Copy trading

Copy trading enables individuals in the financial markets to automatically copy positions opened and managed by other selected individuals.

Unlike mirror trading, a method that allows traders to copy specific strategies, copy trading links a portion of the copying trader's funds to the account of the copied investor.[1][2] Any trading action made thenceforth by the copied investor, such as opening a position, assigning Stop Loss and Take Profit orders, or closing a position, are also executed in the copying trader's account according to the proportion between the copied investor's account and the copying trader's allotted copy trading funds.[3]

The copying trader usually retains the ability to disconnect copied trades and manage them themselves. They can also close the copy relationship altogether, which closes all copied positions at the current market price. Copied investors, who are called leaders or signal providers, are often compensated by flat monthly subscription fees on the part of a trader, a signal follower, seeking to copy their trades.[4] Apart from that, popular investors may earn up to 100% spread rebate on their personal transactions. The reward schemes serve to stimulate traders to allow others to monitor and copy their trades instead of trading privately.[2]

Copy trading has led to the development of a new type of investment portfolio, which some industry insiders call "People-Based Portfolios" or "Signal Portfolios" (borrowing the terminology of the popular MetaQuotes Signal Marketplace). People-based portfolios differ from traditional investment portfolios in that the investment funds are invested in other investors, rather than traditional market-based instruments.[5]

While followers do not pass capital into the accounts of the signal providers, the latter operate as portfolio managers de facto, as they have indirect control over a portion in the capital of the signal followers. Therefore, social trading networks provide an innovative framework for delegated portfolio management.[4]

  1. ^ Mirror trading in Investopedia
  2. ^ a b Apesteguia, Jose; Oechssler, Jörg; Weidenholzer, Simon (2020-07-14). "Copy Trading". Management Science. 66 (12): 5608–5622. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2019.3508. ISSN 0025-1909. S2CID 38709090.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Doering, Philipp; Neumann, Sascha; Paul, Stephan (2015-05-05). "A Primer on Social Trading Networks – Institutional Aspects and Empirical Evidence". Rochester, NY. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2291421. S2CID 59436124. SSRN 2291421. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).