Since the early 2000s, Forex trading has become one of the fastest-growing industries, especially as more and more beginner-friendly trading apps and features are introduced by the day.
One of the most attractive and potentially lucrative features of Forex trading is Forex copy trading, where, rather than going through the hassle of analyzing trends and understanding the market so that you might just make a profit from your trades, you simply copy the trades of seasoned investors.
This is particularly attractive for beginners and newcomers, as it sounds like the ultimate money making scheme since you’re barely putting in any effort and making good money.
However, it’s not that easy, and that friend who says they’re making thousands from Forex copy trading has either lost a good deal already, will lose a good deal soon, or genuinely has a good understanding and experience of the market.
To successfully pull off Forex copy trading, you’re going to need experience, a solid understanding of the strategies used by the trader you’re copying, a reliable platform, such as MetaTrader, and, most importantly, a decent MetaTrader 4 trade copier.
But before we get the best trade copier tools, let’s answer these questions: What is copy trading? How does a Forex copier work? What are the best trade copiers and MetaTrader 4 trade copiers?
What Is Copy Trading and How Does It Work?
As I mentioned earlier, copy trading pretty much means what it sounds like; you essentially copy the strategies and deals of another, typically more experienced, trader. This means that whenever the trader or traders you’re copying open or close a position, you also do that.
This can be done manually, semi-automatically, or automatically, depending on your preference and the capabilities of the Forex copier or MetaTrader 4 trade copier you use. Additionally, you can also do Forex copy trading by simply following the signals they send through social media, forums, or even in-app notifications.
These signals are basically alerts that tell you whether to buy or sell a particular asset. They also include other relevant information such as entry and exit points, stop-loss levels, and take-profit targets.
Moreover, copy trading isn’t limited to Forex copiers and MetaTrader 4 trade copiers. Copy trading is done in other markets as well, such as stocks, CFDs, precious metals (Gold, Platinum, etc.), and popular crypto coins such as Bitcoin (BTC). And, of course, equivalents of Forex copiers and MetaTrader 4 trade copiers are also available in these markets. If you’re interested in exploring other markets, I highly recommend looking into CFDs. Be sure to check out our blog post that reviews the best CFD trading platforms; it’s a great resource to read once you have a solid understanding of CFDs.
Generally, Forex copy trading on a platform like MetaTrader 4 is as follows:
- First, you’ll need to choose a trader who you believe has a good trading strategy, a good performance record (Good profit/loss, maximum drawdown, consistency), and a moderate risk level.
- Once you’ve chosen your trader or traders, you’ll need to set up a MetaTrader 4 trade copier. This tool connects your account with the trader’s so that trades are done seamlessly.
- Next, you’ll need to adjust key factors like trade size, leverage, stop-loss, and take-profit levels so that things don’t get out of hand if a trade goes wrong.
- You’re done. All you have to do now is monitor the trades and manage the factors involved in each trade. If you feel that a trader you’re copying is underperforming, you can unsubscribe from them and either copy another trader or allocate funds to another trader that you’re already copying for more profit.
Now that you have a general understanding of copy trading, it’s important to note some common misbeliefs and misconceptions about what is and isn’t copy trading.
What Copy Trading Isn’t
Copy trading isn’t an overnight money maker. This is a fact that many people who are new to trading, especially Forex copiers, overlook. As a concept, it sounds amazing; all you have to do is follow whatever an experienced trader says, and you make a whole bunch of money, right? Wrong!
As I briefly mentioned earlier, not only do you need to have a reliable platform and experience trading, but you also need to fully understand a trader’s strategy and weigh whether it suits you or not. Some big traders take huge risks and lose a large amount of money; after all, even the most successful and experienced traders make mistakes.
You might say that they might lose big, but they win bigger; that’s why they’re successful. Well, the thing you’re forgetting is that, yes, they do win bigger, but will that win happen before you’ve lost your money?
See, when you copy a trader, you’re going to specify a certain amount that you want to use when copying that trader, whether that’s settled with yourself or specified in the Forex copier software you use. However, typically, that trader has much more to spend on their trades, and before they make their big win, they might lose enough that you may run out of money.
Even if that doesn’t happen, again, any trader can go through a rough patch, and you might just happen to start copying them at that point.
Plus, if you don’t have enough experience and are doing this manually, you might make mistakes when copy trading manually, such as opening or closing a trade too early or too late, making the wrong kind of trade, forgetting to specify stop-loss levels, and take-profit margins. One way to prevent these things is to use a reliable Forex copier or MetaTrader 4 trade copier, which I’ve listed near the end of this article.
Lastly, another thing that MT4 copy trading is not is mirror trading. While they might be similar in name, in mirror trading, an entire strategy is copied rather than copying simple trades. While this allows for a more automated trading experience, it also takes away the choice of picking and choosing which trades you want to copy, making it potentially much more risky.
With questions like “What is copy trading?” answered, it’s time we discussed the benefits and drawbacks of Forex copy trading and using a trade copier.
Advantages and Drawbacks of Forex Copy Trading
While Forex copy trading is an attractive feature, it’s important to know the pros and cons of MT4 copy trading as well as the benefits and issues that come with using MetaTrader trade copiers.
Advantages of Copy Trading Using Forex Copiers
While it is important to know the risks of Forex copy trading and MetaTrader 4 trade copiers, you can profit significantly from this feature if done right. This is due to its overall simplicity, which allows even beginner traders or those who don’t have the time to do full-time day trading to make a good profit without necessarily having the experience and time.
Plus, if you feel that you don’t have the required knowledge or experience, many Forex copiers and MetaTrader 4 trade copiers feature a free demo account where you can simulate copy trading through virtual funds but genuine, real-time market trends and changes.
Furthermore, since you can copy several traders, you diversify strategies, allowing you to potentially offset losses in one area and strategy through profits in another rather than simply allocating all your funds to copying a single trader.
Lastly, MT4 copy trading is widely acknowledged by major regulatory bodies such as CySEC, ESMA, MiFID, and the FCA. Opting for a licensed and reputable trading platform such as MT4 and MT4 copiers will help safeguard your funds and protect you from potential scams.
Drawbacks of Copy Trading Using Forex Copiers
I’ve briefly mentioned the risks of Forex copy trading earlier in this post; however, it’s not just the fact that there’s no guarantee of profit, which the concept of copy trading would have you believe.
You also have to consider things like copy trading fees. See, many platforms and even Forex copiers charge a fee for using their MT4 copy trading services, such as subscription or performance fees. Not only that, but many Forex platforms implement a minimum deposit amount.
The fees don’t stop there, though, as some platforms apply a thing called spread markups. A spread is the difference between the buy and sell price of a currency pair, and a markup essentially widens this spread, increasing the cost of each trade.
While these markups might not be immediately noticeable, over time, they can eat into profits, particularly for traders who make a high volume of trades. Additionally, there are commission fees for each executed trade, which are typically a flat rate per trade or a percentage of the trade volume.
Plus, MetaTrader trade copiers and Forex copy trading platforms also charge withdrawal and inactivity fees, which can add up quickly if you move funds frequently or the opposite, don’t trade for a certain period.
Fees aside, it’s also key to once again remember that no matter how good and experienced a trader you’re copying is, they will make mistakes, and these mistakes can end in huge losses, especially if you’re copying a high-risk trader.
You should also note that copy trading isn’t widely accessible to U.S. residents due to the Dodd-Frank Act, which adds layers of regulation to protect consumers, especially around leveraged trading.
This means that foreign brokers often avoid offering these services in the U.S. because of the legal hoops they’d need to jump through. As a result, Americans have fewer options for MT4 copy trading than traders in other countries, and it’s crucial to check that any platform they choose complies with local rules.
Ultimately, you are giving full control of how you want your money to be spent on these trades, which can make you lots of profit or loss. This once again highlights why you can’t just start copy trading with zero experience and expect to win big.
That said, if you believe that you’ve got a good understanding of the risks and requirements of Forex copy trading and want to take advantage of the benefits of the best trade copiers and MetaTrader 4 trade copiers, then let’s head to the next section.
Best Forex Copiers and MT4 Trade Copiers
As mentioned earlier, choosing the right platform and Forex copier greatly impacts profit maximization. There are various types of copiers, each with unique features suitable for specific trader class and trading needs.
However, before we get to the list of the best trade copiers and MetaTrader trade copiers, it’s important to use the right platform for copy trading. One of the best and most popular Forex trading platforms is MetaTrader, and since you’re going to need a fast, reliable connection to ensure that you open or close positions at the right time, you’ll probably need a Forex VPS.
With our Forex VPS, you’re guaranteed to have a latency-free trading experience as we offer 99.95% uptime, 10 Gbps connection speed, NVMe SSD, and DDR4. These state-of-the-art features provide a high-performance, lightning-quick trading experience as our Forex VPS offers 15+ locations so that you’re always connecting through a server as close as possible to your broker.
Not only do we provide these features at some of the best VPS rates available, but our Forex VPS also comes with MetaTrader pre-installed so that you can start trading immediately.
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Get a Forex VPSWith that covered, let’s look at the best Forex copiers and MT4 trade copiers and who they suit:
Forex Copier – Best for Professional Traders
If you have experience in the world of trade copying, then Forex Copier is one of the best trade copiers. Not only is Forex Copier, as the name clearly states, a Forex copier, but it’s also specifically designed for MT4 and MT5 platforms, making it a fantastic MT4 copier.
Forex Copier is known for its numerous helpful features, mainly the flexibility it offers in terms of allowing traders to copy trades from one MetaTrader account to another seamlessly. This is particularly beneficial for those who are managing multiple accounts or, at the other end, are a trader who sends signals to clients.
Forex Copier supports both local and remote copying, meaning you can copy trades between accounts on the same device or from accounts on different servers. Plus, you can tweak certain parameters like trade filtering, custom lot sizing, and reverse copying (opening a position that’s opposite the one the trader you’re copying has opened).
Moreover, you don’t need to be tied to a specific broker, as Forex Copier works across multiple brokers and platforms, giving you the flexibility to copy trades from any account, regardless of where it is hosted.
That said, one issue with Forex Copier is that it requires MT4 or MT5 to be running on the devices where you’re copying trades. However, this issue can be easily resolved if you use Cloudzy’s trading VPS since it allows you to run MT5 24/7 on a high-performance virtual server.
With Cloudzy’s Forex VPS, you no longer need to keep your local device running, as the platform operates continuously in the cloud so that your trades are copied in real-time without interruptions.
As for reverse copying, this feature can be quite risky as you might be tempted to reverse a trade that might only be temporarily going wrong. This again highlights the fact that MT4 copy trading needs experience and good judgment in choosing the trader you’re going to copy.
Duplikium – Best Cloud-Based Trade Copier
Duplikium is specifically targeted towards non-professional traders and retail traders who trade with their own funds rather than on behalf of an organization or as a full-time job. For more casual copy traders, Duplikium is one of the best trade copiers and MT4 copiers, as it features a user-friendly interface and doesn’t require you to run MT4 or MT5 continuously on your device.
This is thanks to this MT4 copier’s cloud-based structure, which means you don’t need to run MT4 or MT5 to do copy trading. Plus, through Duplikium’s customizable parameters, such as custom lot sizes, stop-loss, and take-profit levels, you don’t need to do much manually, making your MT4 copy trading experience an automated one.
Moreover, Duplikium supports a variety of popular trading platforms and brokers other than MT4 and MT5, such as cTrader, FXCM, ZuluTrade, JForex, etc. This means that you can copy trades on accounts in whatever trading platform you like. You also get cross-device and remote trade copying so that you can do MT4 copy trading on any platform, device, and server.
That said, since it’s cloud-based, your trade could be delayed or canceled if any downtime occurs, which is rare, to be fair. Additionally, Duplikium’s pricing structure can get quite pricey, as features such as reverse copying, trade filtering, multi-account management, etc., have additional costs.
FX Blue Personal Trade Copier – Best Free MT4 Trade Copier
While more features do mean more costs, you can always opt for a free Forex copier such as FX Blue. This is hugely beneficial to traders who are just starting or don’t want to pay for an MT4 trade copier.
Not only is FX Blue free, but another reason why beginners and casual traders may go for this MetaTrader trade copier is its ease of use and straightforward installation process.
Plus, while this MT4 copier is free, it still provides handy features such as lot size adjustment and the ability to copy trades on different currency pairs. This means you can copy a trade done on EUR/USD on USD/JPY instead, allowing you to trade across different currencies.
On the other hand, it is important to note that since FX Blue is free, its list of features and functions is limited and lacks more advanced features, such as complex filtering options, in-depth risk management tools, or custom trade filtering.
Moreover, FX Blue only works on local devices and VPS and lacks remote copying, meaning that if your accounts are hosted on different servers or brokers, you’ll need to manually manage them.
Final Thoughts
Copy trading is a fantastic way to learn and familiarize yourself with the trading world, especially through the various feature-rich Forex trade copiers available. That said, you’ll need a good deal of experience in this area if you want to make any meaningful profits, so be careful!
FAQ
What is Forex copy trading, and how does it work?
Forex copy trading means you copy the strategies and deals of a more experienced trader. Whenever they open or close a position, you do the same. This can be done manually, semi-automatically, or automatically, depending on the capabilities of the copier or platform you’re using.
What are the best MetaTrader 4 trade copiers available?
Copy trading can be profitable for beginners due to its simplicity. However, it’s not a guaranteed money-maker, and you need to understand the strategies of the trader you’re copying. Experience, the right platform, and the right Forex copier are essential for success.
What’s the difference between copy trading and mirror trading?
While both involve replicating trades, copy trading lets you choose specific trades to copy, whereas mirror trading copies an entire strategy, removing the ability to pick individual trades.
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