What Copy Trading on Tradovate Means
To copy trade on Tradovate, you need a third-party trade copier that connects to Tradovate's broker API. Tradovate does not have a built-in copy trading feature. Tradecopia fills that gap by connecting directly to the Tradovate API, detecting fills on your leader account, and routing matching orders to every follower account in real time.
Because the connection runs at the broker API level, there is no Tradovate plugin to install and no dependency on Tradovate's platform UI. If Tradovate updates its interface, your copy trading setup is unaffected.
The setup has three parts - connect your accounts, create a group, and start trading on the leader. Tradecopia handles replication from there.
Tradecopia connects to four brokers for copy trading: Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Rithmic, and TopstepX. TradingView is also supported as a connection you trade from. Any prop firm that issues accounts on those platforms works with Tradecopia. If you are new, the discount code COPIA applies at checkout.
Step 1 - Connect Your Tradovate Account in Tradecopia
Open the Tradecopia desktop app and go to Connections. Click Add Connection and select Tradovate from the platform list.
You will be prompted to choose an account type: Live or Demo. This is a critical choice. Most prop firm accounts, including evaluation accounts and funded accounts, are classified as Demo at the broker level. Select Demo for any prop firm account unless you are certain it is a live account. Choose Live only for a personal live brokerage account.
After selecting the account type, a browser popup opens to the Tradovate login page. Log in with your Tradovate credentials. If the popup does not open automatically, Tradecopia provides a Copy Link fallback - paste that URL into any browser to complete the authorisation.
Once authorised, return to Tradecopia and confirm the status shows Connected. A single Tradovate connection links all accounts under the same prop firm organisation, so you do not need to add a separate connection for each account.
If Tradecopia asks you to log in every time you reopen the app, go to Settings and enable Token Management. This handles OAuth token refresh automatically and keeps your connection active between sessions.
Step 2 - Create a Copy Trading Group
With your account connected, go to Groups in Tradecopia and create a new group. A group consists of one leader account and one or more follower accounts.
The leader is the account where you trade manually. Tradecopia monitors the leader for fill events through the Tradovate API and routes matching orders to every follower. Tradecopia never places the entry order on the leader, it only replicates fills from the leader to followers.
Select your leader account from the connected accounts list. This is typically a personal live account. If all your accounts are on Tradovate, the leader can be any account you plan to trade actively.
Then add your follower accounts. These are the funded accounts you want Tradecopia to copy into. You can mix platforms within a group - a Tradovate leader can have followers on NinjaTrader, Rithmic, TopstepX, or TradingView as well.
For a deeper look at how the copy engine handles the full order lifecycle, see the futures trade copier guide.
Step 3 - Configure Follower Settings
Each follower account has its own quantity multiplier that controls how many contracts it copies relative to the leader's position size.
- 0.5 - the follower trades half the leader's size. If the leader buys 4 contracts, the follower gets 2.
- 1.0 - the follower matches the leader exactly.
- 2.0 - the follower doubles the leader's size.
Set the multiplier per follower based on each account's size limits and drawdown rules. Prop firm accounts often have strict per-contract limits, so configure each one to match its firm's restrictions independently.
You can also apply per-follower risk controls, including a daily loss limit, a position-size cap, session window restrictions, and a symbol whitelist. Each setting is evaluated independently per follower before any order goes out.
Before going live, confirm with each prop firm that they permit copy trading and third-party platform connections. Most funded futures firms allow it, but policies vary by firm and account type. Check the terms of service or contact support directly.
Step 4 - Go Live and Verify Replication
Once your group is configured, place a test trade on the leader account. Tradecopia should route matching orders to every follower and confirm fills on each one. Check the Tradecopia dashboard for fill confirmations and review any latency readings shown there.
If a follower does not receive the order, verify that the connection is still active in the Connections panel and that the follower account is assigned to the group with the correct account type selected. Demo accounts do not receive orders routed to live connections, and vice versa.
On Tradecopia Pro (the desktop plan), the app must be running for replication to work. If your machine is off or loses connectivity, copying pauses. On Pro+ Lite and Pro+, the engine runs continuously in the cloud with no local machine required. See the pricing page for plan options.
Managing Multiple Prop Firm Accounts on Tradovate
If you hold accounts across several prop firms, you can run multiple groups at the same time. Each group operates independently, so an issue with one firm's accounts does not affect the others.
A common Tradovate setup looks like this:
- Group 1 - leader on your personal live Tradovate account, followers are your Tradeify or TakeProfitTrader funded accounts
- Group 2 - followers are your Lucid or Alpha Futures accounts
- Group 3 - followers are your Apex Trader Funding accounts on Rithmic
All groups run simultaneously. Tradecopia maintains separate API connections to each platform and routes signals to all groups in parallel.
Partner prop firms that work with Tradecopia include Lucid, Tradeify, TakeProfitTrader, FundedNext Futures, Alpha Futures, Blusky, Funded Futures Network, E8 Markets, and Apex Trader Funding. Many other firms are supported as long as they issue accounts on one of the supported brokers or via TradingView.
For a full walkthrough of running multiple prop firm accounts at once, see the multi-account management guide.
Limitations to Know Before You Start
Tradecopia is futures only. It does not support forex, equities, crypto, or options. If your accounts trade instruments outside futures, those trades cannot be copied through Tradecopia.
The Tradecopia desktop app must be running for trade replication to work on the Pro plan. On Pro+ Lite and Pro+, the engine runs continuously in the cloud with no local machine required.
Trailing drawdown is visible in the Tradecopia interface but is not yet a live automated guardrail that stops copying when a threshold is hit. Do not rely on it as a safety stop at this stage. Use the equity stop and daily loss limit settings for per-account risk control instead.
Each follower account belongs to one group. A funded account cannot follow two different leaders simultaneously.
For an overview of Tradovate as a platform, see Tradovate's official site. For general guidance on futures trading regulation, the National Futures Association provides educational resources for traders. For contract specifications on the instruments you are copying, CME Group publishes detailed specs for major futures contracts.