"Proportional by Allocation" is the copy mode the platform selects by default, and the one almost every copier should leave selected. It has a simple idea behind it — your trade is the master's trade scaled by the ratio of your money to theirs — and a few consequences that are worth seeing with numbers before you rely on them.
The setup
A master trades gold with $50,000 in their copy-trading account. Two people follow them: Follower A has allocated $5,000, Follower B has allocated $2,000.
The ratios are what everything else follows from:
- Follower A: $5,000 ÷ $50,000 = 0.10
- Follower B: $2,000 ÷ $50,000 = 0.04
The trade
The master buys 1.50 lots of XAU/USD at $4,000 with a stop at $3,985 — a $15 stop, or $1,500 of risk on 1.50 lots (gold is $100 per dollar per lot). That is 3% of the master's account, which is aggressive but makes the arithmetic visible.
| Master | Follower A | Follower B | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account / allocation | $50,000 | $5,000 | $2,000 |
| Ratio | 1.00 | 0.10 | 0.04 |
| Mirrored size | 1.50 lot | 0.15 lot | 0.06 lot |
| Risk if stopped ($15) | $1,500 | $150 | $60 |
| Risk as % of account | 3.0% | 3.0% | 3.0% |
Both followers hold a trade that is, in percentage terms, exactly the master's trade. Follower A risks $150; Follower B risks $60; both risk 3%. If gold rises $30 and the master closes for $4,500, Follower A makes $450 and Follower B $180 — 9% each. Proportional copying preserves the percentage and scales the dollars.
Why that is the right default
Because the master's risk discipline — good or bad — transfers intact. If the master risks 1% per trade, so do you. If they risk 5%, so do you. You are not asked to choose a lot size for an instrument you do not trade, and you cannot accidentally take a position that is huge relative to your allocation. The platform recalculates the ratio for every trade, so if you add funds to the copy, or the master's account grows, the next trade uses the new ratio.
Rounding and minimums
Lot sizes have a minimum step, usually 0.01. A follower whose ratio produces 0.004 lot cannot hold that; the platform rounds to the nearest permitted size, and very small allocations to masters with very large accounts can occasionally round to zero — the trade is skipped. This is one reason masters set a Minimum Balance, and why following with an amount close to that minimum can produce copies that miss the smallest trades. A ratio of 0.02 or above (your allocation at least 2% of the master's account) keeps the rounding negligible.
What the Risk Multiplier does to this
The multiplier scales the ratio. At 2x, Follower A's ratio becomes 0.20, the mirrored size 0.30 lot, the risk $300 or 6%. At 0.5x, 0.075 lot and 1.5%. The percentage is no longer the master's; it is the master's times your multiplier, and the master's drawdown history should be read the same way — a 15% drawdown at 2x would have been 30% for you.
The other two modes, briefly
Risk Multiplier mode is the same idea with the multiplier as the primary control. Fixed Lot ignores the ratio entirely: every mirrored trade is the lot size you type, whatever the master does and whatever your allocation. It suits people who know exactly what they want and understand pip values; for everyone else it breaks the link between the master's discipline and your risk. If the master trades 1.50 lots on a $50,000 account and you set 0.50 fixed on $2,000, you hold a position ten times too large for your money. The platform lets you do it; the arithmetic does not recommend it.
Adding funds mid-copy
If you top up a copy — "Add Funds to Copy Account" — the ratio changes for every trade opened after the top-up, but open trades keep the size they were opened at. So a copy topped up from $2,000 to $4,000 while a 0.06-lot gold trade is running will hold that 0.06 lot until it closes, then mirror the next trade at 0.12. The equity percentage of the open trade is briefly lower than the master's; nothing is wrong, and the ratio is restored on the next entry. The same applies in reverse when a master's own account grows or shrinks: the ratio is recomputed at each new trade, not retroactively.
Where to see it working
Social Copies shows each copy's invested amount, current equity and result. Copy Trades lists every mirrored trade with its size. Take one trade, find the same trade on the master's Recent Trades, and divide the sizes: the answer is your ratio. It is the quickest way to confirm the copy is doing what this article says, and to notice if the multiplier was left on a setting you did not intend.
Your allocation over the master's account is the ratio. Every trade is the master's trade times that ratio. Same percentage, scaled dollars — and the master's discipline, whatever it is, becomes yours.
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.