Trade Copier Checklist: 12 Things to Test on a Demo Before You Commit

Choose a trade copier by what it does on the trades that go wrong, not by its feature list. Trepeat is a trade copier for your own accounts: a trade you place on a source account is repeated on your follower accounts, sized for each, on MT4, MT5 and cTrader. This checklist has twelve checks. Each gives the question to put to any copier, why it matters, Trepeat's answer and a test you can run on two demo accounts in about ten minutes.

It is the second half of How to choose a trade copier, which covers the buying questions: where a copier runs, which platforms it connects, whose trades it copies and how it bills. Read that one to shortlist. Use this one to test the shortlist.

Trepeat currently connects demo-environment accounts only, which is what prop-firm evaluation and funded accounts usually run on, and refuses a live account when you connect it. The free trial is 1 week on up to 3 cTrader accounts, and MT4 and MT5 accounts connect as soon as you subscribe (pricing and the free trial).

How to run the tests

Open two demo accounts, one as the source and one as the follower, ideally at different brokers, because most of these checks only show a difference when the brokers differ. Place small trades on a liquid symbol, plus one on an instrument whose name or contract size differs between the two brokers. Every check here is mechanical: what a tool does with an order. None of it says what to trade or how much to risk.

1. Does it size each copy for the account it lands on?

Ask. Is the follower's lot a fixed multiple of the source lot, or can it follow each account's size?

Why it matters. Two accounts are rarely the same size. The same lot on a follower with a quarter of the equity is four times the exposure for its size.

How Trepeat answers. Each repeater uses either a multiplier (0.01× to 100×; a new repeater starts at 1×) or an equity ratio, which multiplies the source lot by follower equity ÷ source equity. A 2.00-lot trade on a $100,000 source becomes 0.50 lots on a $25,000 follower under equity ratio, 1.00 under a 0.5× multiplier and 2.00 under 1×. The ratio is worked out again for every trade from the latest equity Trepeat holds for the two accounts. If an equity figure is missing, or the two deposit currencies differ, sizing falls back to the saved multiplier. See position sizing when copying trades.

Ten-minute test. Set a 2× multiplier and place one trade on the source. On the Trades page, hover the follower's quantity (it is underlined whenever the copy's size differs from the source's): it shows the source lot, the overall factor your sizing applied and the lots copied, with the repeater's current sizing settings. Check the result against your own sum, or run the same inputs through the lot size calculator in copy-sizing mode.

2. What happens when the result is below the broker's minimum?

Ask. Does the copier raise a too-small lot to the minimum, skip it, or send an invalid order?

Why it matters. Raising a lot to the minimum quietly gives a small account more exposure than its share. Sending an invalid order fails after the source has already moved.

How Trepeat answers. Sizing is rounded to the follower symbol's own volume step (Floor by default; Round and Ceiling are options), then capped, and a final quantity under the follower's minimum is skipped, not raised to the minimum. A $250 follower under equity ratio, copying a 0.30-lot trade from a $10,000 source, works out at 0.0075 lots, so the copy is skipped under Floor. A skipped copy stays on the Trades page with its reason and raises an alert naming the symbol and the follower.

Ten-minute test. Set the follower's multiplier to 0.01× and place the smallest source trade your broker allows. You should see a Skipped row with a reason: not a silent gap, and not an order.

3. Can you cap a single order, and does the cap mean what you think?

Ask. Is there a maximum volume, and is it per order or for the total held?

Why it matters. A cap that bounds one order does nothing about three orders in a row.

How Trepeat answers. Max Volume is a per-order cap, applied after sizing and rounding, from 0.01 to 10,000 lots; empty means no cap of your own. It does not limit what a follower holds in total: three 1-lot copies can add up to 3 lots on one symbol under a 1-lot cap. The smaller of Max Volume and the follower broker's own per-order maximum wins.

Ten-minute test. Set Max Volume to 0.05, place a source trade that would size above it, and read the follower row: the quantity should be 0.05, not the sized figure.

4. Does a "lot" mean the same thing at both brokers?

Ask. Does the copier convert for contract size, or does it copy the number and hope?

Why it matters. A lot is a number of units, and brokers disagree. Silver is 1,000 ounces a lot at some brokers and 5,000 at others. Copying 1 lot to 1 lot across that pair gives the follower five times the position.

How Trepeat answers. Every copy is multiplied by source contract size ÷ follower contract size, using the sizes each broker reports for its own symbol: a 1.00-lot source on a 1,000-ounce broker becomes 0.20 on a 5,000-ounce follower, the same exposure. Where both brokers agree, as for most FX pairs, the factor is 1. There is no setting for it. If a contract size is unknown on either side Trepeat applies no conversion rather than guessing, and the Trades page shows the factor on any copy it changed. The lot converter does the same sum by hand.

Ten-minute test. Pick an instrument whose contract size differs between your two demo brokers (metals and indices are the usual ones), place a 1.00-lot source trade at a 1× multiplier, and compare the follower's lot with the factor on the Trades page.

5. How does it handle different symbol names?

Ask. If the follower calls gold GOLD and the source calls it XAUUSD, what happens to the order?

Why it matters. Symbol naming is the most common reason a copy fails, and it fails at the moment a real trade is being copied.

How Trepeat answers. Two separate controls. The symbol allowlist decides which source symbols are copied (empty means all, and it uses the source's names). Symbol remapping decides what name the copy is placed under on the follower, optionally with its own ratio, for all followers or one. Without a remapping the copy goes out under the source's name, and a follower that does not list it rejects the order. When you create a remapping Trepeat reads the follower's symbol list and suggests a target, recognising endings such as m or .raw, the spaces cTrader uses in index names, and a curated list of instruments that go by different names. A suggestion is only offered, never applied, and when Trepeat cannot identify a match it says nothing rather than guessing. The Broker Symbol Finder shows the other names for a symbol you type. More in symbol mapping across brokers.

Ten-minute test. Before pressing Run, add a remapping for a symbol the two brokers spell differently, place a source trade on it, and check the follower row carries the follower's name. Then remove the remapping and place another: you should get a Failed row and an alert naming the symbol and the follower.

6. What does it copy, and what does it leave out?

Ask. Stop loss, take profit, pending orders, positions that were already open: which of them travel?

Why it matters. No copier copies everything. The gaps decide whether your follower is protected the way you assume.

How Trepeat answers. It copies opens and closes, in full or in part, as market orders. It leaves out stop loss and take profit (a follower copy opens with neither, and the copy closes when the source position closes), pending orders (when one fills on the source, that fill is copied as a market order, so the follower's entry is the market price then) and positions opened before you pressed Run. Every order it places carries its own marker, and its automatic closes act only on positions carrying it.

Ten-minute test. Put a take profit on a source trade and read the follower's position at its broker: it should show none. Place a pending order on the source and check that nothing appears on the follower until it fills.

7. How does it handle a partial close?

Ask. If you close half of the source position, what happens to the copies?

Why it matters. A copier that handles opens but not partial closes leaves followers carrying more than the source holds.

How Trepeat answers. Closing part of a source position closes the same proportion of each copy, and the group shows how much is closed. If that share, scaled to a follower, is smaller than the smallest trade the follower's broker accepts, Trepeat closes that follower's whole copy instead and an alert says so. If it cannot tell the size of the follower position in lots (on cTrader, a symbol whose lot size has not loaded) it declines the partial rather than guess, because closing more than was asked cannot be undone; an alert tells you the copy is still at full size so you can close that part at your broker.

Ten-minute test. Open a 0.10-lot source trade, close 0.04 of it, and read the follower: it should close the same share. Then try it with a follower sized small enough that its share is below the minimum. If your brokers do not produce that case, say so in your notes rather than assuming it passed.

8. What if a copy lands on top of a position of your own?

Ask. On a netting account, where the broker keeps one position per symbol, what happens to a copy that merges into your own trade?

Why it matters. When the source closes, a copier that closes the merged position closes your trade along with the copy.

How Trepeat answers. It will not. A merged position is no longer solely its own, so it leaves it open, raises an alert naming the symbol and the account, and marks the row close attempted. It also warns when the merge is about to happen. Flatten follows the same rule and reports a merged position as left untouched. A hedging account, or one open position per symbol, avoids the case entirely. See netting vs hedging accounts.

Ten-minute test. On a netting follower, open your own trade on a symbol, then place a source trade on the same symbol and close it. Read what the copier did with the merged position.

9. What is the difference between Stop and Flatten?

Ask. If you stop copying, does the copier close anything? Is there one action that closes the source trade and its copies together?

Why it matters. "Stopped" is not evidence that nothing is open.

How Trepeat answers. Stop ends copying and closes nothing: positions stay open on both sides until you close them, and a stopped repeater does not repeat source closes onto positions already open. Flatten closes a source trade and every copy of it, on one trade group, on every open one with Flatten all, or with Flatten and stop, which closes and then stops the repeater. Flatten only ever touches trades Trepeat is copying, and that is checked on the server before the request is accepted, not only in the interface. It needs connected accounts and a running engine, so a close request can fail, and Flatten and stop still stops the repeater if closes fail: read the result and check the broker.

Ten-minute test. Open two copied trades and run Flatten on one group: compare the confirmation's count with what actually closed at both brokers. Then press Stop and choose to leave the positions open, and confirm the other group is still held on both sides.

10. What happens when something fails, and when the copier itself is down?

Ask. Where does a failed copy show up, are you told, and does the tool ever act later without asking?

Why it matters. Every copier fails sometimes. A silent miss leaves accounts out of step, and a late "catch-up" close is a trade you did not choose.

How Trepeat answers. A failed or skipped copy stays on the Trades page with its reason, and an alert names the symbol and the follower; a copy that keeps failing (five failures on the same follower and symbol within an hour) is also emailed. Each repeater has an order confirmation limit (5 seconds by default, 1 to 30): a copy not confirmed in time is recorded as failed, and if the broker fills it late and Trepeat detects it, Trepeat attempts to close that position, which can itself fail, so the alert and the broker account are the evidence. If the engine is down, nothing is copied and nothing is copied later; a source close that was missed leaves the copy open, an error alert tells you to close it yourself, and Trepeat does not close it afterwards because the price has moved on. Flatten does not work during an outage either, and says plainly that nothing was closed. See trade copier not copying.

Ten-minute test. Cause a failure on purpose (an unmapped symbol is the easiest) and note where it appears, what the alert says and what reason the row gives.

11. How fast is it, and how was that measured?

Ask. What does the quoted time start from and end at, and does it include the follower broker?

Why it matters. The follower broker's own execution is usually the largest and most variable part of the gap, and no copier shortens it. A headline figure that leaves it out is describing the small parts.

How Trepeat answers. We do not publish an engine-only figure, because it would flatter us and tell you nothing about your accounts. Most copies are confirmed within two seconds and many in under one. That is measured per copy, from the source fill reaching Trepeat to the follower's broker confirming it, on customers' own copies with our own test accounts excluded, and a few take several seconds when a broker is slow. The time your source broker takes to report the fill is not included, and copy times are measurements, not a commitment. Every copy on your Trades page shows its own total, split into Trepeat engine and Broker latency where both were recorded, and the export carries both columns. Fill detection runs on real-time streams rather than a polling timer. More in trade copier latency; a different fill price is usually spread and liquidity, not lag (why follower fills differ).

Ten-minute test. Place five copies at a quiet time and read each row's total latency. Then compare with a busy session, on your own two brokers. That comparison is the only latency figure that applies to you.

12. Where does it run, and who holds your login?

Ask. Does copying need your computer on? Where is the login kept, and how do you take it away?

Why it matters. A copier that runs in a terminal on your machine stops when the machine does. A cloud copier has to hold what it connects with.

How Trepeat answers. It runs on Trepeat's own servers: no Expert Advisor, no plug-in, no VPS, and copying continues with your computer off. A MetaTrader password is stored with authenticated encryption in a vault and never shown again; MetaApi, the connection provider for MetaTrader, also holds the login. cTrader needs no password at all: you grant access on cTrader's own site and can withdraw it there. Copies carry an order comment that identifies them and reach the broker from a data-centre address, so check your account's rules before you connect an evaluation or funded account (what your firm sees); a copier cannot answer that for you. See cloud vs local copiers.

Ten-minute test. Close the app, shut the laptop, place a source trade from your phone's terminal, and open the Trades page afterwards. Then find where you would revoke the connection.

The checklist on one page

Where Trepeat fits

Trepeat fits a trader who repeats their own trades between their own accounts on MT4, MT5 or cTrader and does not want a machine to look after. You connect the accounts, create a repeater, set its sizing and press Run; your first repeater walks from two connected accounts to a first copied trade. The checks above are the ones to put to any copier you are weighing, and the answers are in each tool's own documentation, so read those rather than a summary of them. Whether copying between your accounts is allowed is set by each account's own rules, not by any copier: is copying your own trades allowed.