What is copy trading?
Copy trading means replicating another account's positions. Prop firms prohibit or restrict it almost systematically, including between several accounts held by the same trader.
It is one of the most frequent grounds for refusing a payout, and it often catches traders who did not think they were copy trading at all.
What firms are targeting
Three distinct situations fall under the same prohibition.
Copying between traders: several people execute the same positions, through a signal service or simple coordination.
Copying between your own accounts: a trader holding several accounts, at the same firm or across firms, replicates the same trades on them. This is the most common case, and many are unaware it is prohibited.
Managing for a third party: someone trades your account for you, or you trade someone else’s.
Why it is policed
From the firm’s point of view, the logic holds. Replicating a strategy across ten accounts multiplies its exposure to a single market move tenfold, with no diversification. It also turns the evaluation into a game of probabilities: a trader trying their luck on ten accounts at once raises the odds that at least one passes, without having demonstrated any consistency.
How it is detected
Firms cross-reference several signals: order timestamps to the second, similarity of position sizes, connection IP address, and sometimes device fingerprint.
That creates a risk for perfectly innocent situations. Two traders sharing a connection — flatmates, partners, a coworking space — present the same IP address. Several documented waves of account invalidations in 2026 rested on exactly this ground.
What to do
If your situation involves a connection shared with another trader, tell support before opening the account. A written exchange you keep is your only protection the day a detection algorithm flags you.
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Related terms
- Breach A breach is the violation of a risk rule that triggers a sanction on the account. Depending on the firm and the rule involved, it suspends the trading day, cancels a payout, or closes the account for good.
- Expert Advisor An Expert Advisor is a program that places orders automatically according to predefined rules. Prop firms generally allow them, except for strategies exploiting a technical flaw such as latency arbitrage.
- Funded account A funded account is the trading account a prop firm allocates once the evaluation is passed. The trader operates under continuing risk rules and keeps a share of the profits, without ever holding the nominal capital.
- Payout A payout is the actual transfer of a funded trader's gains. It follows a cycle specific to each firm, after a minimum period since the account was opened, and often above a floor amount.