Replicating trades from one account to another, either manually or automatically. Most prop firms prohibit this.
Copy trading is the practice of duplicating trades from a source account to one or more target accounts, either in real time or with minimal delay.
Types of Copy Trading
- Self-copying: Replicating your own trades across multiple accounts you own
- Signal copying: Following another trader's signals automatically
- Trade copier software: Using tools like Local Trade Copier, Duplikium, or custom scripts
Why Most Prop Firms Prohibit It
- Risk concentration: Multiple identical accounts represent outsized risk to the firm
- Gaming evaluations: Traders could run the same strategy on many accounts hoping one passes by luck
- Platform abuse: High volume of identical orders can disrupt execution
- Regulatory concerns: Copy trading across funded accounts raises compliance issues
How Firms Detect It
Prop firms use sophisticated analysis to detect copy trading:
- Trade timing correlation between accounts
- Identical entry/exit prices and sizes
- Same instrument selection and direction
- IP address and device fingerprinting
Consequences
- Account breach and termination
- Forfeiture of all profits
- Permanent ban from the firm
- Some firms share violation data between each other
What IS Allowed
- Trading the same general strategy on different accounts with different timing and entries
- Using the same EA with different parameters per account (at firms that allow EAs)
- Trading different instruments across accounts