Stopping a copy and starting another is one way to move from one master to the next. Changing master is a better one, because it keeps the copy's history, its package and its terms intact and moves the allocation in a single step. It has rules, and each rule is there for a reason worth knowing before you use it.
What "change master" does
On Social Copies, every active standard copy has a Change master button. Press it, pick the new master, review, confirm. The platform then:
- Settles any profit to date with the current master, exactly as a stop would — the profit on closed trades since the last settlement is shared and your part is credited.
- Moves the allocation — your investment plus the settled profit, less the fee — to the new master.
- Carries across the copy's terms: if it was on a commitment package, the package, its term and its bonus share continue with the new master; the term does not restart.
- Adopts the new master's settlement cadence from that point.
Nothing is closed at market. That is the point of the first rule.
Rule one: the current master must have no open trades
A change is only allowed when your current master has no open positions and your copy has no open mirrored trades. Why: an open trade has an unrealised result, and moving a copy in the middle of one would mean either closing the trade at whatever the market price happened to be — an outcome nobody chose — or leaving a trade behind with no master attached to it. Requiring the master to be flat means every change happens at a clean point where every result is realised and every number is final.
In practice, scalpers and day traders are flat often; swing traders may be in a trade for days. If the button is greyed out with "master has open trades", the change will become available when the current trade closes. It is not a fault; it is the rule doing its job.
Rule two: once per 24 hours, per account
One change per account in any 24-hour period — not one per copy. After a change on any copy, every other copy shows the same countdown. The reason is protective. Without a limit, a copier having a bad day could move from master to master several times, settling fees at each step, chasing whoever had the best last hour. That behaviour has a name — churning — and it loses money reliably. A day between changes forces the decision to survive a night's sleep.
The rule is also why the button is not the right tool for indecision. If you find yourself wanting to change more than once a week, the problem is the selection process, not the master.
What it costs
A change is not free of consequence, but it is free of penalty:
- The profit to date is settled, so the standard fee is taken on it at that point rather than at the next scheduled settlement. That is the same fee you would pay eventually; it is simply paid now.
- On a commitment package, the package's bonus share is credited on the settled profit as normal. Unlike a stop, a change does not forfeit the package — the term continues with the new master. This is the single biggest reason to change rather than stop when you are on a package.
- The new master's Minimum Balance applies. If your allocation is below it, the change is refused with a message saying so.
What you inherit
The new master's open trades, if any, are mirrored into your copy from the moment of the change. If they are already in profit, you enter at the current price, not the master's entry, so you do not receive profit that was made before you arrived; if they are losing, likewise. The new master's cadence, style and risk become yours immediately. Read the new profile as carefully as you read the first; a change is a new decision, not a continuation.
Where it is recorded
Every change is logged: when, from which master to which, profit settled, fee, amount moved and package. The platform team sees the same log. If a change ever looks wrong on your side, the log is the reference.
When to use it
Use Change master when you have decided, on a calm day, that a different master fits better — the four signals — and especially when you are on a package whose term you want to keep. Do not use it as a reaction to one bad afternoon; the 24-hour rule will get in the way, and it is meant to.
Change master settles with the old, carries the package to the new, and needs a flat master and a day's gap. Both rules exist so that the change is a decision, not a reflex.
This article is education, not investment advice. Trading and copy trading in leveraged instruments carry a high risk of losing the funds you allocate. Read the Risk Disclosure.