How to copy trades across prop-firm accounts

A copier being technically compatible with a broker or data provider does not mean a prop firm permits the workflow. Firms may restrict copying between users, hedging across accounts, coordinated strategies, account sharing, automation, VPNs, cloud servers, or the number of active accounts. Evaluation and funded stages can have different rules.

Record the exact rule URL, revision date, account stage, and support answer if any language is unclear. Avoid relying on social posts or an old video: a vendor can change daily-loss, payout, consistency, device, or copying rules without changing the software connection. If support grants an exception, keep the written response and understand whether it applies to all account types.

Also separate firm permission from exchange and broker obligations. Market-data agreements may limit redistribution, while account credentials should never be shared with an untrusted copier. Review what the tool can read, where credentials are stored, and whether orders transit a vendor-operated service.

The leader is the account whose eligible actions generate copy instructions. Followers receive those instructions and independently attempt an order. “Independently” is crucial: the copier cannot assume that a follower has the same position, buying power, open orders, or rule headroom as the leader.

Decide what events copy. Some systems copy submitted orders; others react to leader fills. Submission copying can place followers sooner but may reproduce an order the leader never fills. Fill-based copying waits for evidence of execution but introduces time and price differences. Define treatment for limits, stops, brackets, cancellations, modifications, partial fills, manual exits, and platform-generated liquidations.

Choose whether the leader itself is traded or only provides signals. A non-trading leader can avoid making one account structurally different, but the copier must support that architecture. If the leader trades, its own fill can never prove that followers filled.

A group-level limit is insufficient. Imagine five nominally identical accounts: one has already lost $400 today, another is near a trailing threshold after an earlier profit, and a third has a smaller contract cap. The same two-contract order can be accepted by two followers, rejected by two, and liquidated on one.

Maintain per-account state for current position, working orders, realized session P&L, unrealized P&L, commissions if the rule includes them, daily-loss distance, drawdown distance, maximum position, allowed products, and trading window. The copier should validate an instruction against each follower instead of blindly broadcasting it.

Define a safety buffer below the firm limit to account for slippage, fees, latency, and the fact that a risk engine acts after prices move. This is not a promise that a buffer prevents a breach. Fast markets can jump through stop prices, and a platform may not know the firm’s exact liquidation calculation.

Aeris currently provides prop-rule profiles, distance meters, pre-trade checks, and account locks on simulated orders. Its multi-account copier and live Rithmic routing are Coming soon. Current users can practice rule logic, but should not infer live follower enforcement.

Divergence means a follower no longer matches its intended leader exposure. It can begin with an order rejection, partial fill, different average price, dropped connection, contract rollover mismatch, stale position snapshot, or manual change. A platform restart can also restore accounts at different speeds.

The interface should identify each account as synchronized, pending, divergent, disconnected, or locked. A single green “copier on” light is not enough. Compare positions and working orders using broker-confirmed state, not only local commands. Preserve an audit log with timestamps, original instruction, follower response, order identifiers, fills, and the reason for rejection.

Choose a divergence policy in advance. Options include stopping new group orders, removing only the affected follower, flattening the affected follower, or flattening all accounts. Every choice has tradeoffs and can create additional orders. The appropriate action depends on the firm, connection, and market; the important point is that it be explicit, testable, and reachable by keyboard.

A flatten command normally submits offsetting orders; it does not erase market, network, or broker risk. It can be rejected, partially filled, or filled at a worse price. A kill switch may block new local orders without canceling server-side orders unless designed to do both. Learn the exact semantics in the chosen tool.

Keep independent access to every underlying account. Know how to view positions and cancel orders in the broker or firm interface if the copier is unavailable. Write a short procedure: stop leader input, disable copying, inspect each follower, cancel working orders, flatten positions where appropriate, confirm broker state, and save logs. Do not assume a group flatten reached a disconnected follower.

Practice during simulation and outside volatile periods. Include authentication expiry, machine sleep, internet loss, provider maintenance, and a contract rollover symbol mismatch. A recovery plan that has never been rehearsed is only an idea.

Before the session, confirm account stage and rules, connection health, correct contract month, clock synchronization, market-data status, leader and follower positions, working orders, size ratios, daily reset state, remaining drawdown, and news or maintenance windows. Start from flat accounts unless the workflow explicitly supports position adoption.

During the session, watch every acknowledgement and fill. Pause after a rejection or unexplained latency rather than sending additional instructions into uncertain state. After the session, reconcile broker statements, platform logs, commissions, and firm dashboards. Small mismatches are warnings, not bookkeeping noise.

The goal of this process is not to remove risk; copying increases the number of places where a mistake can propagate. Good design limits the blast radius, surfaces disagreement quickly, and keeps the operator able to act without the copier.