calculate a copied position size?

Copied volume = provider's volume × (your balance ÷ provider's balance) × the share of deposit you allow. A $1,000 account copying a $10,000 provider at 100% opens one tenth of each trade. Profits and losses scale the same way, and costs and slippage come on top.

Step 1: scale the volume. The provider has $10,000 and opens 1.00 lot of the EURUSD currency pair. You have $1,000 at 100%: 1.00 × ($1,000 ÷ $10,000) = 0.10 lot. At 50% it would be 0.05 lot.

Step 2: scale the loss. The provider suffers a 30% drawdown, a $3,000 fall from the account's peak. Your scaled share is about $300, also 30%.

Step 3: add slippage. Suppose your fills average 2 pips worse than the provider's. At 0.10 lot a pip is worth about $1 (check other sizes with the pip value calculator), so 50 trades cost 2 × $1 × 50 = $100. Your fall is now about $400, or 40%, against the provider's 30%.

Step 4: add fees. Signals can carry a monthly fee. A $30 monthly fee is $360 a year, 36% of a $1,000 account.

Step 5: check the volume step. A $200 account copies 0.02 lot. A $150 account works out to 0.015 lot, which a symbol with a 0.01 step cannot open, so it must be adjusted: 0.02 lot carries a third more risk than intended, 0.01 a third less. The Journal tab shows the calculation. See our guide to forex lot sizes.

How do you check a copy trading provider?

To check a provider, read the risk figures before the growth figure: account type, length of history, maximal drawdown, drawdown by equity and deposit load. The MetaTrader 5 help on choosing a signal defines each field and advises care with signals that have little history.

Drawdown is the fall from an account's highest point to the lowest point after it, as a percentage of that peak; it is defined formally in Module 15's lesson on performance metrics. Deposit load is Margin ÷ Equity × 100, the share of the account tied up as margin (see the leverage and margin lesson).

1. Growth is the headline most people read.
2. A fell 62% from a peak: to recover, the remaining 38% must grow 62 ÷ 38 = 163.2%. B's 11% fall needs 11 ÷ 89 = 12.4%.
3. A's 480% deposit load means margin of almost five times equity.
4. A has 8 weeks of demo history. The help notes a provider "can afford much greater risks on a demo account".

A provider selection checklist:

Why can your results differ from the provider's?

Your results differ from the provider's because your balance, leverage, fills, fees and connection differ, and you narrow the gap by matching settings, keeping the platform online and reviewing the provider regularly. A provider can also change style or stop trading, so check their statistics on a schedule, not only when you subscribe.

• Survivorship: signal lists show providers still running, not those who stopped, so compare length of history as well as growth.
• Different conditions: your balance, leverage and fills differ, and the help notes that different brokers can provide different execution conditions. Set Deviation to the slippage you accept.
• Connection: if your platform is offline, trades can be missed, so keep it running or use a VPS.
• Provider changes: set Stop if equity is less than, so copying ends automatically at a level you chose.

Try it on demo

In MetaTrader 5 on a demo account, open the Signals tab and sort the list by growth. For the top three, note the account type, weeks, maximal drawdown and deposit load, and see how the ranking changes.

This lesson is part of the Trading Automation module.

Does copy trading work?

Yes, mechanically: the platform places the provider's trades on your account, scaled to your balance. Your results track the provider's, adjusted by your fills, fees and lot rounding, so the provider and settings you choose drive the outcome.

Do I need experience to copy trade?

No trading experience is needed to place copied trades, because the platform places them for you. You do need to read a provider's drawdown, leverage and deposit load, and to set your deposit share and equity stop, so learn those first and practise the subscription on demo.

Can you stop copy trading at any time?

Yes, you can unsubscribe at any time, but in MetaTrader 5 that does not close open copied positions. The MetaTrader 5 help says you must manage them yourself.

What is the minimum to start copy trading?

The arithmetic sets the floor: your scaled volume must reach the symbol's minimum, often 0.01 lot. Minimum balance = provider's balance × 0.01 ÷ provider's smallest trade, so a $10,000 provider whose smallest trade is 0.10 lot needs $10,000 × 0.01 ÷ 0.10 = $1,000. Any monthly fee should also stay a small share of the account.

• MetaQuotes, MetaTrader 5 Help: How to Subscribe to a Signal, accessed 19 October 2026: copied volume is multiplied by the ratio of subscriber and provider balances; the deposit share, deviation, Stop Loss and Take Profit copying and equity limit settings; the account must stay connected; lower subscriber leverage reduces volume; manual trading not recommended while subscribed; different brokers can provide different execution conditions; calculations shown in the Journal; copied positions are not closed when a subscription is cancelled. https://www.metatrader5.com/en/terminal/help/signals/signal_subscriber
• MetaQuotes, MetaTrader 5 Help: How to Choose a Signal, accessed 19 October 2026: definitions of maximal drawdown, drawdown by equity, deposit load (Margin/Equity×100), growth, weeks and subscribers; monthly subscription fee in USD; care advised with young signals; a provider can take greater risks on a demo account. https://www.metatrader5.com/en/terminal/help/signals/signal_monitoring