Connecting a trade copier when the master already has open trades
Updated
You rarely start copying with a flat master. Trades are already running when the follower is linked, and the copier has to decide what to do with them: copy them now at today’s price, wait, or leave them alone. A wrong answer either doubles the exposure or opens a position far away from where the master entered.
This guide explains how SnapCopier treats trades that were open before the link, how to take them over when you want them, and what keeps a follower from getting the same trade twice.
By default, only new trades are copied
A link remembers the moment it was switched on. Trades the master opened before that moment are left alone, and every trade opened after it is copied. Closing or changing an old master trade does nothing on the follower, because the follower never had a copy of it.
This is the safe default. An old trade may be far in profit or in loss by now, and a copy opened at today’s price would start from a different entry, so its risk would not be the master’s.
Pausing a link and resuming it later works the same way: trades the master opened while the link was paused count as existing trades when it resumes.
Taking over trades that are already open
Switch on Copy trades opened before link in the copy settings, and the follower gets copies of the master’s open trades as well. They are not opened blindly at any price. Each one is checked against the master’s entry first:
- Close to the master’s entry: if the follower’s current price is within the Max slippage of the price the master opened at, the copy opens.
- Better than the master’s entry: with Late copies also at a better price switched on, it also opens when the follower would get in at a better price than the master did: lower for a buy, higher for a sell. If stop loss and take profit are copied, the better entry means less risk to the stop. When the price is already beyond the master’s stop loss, the trade is skipped, because the stop could not even be set.
- Anything else is skipped for now and checked again later. The copier compares the follower with the master every five minutes, so a trade that comes back near its entry is copied then.
Why the follower does not get the same trade twice
A copier that only remembers its copies in memory loses track of them after a restart, and then copies the same trades again. That is where doubled exposure usually comes from. Here every copy carries its own label on the broker’s side:
- Magic number: each copy is placed with a magic number that belongs to its link.
- Comment: the order comment holds the master’s ticket number.
- Matching: when the copier compares the follower with the master (after a reconnect, a restart, a gap in the event stream, and every five minutes), a labelled order on the follower is recognised as the copy of that master trade and adopted, not opened again.
If an order times out at the broker, the copier also checks whether it went through before it tries again. A second copy is never sent for an order whose outcome is unknown.
Copies without a master trade
Sometimes a follower holds a copy whose master trade is gone, for example because the master closed while the follower was disconnected. With Close orphaned positions switched on, which is the default, the copier closes such copies when it next compares the two accounts.
It only touches positions that carry the link’s own magic number. Trades you opened by hand on the follower, and copies made by another link, are never closed by it.
Which setting to choose
| Situation | Setting |
|---|---|
| You want the follower to start fresh with the next trade | Leave **Copy trades opened before link** off (the default) |
| The master holds long-running positions the follower should also have | Switch **Copy trades opened before link** on |
| You would rather enter late at a better price than miss the trade | Also switch on **Late copies also at a better price** |
| You trade the follower by hand as well | Nothing to change: manual trades are never closed or adopted |
Taking over open trades changes how large the follower’s position is right after linking, so check the size first. How lot sizes are calculated explains the sizing rules.
Questions
Do I have to close my open trades before connecting a copier?
No. Open trades on the master are left alone by default, and you can choose to take them over. Trades you hold on the follower are never closed by the copier, because they do not carry its label.
Will the copier open a trade at a much worse price than the master?
No. An open trade is only taken over when the follower’s price is within the max slippage of the master’s entry, or better than it if you allow that. Otherwise it is skipped and checked again later.
What happens to copies after the copier restarts?
Every copy carries the link’s magic number and the master’s ticket in its comment. After a restart the copier finds them on the follower and continues with them, instead of copying the trades again.
Try it with your own accounts
Connect a master and a follower and watch the first copy appear in the log.
Join the free betaMore guides
- Lot sizing when copying tradesBalance ratio, equity ratio, multiplier or fixed lot: how a trade copier sizes each follower’s trade, with worked examples, rounding and margin protection.
- Different prices and slippageWhy a copied trade fills at a different price than the master: two brokers, two spreads, a moving market. How max slippage, late copies and SL/TP modes handle it.
- Trade copier without a VPSWhy traders rent a VPS for copy trading, how a cloud trade copier removes the need for one, and what you still need: broker logins, not a running terminal.