cTrader Social Trading: How It Works

Overview

Released in 2011 by Spotware Systems, cTrader is a well-known award-winning derivatives charting platform.

It is renowned for its sleek interface and supercharged charting capabilities, providing transparent execution and direct market access pricing.

Only a handful of top-tier brokers like Pepperstone, IC Markets, and FXPro support cTrader. Among cTrader’s suite of products is cTrader Copy, the platform’s social trading service.

Let’s explore cTrader Copy in further detail.

About cTrader Copy

cTrader Copy works with all the versions (web, mobile, desktop) of cTrader for demo and real account accounts. Yet, with the demo, you can only copy 'free of charge' strategies.

cTrader Copy allows for the copying of positions (for non-traders), along with strategy providers (for active traders) to connect their trading accounts to be copied.

This feature prioritizes ease of use, fee transparency, and detailed strategy information. Using your cTrader ID, investors can proceed to the Copy section, see the available strategies and start copying in a few clicks.

When signing up to cTrader Copy, investors have two separate accounts. The latter is the copy trading account used for mimicking a particular strategy. Strategy providers execute positions from their own accounts.

These automatically simulate to the accounts of all the investors on a specific equity-to-equity model. This ratio is defined by the equity balances of both the investor and strategy provider to ensure proportional position sizing.

Investors have no limits on how many strategies they can follow, provided they meet the minimum account and margin requirements.

As a copier, you are not bound to any long-term agreement. This means you can invest in a strategy provider and cancel your subscription anytime.

Benefits of social trading with cTrader

Let’s explore the main benefits of partaking in social trading through cTrader:

• cTrader is among the most popular and advanced charting platforms traders, and brokers use globally.
• The software uses time-weighted ROI (return on investment) calculations per the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS).
• Non-traders can filter strategies on factors such as demo/live, ROI percentage, time-frame, account age, number of copies, drawdown, etc.
• Membership is available for demo and live accounts.
• Any profitable trader using a live cTrader account can become a strategy provider with reasonable entry requirements. Besides applying a monthly fee, you can also charge performance, management, and volume fees.

The set-up process for investors

Investors need a cTrader demo or live account with a supported broker. In doing so, you will have your cTrader ID, which provides access to the platform’s products. Investors have two types of membership (regulated by the broker): Full and Demo.

The former permits you to copy live strategies (and may allow for demo strategies with certain providers). Meanwhile, the latter is only for non-live positions.

The payment methods for one to fund their accounts will depend on the broker. Once you’re in the Copy section of cTrader, you can see all the available strategies. You can view the account age, the maximum leverage, minimum investment, all-time ROI, etc.

Of course, you can dive deeper by viewing detailed data. After you’ve agreed to the terms and conditions, investors can manage their copy trading account by adding/removing funds, setting specific parameters, or stop copying altogether.

The set-up process for strategy providers

Potential strategy providers will need an active cTrader account. The main performance statistics to meet for inclusion are:

• Positive balance
• More than -90% of ROI for all time
• A minimum of one executed position within the last 30 days

Strategy providers may charge whatever they wish for investors to copy according to the perceived value.

These individuals can set:

• Individual performance fees (up to 30% of the profits generated by followers)
• Management fees (up to 10% of the followers’ equity)
• Volume fees (up to $10 per 10 lots traded by investors)

Providers can allow anyone to copy their positions or set this in such a way that only those with invitation links may join them. Also, they can stipulate the minimum investment needed by followers.

Curtain thoughts

Unlike PAMM, copy trading provides more wiggle room as you can simply withdraw your investment from any trader without any penalties. Plus, investors remain in complete control of their funds as they are not connected to the accounts of the traders they are copying.

What’s unique to cTrader from other social trading platforms is how strategy providers can charge additional fees aside from the monthly subscription costs, increasing the earning potential.

Nonetheless, while such an investment product is a win-win for all those involved, it still poses some financial risk, considering that past results do not accurately indicate future performance.