The Risk tab of the Copier Settings allows you to control the risk settings of your trades on your Follower account. Once you update your risk settings they will be updated with immediate effect to future trades on your Follower account.
There are 4 Risk Types
When using risk multiplier by balance the trade copier will consider the balance of the Lead and Follower accounts to calculate a proportional lot size for each copied trade.
For example, with a multiplier of 1; if the Lead account has a balance of 10,000 and the Send To account is 5,000. As the balance of the Follower account is half the size of the Lead account, all trades will be half the lot size of the Lead account.
The math's used to calculate the Follower lot size:
Follower balance divided by Lead balance multiply by Lead lot size multiplied by multiplier
If your Lead account has a balance of $10,000, your follower account has a balance of $1,000 and the lead account has opened a trade with the lot size 0.1 and your settings are Risk Multiplier by Balance with a multiplier of 1.
The calculation would look like this:
1,000 (follower balance) / 10,000 (lead balance) x 0.1 (lead account lot size) x 1 (multiplier) = 0.01 (follower account lot size)
The multiplier value can be used to adjust the lot size further. A multiplier of 2 will double the Follower lot size. Conversely a multiplier of 0.5 will half the Follower lot size.
Risk multiplier by equity works in the same way as risk multiplier by balance but uses the equity values of the Lead and Follower accounts, instead of the balance.
The math's used to calculate the Follower lot size:
Follower equity divided by Lead equity multiplied by Lead lot size multiplied by multiplier
If your Lead account has an equity of $10,000, your follower account has an equity of $1,000 and the lead account has opened a trade with the lot size 0.1 and your settings are Risk Multiplier by Equity with a multiplier of 2.
The calculation would look like this:
1,000 (follower equity) / 10,000 (lead equity) x 0.1 (lead account lot size) x 2 (multiplier) = 0.02 (follower account lot size)
When using lot multiplier the lot size is calculated by taking the Lead lot size and multiplying by the multiplier value. For example, with the multiplier set at 2, if the Lead takes a 1 lot trade the Follower will take a 2 lot trade.
The math's used to calculate the Follower lot size:
Lead lot size multiplied by multiplier
When using fixed lot all trades taken by the Lead will be copied to the Follower at the defined Fixed Lot value. It does not matter how big or small the Lead lot size is, it will always be the defined fixed lot value.
The slippage setting is used to protect against large variations in spread/price between the Lead account and Follower account. The default setting of 5 means the Follower account will only copy a trade if the Follower account price is within 5 pips on the positive side of the Lead accounts open price.
For example, the Lead account buys EURUSD at 1.14510 and the Follower account tries to buy. If the Follower account price is 1.14561 or greater the trade copier will not copy the trade at that time, as it is beyond the slippage setting. The trade copier will monitor the Follower account price once every second. If the price comes back to 1.14560 or less, it will copy the trade.
If price never gets back within the slippage setting the trade will not be copied in the lifetime of the Lead account trade.
The slippage value used is up to you to decide based on your own preference. The lower the value set the higher the chance that some trades will never be copied as the conditions are never met. You can even set a negative slippage value, which would mean only trades in a drawdown will be copied.
The max lot setting can be used to protect in scenarios where the Lead account takes an abnormally large trade. As the current risk settings will always be applied, regardless of the lot size being attempted, the Follower account attempt could attempt any lot size that the broker will accept. To combat this, you should set a reasonable Max Lot value as the largest lot size you are prepared to open on the Follower account.
For example, the Lead account typically trades 0.1 lot size but opens a 1 lot. Unless the trade copier is using fixed lot, the Follower account could be exposed to a dangerous trade 10 times the normal size. If you had set a max lot value of 5 and the lot size being attempted was 5.1 lots or greater, the trade copier will force the lot size down to 5 as the max allowed lot size and open a trade at 5 lots.
The force min lot setting can be relevant if you are using Risk Multiplier and the Follower account has a relatively small balance compared to the Lead account. Some brokers have a minimum lot size of 0.10 lots on symbols, compared to the more common 0.01 lots.
By choosing to force min lot you could be exposing the Follower account to larger than expected trades. Conversely, if you choose to not force min lot you can potentially miss trades as the attempted lot size is below the broker defined minimum lot size.
For example, if you set force min lot to yes and the trade copier is attempting to trade a 0.01 lot trade on the Follower account but the minimum broker lot size is 0.10 lots. The trade copier will force the lot size up to 0.10 lots and you would be exposed to a trade 10 times larger than expected.
Please consider what scenarios could happen before choosing to force min lot.