How to Copy Another Trader's Futures Trades

Category: Getting Started | Date: 2026-10-05

Can You Copy Another Trader's Futures Trades?

Yes. Copy trading in futures means a second account automatically places the orders another trader places. The trader you follow is the leader; you are the follower. Most people use copy software to copy their own accounts, but you can also copy someone else: on Signal Trade App, a follower requests to copy a Trading Leader from the Traders page, and the leader has to approve. For the product overview see peer-to-peer copy trading for futures; for the click-by-click steps see the guide to copying a Trading Leader.

This article is about the part software cannot do for you: deciding whether a particular trader is worth copying, and sizing it so it cannot hurt you.

How Copying Someone Else Works

You connect your own broker account. Nobody receives your login, and you never receive theirs.
You request to copy a leader who has chosen to allow copying. They approve or decline.
You choose which of your accounts copies them, and a ratio.
From then on, each order the leader places is sent to your account at the leader's order size multiplied by your ratio. Modifications and cancels follow too.
Either side can stop the copy at any time. Positions you already hold are not closed for you when it stops.

Your size depends only on the leader's order size and your ratio. It is never worked out from what either account currently holds, so a ratio of 2 turns a 3-contract leader order into a 6-contract order on your account.

How to Choose a Trading Leader

A leaderboard sorted by profit is the worst way to pick. What each number tells you:

What to check	Why it matters
Max drawdown	The size of the worst fall from a peak. Compare it with your own account's drawdown limit. A leader whose normal drawdown exceeds what your account can survive will breach it at ratio 1.
Profit factor and win rate together	A high win rate with a low profit factor often means many small wins and a few large losses. A strategy that averages down or holds losers looks great until it does not.
Trade count and trading days	Thirty days and eight trades is a story, not a record. Prefer longer periods; the Traders page shows 7 days, 30 days, 90 days and all time.
The equity curve	Look for steady growth, not one huge day. One outsized win can account for the whole month.
Instrument and session	A leader trading NQ in the first hour of the New York session needs you to be copying in that window with the same contract limits.
Private results	Leaders can allow copying and keep results private. That is a legitimate choice, but you then have nothing to evaluate. Treat it accordingly.

Size It for Your Account, Not Theirs

Ratio is where most copy-trading losses come from. Example: a leader trades 2 MNQ with a 40-point stop. That is 2 x 40 x $2 = $160 of risk per trade. At ratio 1 your account risks the same $160. If you copy into a $50,000 evaluation with a $2,000 trailing drawdown, a normal run of five losers is $800, or 40% of your limit, before any outsized trade. At ratio 3 the same run is $2,400 and the evaluation is gone.

Convert the leader's typical stop into dollars at your ratio, then compare it with your daily loss limit and drawdown.
Start at ratio 1, and on a demo or a small account first.
Ratio changes on a live copy are only allowed while both accounts are flat, so you cannot tune it mid-trade.
Check your account's maximum contract count before scaling the ratio up.

Prop Firm Rules Still Apply

Your funded or evaluation account is bound by your firm's rules whoever places the trade. Daily loss limits, trailing drawdown, contract caps and consistency rules are enforced by the firm at the broker, not by Signal Trade App. Some firms restrict copying a strategy that other accounts are also trading, or copying across traders. Read your firm's current rules before you point a prop account at another trader, and consider a personal or demo account first.

Slippage and Fills: Why You Will Not Match the Leader Exactly

Your copy is a separate order at your own broker. It goes out as a market order when the leader's order fills, so in fast markets you can get a tick or more worse than the leader, and the difference grows with size. Order routing runs under 50ms on Tradovate and under 5ms on Rithmic, but the leader's fill price is already history by then. Judge a leader on what the copy would have earned after slippage, and be careful with scalpers whose edge is a tick or two.

Red Flags in a Leader

A great month, but a total of a few weeks of history.
Very large drawdowns recovered by increasing size.
Results hidden, while asking you to trust a bio.
A strategy you do not understand and cannot describe in a sentence.
Promises of returns. Past results do not guarantee future results.

Paying Leaders: Coming Soon

Today copying a Trading Leader on Signal Trade App is free. Coming soon: Trading Leaders will be able to charge followers a fee to copy their trades. It is not available yet. A fee changes the maths, because a leader's cost then has to be recovered before you break even. When it launches, judge it like any other cost: against the leader's net results after slippage.

Want to Share Your Own Trades?

If you are the one being copied, you decide which accounts show results and which allow copying, and you approve every follower. Setup is in the guide. To copy between your own accounts instead, see what copy trading is and the copy trading tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I copy someone else's futures trades?

Connect your own broker account, request to copy a Trading Leader on the Traders page, wait for their approval, then choose the account to copy into and your ratio. Each of their orders is copied at their order size times your ratio.

Do I give the other trader my broker login?

No. Each side connects their own account to Signal Trade App. Credentials are never shared between leader and follower.

What should I look at before copying a trader?

Max drawdown against your own drawdown limit, profit factor alongside win rate, how many trades and days the results cover, and the shape of the equity curve. Then convert their typical stop into dollars at your ratio.

Will I get the same fills as the leader?

Not always. Your copy is a separate market order at your own broker, so in fast markets it can fill a tick or more away from the leader.

Can I copy another trader on a prop firm account?

Technically yes, but your firm's rules still apply and some firms restrict copying strategies. Check your firm's current rules first, and consider testing on a personal or demo account.

Does it cost anything to copy a Trading Leader?

Not beyond your Signal Trade App plan today. Coming soon: Trading Leaders will be able to charge followers a fee. It is not available yet.

Start Copy Trading Free

Signal Trade App lets you copy one trade across unlimited prop firm accounts in under 50ms. Sign up free with a 5-day Pro trial (credit card required, no charge during trial).