⛳Pending orders

Why our trading platform doesn’t copy limit (pending) orders by default

Our trade copying platform is designed to provide seamless and efficient execution of trades across multiple accounts. By default, we do not copy limit (pending) orders, as this approach is optimal for most traders.

Understanding market execution vs. limit orders in a copying service

In a traditional trading environment, traders place limit orders when they want to buy or sell an asset at a specific price rather than at the current market price. However, in a trade copying system, this approach introduces unnecessary complexity and risk for several reasons:

1. The core principle of a copy trading service is market execution

   • In a trade copier, the master account executes a trade, and the copier replicates that trade at the market price at the moment of execution.

   • This ensures that all follower accounts enter the trade as soon as possible, minimizing slippage and execution differences.

   • Limit orders, on the other hand, require waiting for a price level to be reached, which adds delay and uncertainty to execution consistency.

2. No significant difference in triggering mechanism

   • Whether a trade is executed because a limit order was triggered on the master account or because the copier sends a market order immediately when the master order executes, the outcome is almost identical.

   • The time difference between a pending order activation and a market execution trigger is usually in milliseconds, making the execution nearly the same in practical terms.

   • Copying limit orders would not improve execution speed or precision in a meaningful way.

3. Unmanaged trades and risk exposure for followers

   • If a limit order is copied and placed on a follower’s account, there is a risk that the limit order gets triggered on the follower's account but not on the master account (due to differences in market conditions, spreads, or liquidity).

   • This would result in an unmanaged trade on the follower’s side, which may not be closed properly or may not have a stop loss/take profit set in sync with the master account.

   • This can lead to unintended losses or inconsistencies in the trading strategy.

4. Execution variability due to broker differences

   • Different brokers have different pricing, liquidity, and order execution speeds.

   • A pending order may be filled on the follower’s broker while it remains unfilled on the master’s broker, causing desynchronization between master and follower trades.

   • Market execution eliminates this problem because all orders are copied in real-time based on actual executions.

5. High-frequency trading (HFT) exception

   • The only scenario where copying limit orders might be necessary is in high-frequency trading (HFT) strategies that rely on ultra-fast execution with very small stop loss and take profit targets.

   • These strategies may benefit from pre-placed limit orders to minimize slippage.

   • If you use an HFT strategy and fully understand the risks, you can contact us to manually enable this feature.

For the vast majority of traders, copying market execution orders is the most efficient and reliable approach. It ensures that followers always execute trades at the closest possible price to the master account, minimizing discrepancies. Copying limit orders adds unnecessary risks without meaningful benefits.