Copy Trading Platforms and Brokers 2024

As one of the most hands-off investing strategies, it’s clear why copy trading is popular – but does it work? We’ve created a comprehensive guide to copy trading in 2024. We review the pros and cons, explain how it works and the risks involved. We also share our tips to finding the best platforms and list the best copy trading brokers in the UK.

What Is Copy Trading?

The definition of copy trading, also known as copycat  trading, is simple: an investor selects an experienced trader with proven results who matches their risk profile, and copies their trades.

Trades can either be copied automatically using software from the multiple vendors on the market, or can be placed manually by communities of traders communicating their ‘signals’ via social platforms or forums.

Traders are either ‘Masters’ or ‘Followers’. Followers are essentially ‘making a copy’ of Master trading accounts.

This system requires minimal time and knowledge and could potentially bring hefty profits for those following the correct trader. This makes it great for beginners or those who are time poor. However, there is no upside without risk, meaning investors can experience losses if the Master trader is wrong.

Copy Trading Platforms

There are many copy trading platforms and applications that allow trades to be copied, making it an easy strategy to follow. Investors can choose between third-party software available at multiple providers and exclusive copy trading platforms.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

MT4 is offered by some of the best brokers in the business, including Pepperstone, AvaTrade, XM, and Alpari. Access the MetaTrader 4 copy trading function via the ‘Signals’ tab on webtrader, desktop or mobile apps.

• Master trader rankings make it easy to choose the best performers
• Available on both live and demo accounts
• Over 3,200 free and paid signals
• Chat function
• VPS service

MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

Copy trading on the MT5 system is also available through their ‘Signals’ service on web and mobile. MT5 offers the added benefit of copying trades executed at different brokerages. This is another popular platform with top companies, including BDSwiss.

• Fully automated trades, just set your signal parameters
• Ultra-fast and secure data transmission
• Fixed signal subscription price

cTrader

The cTrader Copy function is fully integrated into the cTrader platform and offers reliable trading with a defined fees system and transparent strategy history. Popular websites that use cTrader include OctaFX.

• Copy investing account is separate from trading account
• Strong cTrader community
• Equity-to-equity ratios

ZuluTrade

ZuluTrade has become a big player on the automated trading scene since its inception in 2007. Increasingly, brokers such as VantageFX are partnering with the firm.

• Over 10,000 traders resulting in a strong choice of strategies
• Feature-rich, including ZuluScript trading bot (i.e Expert Advisors or EA)
• No limit on the number of traders you can follow, allowing for diversification

DupliTrade

DupliTrade is a leading copy trading platform for forex, crypto and stock markets. Clients benefit from transparent fees, easy registration and copy trading in offline mode.

• Scale up and down options
• Minimum trading deposits from $2,000
• Tough review process for Master traders

eToro

eToro is one of the biggest brokers for social and copy trading.

• Free account, zero commission on stocks and no management fees
• Education centre with PDF guides and details of how it works
• Huge social community

Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.

eToro copy trading platform Past performance is not an indication of future results.

Coinbase began offering the service in 2019. And as of 2018, the nanotrading service XTrend also offers the feature. Other notable copy trading providers include MyFXBook (available on IC Markets) and FBS CopyTrade. Furthermore, Zignaly, a trading bot (EA) which specialises in crypto copy trading on notable exchanges such as Binance.

Copy Trading Vs Social Trading: What’s The difference?

Copy trading and social trading are different but closely linked. Copy trading usually refers to automated trades that are tied to a Master trader or manual trades that are made based on signals shared.

Social trading is when the trader still executes their own positions but communicates with and trusts in the signals provided by a network of more experienced traders. These interactions might be through a signals provider, the trading platform itself, or via a social network such as Telegram.

For example, eToro’s software allows you to tie your account to another trader’s (copy trading). But you can also review activity using their social news feed (social trading).

Further still, mirror trading involves the automated copying of trades, but a more complex version which lends itself to more frequent position movement. For this reason, it is mainly used by institutional investors with large capital that can take steeper losses.

Copy Trading Markets

You can copy trade on multiple popular financial markets:

• Stock and shares
• Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC)
• Forex pairs such as USD/GBP, EUR/USD and USD/CAD
• Commodities such as gold, platinum and crude oil
• Indices such as FTSE, NASDAQ and Dow Jones
• CFDs

Note depending on your broker and the software they use, copy trading may only be available on some instruments. For example, forex signals tend to be available on most of the best platforms, but for the stock market, signals are less common.

Copy Trading Strategies

Does copy trading work? The short answer is, yes. But there are several factors that can impact the systems you use.

Risk Profile

Do your research and select a Master trader with a risk profile and strategy that you’re comfortable with. Do they pursue day trading whilst you prefer a more long-term ‘buy and hold’ method? Do you trust in big, well thought through bets rather than small scalping trades? These are crucial decisions when choosing who to copy – trust is key.

Manual Or Automatic

Automatic copy trades are the ultimate hands-off investments. But there are downsides, as you’re not able to review the trade for yourself. Losses could rack up without your knowledge if you’re not considering a trade before you place it, so many traders prefer to take a signal and place the trade themselves.

MetaTrader copy trading

Services such as NinjaTrader enable automatic trades whereas others provides networking tools for traders to exchange strategies and research. The IQ Copy trading robot also receives popular reviews and is free to download.

Broker Specific Trading

Some platforms allow you to copy trades from a different broker to that which you trade with. This enables you to select from a wider pool of Master traders and could allow better diversification of your portfolio.

Stop Losses

Automatic trades can mean automatic losses. So, consider using strategic stop losses to minimise this. On the downside, this can oust you from a trading strategy just before it starts winning, so place stops carefully.

Benefits Of Copy Trading

Beat The Fees

Investing in a hedge fund can mean costly fees and commissions. Copy trading means you can reap the rewards of profitable traders without paying through the nose. A typical hedge fund charges 2% in fees plus 20% depending on fund performance.

Check out the fees leveraged by your broker to see what you’re saving.

For Beginners

Trading successfully relies on intricate knowledge and experience. If you’re a beginner, you don’t have this edge yet. So, you may want to copy trade until you understand what it takes to successfully and consistently make profits.

Time Saving

With bots automatically executing your trades, there’s all the benefit without the time commitment.

Disadvantages Of Copy Trading

Long Haul

Even the best traders won’t make a profit 100% of the time, so you’ll need to trust in the strategy of the Master you’ve chosen. If you’re likely to pivot between traders after a couple of losses believing their strategy doesn’t work – copy trading may not be suitable for you.

Market Psychology

Trading is all about psychology. While some assets have a physical presence, like gold or crude oil, most are traded on value. And value is determined by what people will pay.

Therefore, if a large community of social traders begin unloading shares in a company, this could push the value of the stock down, regardless of the firm’s underlying profits.

In reality, professional traders exchange millions of pounds of stocks and share each day, so retail trading activity has less influence on value.

However, for this reason top traders often keep their strategy top secret. Therefore you may consider why any Master traders would let you copy their positions.

Master Profits

So, why would a Master let you copy their trades? The answer is commission. And this means there could be a conflict of interest.

If a Master is making profit from commission on copy trades, they may not need to run their portfolio at a profit for them to be winning. They just need to tempt enough followers to copy them.

Of course, this is a cynical view. And clearly Masters make more money from trading profitably as well. But, it highlights the importance of making sure those you copy have equal skin in the game. If you lose, do they lose too?

There are some signal services out there that are scams and are just looking for the commission – so it’s crucial to research where your signals are coming from and consider whether you trust the source.

How To Open A Copy Trading Account

So now we’ve explained all you need to know, you may be wondering how to start trading?

Firstly, you’ll need to open an account with a trading broker, making sure to choose one with copying trading functionality enabled software. You can copy trade on both real and demo accounts. Real accounts will require a minimum deposit to begin.

Download the trading platform and log in using the credentials required by your broker. Alternatively, select one of the trading apps available on both Android (APK) and Apple (iOS) devices.

Wrapping Up

Copy trading has catapulted to popularity in the past 10 years. The range of software on the market makes it easy to choose a provider that suits you.

There are thousands of copy trading success stories. But, whether copy trading is good or bad for your profits depends on whose trades you copy and whether your capital allows you to follow a strategy in entirety. So, ensure you’ve done your research before you invest.

If you’re a beginner who is aware of the risks, copy trading could be a successful strategy compared to trading alone.

FAQ

Additional Resources

• We recommend reading the copy trading article on DayTrading.com for an in-depth tutorial on copy trading platforms, relevant for traders both in the UK and globally.
• “Copy Trading” – a research paper by Jose Apesteguia, Jörg Oechssler, and Simon Weidenholzer, September 17 2019. The conclusion of this paper is that the ability to directly or indirectly copy other traders can lead to excessive risk taking.
• “The Transparency-Revenue Conundrum in Social Trading: Implications for Platforms and Investors” by Mingwen Yang, Eric Zheng, and Vijay Mookerjee at Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas

Programming Your Own Copy Trading Software

Having the right software is crucial to implementing a long-term successful copy trading strategy. If you are unable to find an out-of-the-box copy trading software program that suits your needs and preferences, you can elect to create your own proprietary software.

Nowadays, nifty code editing tools have made it much easier to create your own software and learning a bit of coding to get the copy trading software solution that is 100% right for you can be well worth the investment. You should also take into account that freelancers with coding skills are available online, and hiring a professional for a small software project doesn’t have to cost big bucks.

Key points to remember

• Creating or ordering bespoke copy trading software will require an investment (time, energy and money) but it is an investment that can pay off big time if you get it right.
• In addition to making sure you get exactly the features needed for your specific trading strategy or strategies, you will also be able to forge the software in accordance with your interface preferences. This will make it easier for you to use the program, which in turn enhances the overall trading experience.
• A bespoke copy trading software application can work faster than one-size-fits-all software since it will not be weighed down by features you have no need for.
• For some copy traders, bespoke software is necessary to allow them to use highly complex algorithms.

Warnings

• You wouldn’t just hire a random carpenter for your house, hand them a blank check and hope for the best. You would ask for references, investigate them a bit, and negotiate the terms of the contract in advance. If you wish to hire a programmer to create software for you, you need to do the same.
• Untested software is prone to contain bugs (malfunctions). Popular commercial software has gone through hundreds or even thousands of hours of bug testing, troubleshooting and tweaking to get things right. Well-established commercial software has also been used by thousands of traders before you, who have stumbled upon issues here and there and reported them. With bespoke copy trading software made just for you, you get none of this. Get ready to do your own testing, and make sure you don´t risk big money during the trial and error period.

DIY: Programming your own copy trading software

You do not have to be an expert programmer to do this, but you do need at least some basic programming skills and know-how to code a trading algorithm.

Fortunately, there are software packages available nowadays that make the coding process easier than it used to be. With that said, they are intended for people with at least basic programming skills – they won’t do the job for you.

One example of a popular choice is for building copy trading bots (copy trading software) is Vim.

Using VIM to create your software

One of the best tools you can use to make it easier and more efficient to create your software is WIM. WIM is a universal text editor specifically designed to make it easy to develop your own software. It is used by a huge number of skilled programmers and coders from around the world.

Vin was first created in 1991 by Bram Moolenaar (Vim’s founder). It was based on Bill Joy’s vi text editor.

Bram Moolenaars goal was to create a universal text editor that was designed with coding in mind. Many other texts editors inject extra information in the files when you save them. This can create problems and corrupt code. VIM will therefore never add anything extra to your code. It will also automatically identify and colour code different elements in your code which makes it a lot easier to read and edit the code. You can quickly find the line that you want to find and edit. VIM is turning 40 years old this year but remains one of the best text editors for coding and one of the best tools to use if you want to create your own trading software.

One large benefit of using VIM is that vim is “charityware”. Any income that the software generates is used to help children. It will help you create your software and help make the world a better place at the same time.

Vim is not just a basic text editor. It can also help you create code by easily inserting different functions into your code. It is a command-based editor where you use text commands to activate and insert different functions. There are no menus for you to use. It is all text-based.

This might make it sound like the software is hard to use but nothing could be further from the truth. The command-based interface provides a very uncluttered clean interface that put the focus on the code above everything else. This makes it very easy to see and edit the code without having parts of the screen occupied by menus and other interfaces. This allows VIM to offer a very large selection of features while still keeping a very clean interface.

Vim will be suitable for your needs regardless of whether you are a novice or expert coder. Experts can use advanced functions while the novice can limit themselves to the functions they understand. The command-based interface means that you will never be overwhelmed by menus filled with functions you do not understand. You can find a very detailed guide on all the functions that VIM offers and how they function on VIMs official website VIM.org. You can find tips and tricks on a number of other websites.

VIM is very popular among freelance coders since it is easy to use and makes it easy to find bugs and errors. VIM is a very good choice if you want to try to create your own software but know that you might need to hire a freelance coder to perform part of the work. This is due to the fact that VIM makes it very easy for the freelancer to quickly familiarize himself with the work you have already done. It is possible to use VIM to edit software that has been created in another code editor but it is always good to use a popular editor like VIM right from the start since it makes it easier to cooperate with other workers since you know that the screen will look identical for both of you if you use the same editor. This makes it easier to communicate. Small differences between how different editors display things can increase the risk of miscommunications.

VIM supports hundreds of different programming languages and is a good code editor almost regardless of which programming language you want to use. There is a large selection of different plugins available that you can use to add extra functionality to VIM:

Hiring a programmer to create the software

Creating your own copy trading software can be a fun and rewarding process, but it does require an investment in both time and energy – especially if you need to start at the bottom rung by learning basic programming and algorithm coding skills.

An option to DIY is to hire a professional to create the copy trading software for you, in accordance with your specifications. Still, we advise you to at least learn the basics about copy trading software before you hire anyone since that will make it easier for you to understand (and communicate) what you actually want – and what you do not want.

There is an abundance of freelancing programmers available online that are willing and able to take on small projects, such as programming a bespoke copy trading software that will only include the specific features required by your trading strategy. Ideally, select a programmer that has programmed this type of software in the past and can provide you with some examples of previous work.

Since you will be risking your own hard-earned cash using the software for copy trading, simply going with the lowest bidder is not recommended since a poorly designed copy trading robot can cause enormous losses. On the other hand, paying for a high-priced programmer does not automatically mean that you will get a high-quality product, so you need to do your own research before picking a programmer instead of relying on price to guide you.

Important: Communication is essential. If you can´t explain what it is that you want, how will the programmer be able to know? You are asking for a bespoke product here, so you can´t simply order ”the usual stuff” from the menu. If you are having trouble communicating with your programmer, it might be because:

A.) You know too little about the subject to provide valuable and detailed input.

B.) Your ideas are still half-baked and you need some serious handholding to reach a conclusion about what kind of product you actually want to have built for you.

C.) There are communication issues between you and the programmer, and you would be better off selecting another programmer that finds it easier to connect with you.

Take the trading platform’s API into account

API is short for Application Programming Interface. When creating a copy trading robot, the API provided by the trading platform must be taken into account. Otherwise, the trading robot will not work on the trading platform.

This also means that the API will restrict your freedom a bit when it comes to programming a copy trading robot. If your robot can not communicate properly with the trading platform, automatic trades can not be carried out.

Also, remember that your copy trading robot can only make trades and other actions that are supported by the trading platform.

If a particular copy trading feature is essential to you, make sure you use a trading platform that will support that feature.

Further Reading