How Copy Trading Works, Explained Without Jargon

Two accounts, one set of instructions

There is a strategy account, run by the trader or system, and there is your account, in your name, holding your money. When the strategy account opens a position, the platform sends the same instruction to your account. Two separate accounts, two separate balances, one shared set of decisions.

What this means practically: the strategy provider can cause trades in your account, and cannot withdraw from it. That single boundary is what separates copy trading from handing someone your money.

How position sizes scale

Trades copy proportionally. If the strategy account risks 2% of its balance on a trade, your account risks about 2% of yours — so a $500 account and a $500,000 account see the same percentage moves from very different dollar amounts.

The limit is at the small end: positions have a minimum size, so a very small balance may skip trades it cannot take proportionally, or take a slightly larger share than intended. This is one practical reason results on tiny accounts drift from the published record.

What you actually see

Your own trading platform, with the trades appearing in it as they happen — instrument, entry price, size, running profit or loss, and your balance updating live. You are not looking at a summary someone prepared. If an offer does not give you this, it is not copy trading.

What happens when you stop

You disconnect, and no new trades copy. Positions already open stay open — you close them yourself or let the strategy close them, and the choice is yours. Then you withdraw normally.

The thing to be clear about: stopping does not undo losses already taken, and disconnecting during a drawdown converts a paper loss into a real one. Stopping is a control over the future, not the past.

Where the costs sit

Typically a performance fee on profit only, plus the ordinary trading costs of every position — spread, and overnight swap on positions held past the daily rollover. Those trading costs apply whether the month ends up or down. Full breakdown here.