How to size copied trades

The source opens 1 lot. What should a $10,000 account open? And a $100,000 one? The lot mode answers that question for every copy, and it matters more than any other setting: the same signal can be a 0.5 % risk on one account and 5 % on another.

The common lot modes

• Exact lots. The copy opens the same lots as the source. Simple, and right only when both accounts have about the same size.
• Fixed lots. Every copy opens the same size, whatever the source does. Useful to test a source with 0.01 lot, dangerous when the source changes its own sizing.
• Multiplier. The source's lots times a value: 0.5 for half, 2 for double. Predictable, but it does not follow balance changes.
• Proportional. The source's lots scaled by the ratio of the two balances. A $10,000 copy of a $50,000 source opens a fifth of the size. It keeps the same relative risk without any number to type.
• Risk percent. The copy is sized so that hitting the signal's stop loses a chosen share of the destination's balance, for example 0.75 %. It needs a stop loss in the signal.
• Risk amount. The same, with a fixed amount of money instead of a percentage.

Which one to choose

• Your own accounts of different sizes: proportional, so each account carries the same relative risk.
• A prop firm account: risk percent if the source always sends a stop loss, proportional otherwise, with a maximum lot as a safety net. A firm's daily loss limit is measured in money; a lot mode that ignores account size is the usual way to break it. See Staying inside a prop firm's daily loss limit.
• Signals from someone else (Telegram, TradingView): risk percent or fixed lots, because you do not know the size of their account.

Balance or equity

Proportional and risk modes can compute from the balance or from the equity (balance plus open profit and loss). Equity reacts faster when positions are open: copies get smaller during a drawdown and bigger during a run. Balance gives steadier sizes.

Limits that protect you whatever the mode

A minimum and maximum lot per link, a lot cap per symbol, and refusing signals without a stop loss. Broker rounding also matters: a copy cannot be smaller than the broker's minimum lot or step, so tiny accounts copying a big source may round to the minimum.

In HydraSync FX, the lot mode is set per copy link, with a preview of what a 0.50 lot trade becomes on that destination: see Copy settings.

FAQ

What happens in risk mode when the signal has no stop loss?

The size cannot be computed, so the copy uses the source's exact lots. Turn on "refuse signals without a stop loss" if you would rather not copy those trades at all.

Why is my copy smaller than expected?

Usually a maximum lot, a per-symbol cap, or the broker's lot step rounding the size down.

Can one source feed accounts with different modes?

Yes. Each link from the source to a destination has its own lot mode and limits.