Choosing a copier
Trade copier or account rotator: which one fits your prop firm accounts?
A trade copier puts the same trade on every account at once; an account rotator sends each new trade to one account in turn. How they differ, when each fits, and what to check with your firm.
If you trade several prop firm accounts, you will meet two kinds of tools that sound alike but work very differently: the trade copier and the account rotator.
The short answer
- A trade copier puts the same trade on every account at once. You trade one leader account; every follower takes the trade with it, each at its own size.
- An account rotator sends each new trade to one account, taking turns: the first trade goes to account A, the next to account B, then C, and back to A.
| Trade copier | Account rotator | |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts in each trade | All of them | One |
| Results across accounts | Move together | Differ from account to account |
| A winning trade | Every account gains | One account gains |
| A losing trade | Every account loses | One account loses |
| What you trade | One leader | Whichever account is next |
When a trade copier fits
You want every account to follow one plan and reach its target together: passing several evaluations at the same pace, or taking payouts from several funded accounts in the same week. The cost is that a bad day hits every account at once, which is why each account needs its own daily loss limit. See why every copied account needs its own daily loss limit.
When an account rotator fits
You would rather not have every account in every trade, and you accept that some accounts will be ahead of others. Rotating spreads your trades, and their risk, across accounts instead of stacking them.
What to check with your prop firm
- Copying: most futures firms allow copying between your own accounts in the same direction; some allow only certain copiers. See which prop firms allow a trade copier.
- Hedging: long on one account and short on another is banned almost everywhere, with a copier, a rotator or by hand.
- Account limits: both tools still have to stay within your firm's cap. See how many prop firm accounts you can have.
Where Replica fits
Replica is a trade copier, not a rotator: each fill on the leader is copied to every follower in the group, at the follower's own size. You decide which accounts take part: group accounts by plan, turn one follower off without deleting it, and give each account its own daily loss, daily profit and trades limit. See how Replica's copier works.