Copy Trading

Follow a strategy,
keep your own account

Allocate part of your capital to mirror an experienced trader's positions automatically — and retain full control to adjust or stop whenever you choose.

How It Works Become a Provider
Read this before anything else. Copy trading is not a shortcut around risk, and it is not a managed investment product. When you copy someone, their losses become your losses in proportion to your allocation. A provider with a strong track record can and does lose money — sometimes badly, and sometimes on the very first trade you copy. You remain solely responsible for what happens in your account, and CSO Markets does not vet, endorse, rank or recommend any individual strategy provider.
The Mechanics

How copy trading works

Four steps, and one of them matters far more than the others.

1

Browse providers

Filter by instrument, style and track-record length. Look at how long they have been running, not just recent months.

2

Study the drawdown

Maximum drawdown tells you how much pain the strategy has already caused. It is far more informative than a headline return.

3

Set your allocation

Decide how much of your balance to commit and set your own stop level. Never allocate everything to one provider.

4

Monitor and adjust

Trades mirror automatically in proportion to your allocation. You can pause, reduce or stop copying at any time.

Due Diligence

How to read a provider card

Most people look at the return figure and stop. That is exactly how traders get hurt. Here is what the other numbers are telling you.

  • Maximum drawdown — the worst peak-to-trough fall the account has suffered. Ask yourself whether you could hold through that.
  • Track-record length — three profitable months proves very little. A record spanning different market conditions means more.
  • Average holding time — tells you whether you are copying a scalper or a position trader, which changes your cost profile.
  • Risk per trade — a provider risking a large share of equity per position can be wiped out by one bad run.
  • Instrument concentration — a strategy trading one pair is exposed to that one market's behaviour.
Example Provider Swing · Forex majors
Track record3 years
Max drawdown14.2%
Avg. hold time3.4 days
Risk per trade1.0%
Instruments6 pairs
Followers142

Illustrative layout showing how provider statistics are presented in the client portal. This is not a real provider, and the figures are not achievable results. Past performance is never a reliable indicator of future results.

For followers

Access strategies you would not have the time or experience to run yourself, while keeping your funds in your own account.

  • Your money never leaves your account
  • Set and change your allocation freely
  • Copy several providers to spread exposure
  • Stop copying instantly, no notice period
  • Trade manually alongside copied positions
Open an Account

For strategy providers

If you trade consistently and are willing to have your record shown publicly, you can earn a share of performance from followers.

  • Earn a performance fee from your followers
  • Keep trading your own account as normal
  • Your statistics are published transparently
  • Follower growth reporting in the portal
  • Application and review process applies
Apply as a Provider
Providers, note this carefully. Publishing a strategy to followers is not the same as giving investment advice, and you must not present it as such. Do not promise returns, do not solicit funds directly, and do not manage anyone else's money unless you hold the licence required in your jurisdiction. Accounts found doing so are removed from the programme.
Copy Trading Questions

Frequently asked

No. It changes who makes the decisions, not whether the decisions can be wrong. You are still exposed to full market risk on every copied position, and you can lose your allocated capital. Copying several providers spreads risk across strategies but does not remove it.
You do. Money stays in your own trading account throughout. The provider never has access to your balance and cannot withdraw from it — their trading signals simply generate proportional positions in your account.
You choose: close the copied positions immediately, or keep them open and manage them yourself. New signals from that provider simply stop reaching your account.
You pay the normal spread and any commission on the copied trades, exactly as if you had placed them yourself. Providers may also charge a performance fee, which is displayed on their profile before you start copying. Because copied trades carry the same costs as manual ones, a high-frequency strategy generates high-frequency costs.
No. We provide the technology and publish each provider's statistics, but we do not vet, rank, endorse or recommend any of them, and their appearance on the platform is not a judgement about quality. Selecting a provider is entirely your decision and your responsibility.
Try It Safely First

Test copy trading on a demo

Copy on a demo account first and watch how a strategy behaves through a losing stretch before you allocate real capital.

Open Free Demo Open Live Account Compare Accounts

Copying another trader does not reduce risk. You can lose your allocated capital.

Risk warning: Copy trading carries the same risks as trading directly, and past performance of any strategy provider is not a reliable indicator of future results. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.