7 Best Copy Trading Platforms 2023

Copy trading, sometimes also called social trading, is an innovative investing strategy where users copy the trading activity of other, more successful investors. Copy trading is a great way to get started in the financial markets, as it allows you to learn from and copy the trades of more experienced, often professional traders.

In this guide, we go over the best copy and social trading software and platforms. We base our research on a variety of factors like security, safety, fees, trading platform, mobile app, customer service, investments available, and more.

We’ll also examine the risks associated with copy trading investing and its benefits to investors.

Top Trading Platforms for Copy Trading in 2023

This roundup will look at the best copy trading brokers available. You need to consider a few essential aspects before opening an account, such as fees and commissions, regulations, depositing and withdrawing money, and more – but we will talk more in-depth about those things later.

Here is the list of the top copy trading platforms.

  1. eToro – Best Copy Trading Platform Overall
  2. AvaTrade – Best Forex Copy Trading Platform
  3. Pepperstone – Best cTrader Copy Trading Platform
  4. ZuluTrade – Best Third-Party Copy Trading Software
  5. IC Markets – cTrader Copy Trading Platform
  6. Octa FX – Great Copy Trading Broker
  7. Vantage FX – Forex Copy Trading Platform With AutoTrade

Best Overall

etoro logo

PFI Rating 4.9

{etoroCFDrisk}% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Best Trading App

AvaTrade Logo

PFI Rating 4.9

76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Low Spreads

Pepperstone Logo

PFI Rating 4.9

74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs

Copy Trading Platforms in Detail

Our Top Pick
etoro logo

PFI Rating: 4.9/5

1. eToro

eToro is our choice as the best copy trading platform, as they are the largest and most popular software for copy trading. The platform was founded in 2007, and today, it is regulated by top-tier authorities, such as the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

{etoroCFDrisk}% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

eToro pioneered copy trading and grew immensely over the past years – they continue to lead the way for other social trading platforms.

They offer zero-commission real stocks, and their trading fees are low.

The minimum deposit is $50-$200, depending on the country you are signing up from. If you're just getting started in trading, then I can tell you that their demo account is excellent and comes with $100,000 in virtual funds, so you can practice your trading skills all you want.

The eToro CopyTrader platform is available in over 32 languages. It is available to anyone with a valid eToro account. eToro has a PC app available to download, as well as a web platform and mobile applications for both Android and iOS.

Great For: Copy Trading and Zero-Commission Real Stocks

Pros Cons
A large variety of assets, including cryptocurrency Customer Service
Copy trading Some Fees
Financial reports and news items

Mobile App: 4.9/5

Regulation: 4.9/5

Fees: 4.9/5

Min. Deposit: $50 – $200

Overall: 4.9/5

Best Forex Copy Trading
AvaTrade Logo

PFI Rating: 4.9/5

2. AvaTrade

AvaTrade is the best platform to copy forex trading. AvaTrade, founded in 2006, is based in Dublin, Ireland. It is a well-regulated Forex and CFD broker. They hold licenses from FCA, ASIC, FSCA, FRSA, Israel Securities Authority, Financial Services Agency, and the Financial Futures Association of Japan.

The minimum deposit is $100, trading fees are low, and they offer a demo account. When you're registering for the demo trading account , you receive $100,000 which is yours to use to copy forex trader or traders of your choice.

AvaTrade offers CFDs on Forex, Stocks, Commodities, FXOptions, Cryptocurrencies, Indices, ETFs, and Bonds.

Avatrade has a proprietary copy trading platform called AvaSocial, which was developed for Social Copy Trading. AvaSocial allows you to copy the trades of a wide selection of traders. The mobile app is easy to use and intuitive, with an excellent user experience overall. If you don't like trading on your phone, they also have a desktop app.

On top of AvaSocial, they also offer DupliTrade and ZuluTrade for social trading.

76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Great For: Forex Copy Trading

Pros Cons
Well Regulated Only CFDs
Fees
Research Tools

Mobile App: 4.9/5

Regulation: 4.9/5

Fees: 4.9/5

Min. Deposit: $100

Overall: 4.9/5

Low Spreads
Pepperstone Logo

PFI Rating: 4.9/5

3. Pepperstone

Pepperstone is an Australian-based Forex and CFD broker founded in 2010. They are regulated across the globe by ASIC, CySEC, FCA, SCB, DFSA, BaFin, and CMA.

Pepperstone offers copy trading through MyFxbook, MetaTrader Signals, and Duplitrade.

TheyTheir trading fees are low. The minimum deposit is $0, and they have no inactivity fees.

74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs

Great For: Low Spread Copy Trading

Pros Cons
Well Regulated Only CFDs
Fees
Research Tools

Mobile App: 4.9/5

Regulation: 4.9/5

Fees: 4.9/5

Min. Deposit: $100

Overall: 4.9/5

ZuluTrade

PFI Rating: 4.6/5

4. ZuluTrade

ZuluTrade is a trading software that allows copy trading and plugs into an existing brokerage account. They developed software and a platform where clients can register, rank, and choose a trader they wish to copy. Traders' results are verified by ZuluTrade.

The minimum deposit at ZuluTrade is based on the broker you choose. The same goes for trading fees, as they are charged by your broker.

They offer two account types: classic account with no subscription and profit sharing account at $29.99/month with 1 month free.

The classic account has volume-based fees.

ZuluTrade profit sharing has a subscription fee and a transparent profit-sharing model. You pay only for successful (profitable) trades.

Up to 20% of the profit goes to the trader, 5% to ZuluTrade, and investors take 75% of the profit.

On ZuluTrade Official Website

Great For: Third-party Software

Pros Cons
Works with different brokers Third-Party Software
Detailed performance reports Not Integrated
Crypto Available

Mobile App: 4.4/5

Regulation: N/A

Fees: Broker fees + ZuluTrade

Min. Deposit: Broker Dependant

Overall: 4.6/5

IC Markets Logo

PFI Rating: 4.5/5

5. IC Markets

IC Market is an Australian-based broker that offers copy trading through cTrader and ZuluTrade.

IC Markets offers raw spreads from 0 pips (depending on account type) and is best for Forex traders. They offer three different account types. The Minimum deposit is $200 with no inactivity fees.

During our research and testing, we found their execution speeds are fast.

IC Markets offers trading CDFs on Forex, Commodities, Indices, Bonds, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, and Futures.

On IC Markets Official Website

Great For: cTrader Copy Trading

Pros Cons
Low fees for Forex trading Limited Products
3rd Party Trading Platforms
Regulation

Mobile App: 4.4/5

Regulation: 4.7/5

Fees: 4.7/5

Min. Deposit: $200

Overall: 4.5/5

OctaFX Logo

PFI Rating: 4.5/5

6. Octa FX

OctaFX was founded in 2011 and is available in over 150 countries. They operate in the EU and Asia but aren't available in the US. OctaFX is well designed, intuitive, and easy to use, with excellent educational materials. The company is regulated by CySEC.

The OctaFX Copytrading app is available on Android only or as a web-based platform.

You can filter and search for expert traders based on this performance, risk score, the number of copiers, gain, and commissions.

OctaFX has some of the most competitive commission rates among brokers. They also guarantee zero slippage or requotes of Forex pairs.

On Octa FX Official Website

Great For: Leveraged Trading

Pros Cons
Low fees for Forex trading Limited Products
Account Opening Customer Support
Easy Deposit and Withdrawal

Mobile App: 4.4/5

Regulation: 4.5/5

Fees: 4.7/5

Min. Deposit: $50

Overall: 4.5/5

VantageFX Logo

PFI Rating: 4.5/5

7. Vantage FX

Vantage FX is next on our list. Founded in 2009, Vantage FX is regulated by VFSC, ASIC, and CIMA.

The minimum deposit is $200 with no deposit fees. They offer leverage up to 500:1 and spreads from 0.0 pips.

Vantage FX platforms include MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5. Vantage FX copy trading is through DupliTrader, ZuluTrade, and MyFXBook Autotrade.

On Vantage FX Official Website

Great For: Leveraged Trading

Pros Cons
Low fees for Forex trading Limited Products
Account Opening Customer Support
Easy Deposit and Withdrawal

Mobile App: 4.4/5

Regulation: 4.5/5

Fees: 4.7/5

Min. Deposit: $50

Overall: 4.5/5

Compare Copy Trading Platforms

Below we compared the platforms based on a variety of factors.

Trading Platform eToro AvaTrade Pepperstone ZuluTrade IC Markets
Founded 2007 2006 2010 2007 2007
Regulation FCA, CySEC, ASIC, FSAS FCA, ASIC, FSCA, FRSA, Israel Securities Authority, Financial Services Agency, Financial Futures Association of Japan ASIC, CySEC, FCA, SCB, DFSA, BaFin, CMA EU and Japan ASIC, CySEC, FSA, SCB
Offering Of Investments Stocks, ETFs, Forex, Crypto, Indices, Commodities Forex, Stocks, Commodities, FXOptions, Cryptocurrencies, Indices, ETFs, Bonds CFDs on Forex, Crypto, Shares, Indices, Crypto Forex, Stocks, Crypto, Commodities, Indices CDFs on Forex, Commodities, Indices, Bonds, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, Futures
Minimum Deposit $50 - $100 $100 $0 Broker Dependant $200
Demo Account Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Withdrawal Fee $5 $0 $5 Broker Dependant $0
Inactivity Fee $10/month $50/month After 3 Months $0 Broker Dependant $0
Deposit Methods PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Credit Card, Debit Card, Rapid Transfer,iDEAL, Klarna / Sofort Banking, Bank Transfer, Online Banking - Trustly, POLi Credit and Debit Cards, Wire Transfer, e-payments Credit/debit cards, Bank/Wire Transfer, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay Broker Dependant Credit Cards, Debit Cards, PayPayl, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay, Wire Transfer, Bpay, Fasapay, Broker to Broker, Poli, Thai Internet banking, Klarna, Rapidpay, Vietnames Internet Banking

What is The Best Copy Trading App?

When it comes to mobile apps, e-Toro stands out against its competitors. It was built with user-friendliness in mind. It is the most streamlined app of all the brokers on this list. Information is easy to sort through and communicate. It is one of the few apps available with the full functionality of its desktop counterpart.

What is The Best Copy Trading Platform for Cryptocurrencies?

If you want to get into crypto, eToro is the best cryptocurrency copy platform.

They have a wide range of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. All eToro users are given access to a crypto wallet.

eToro has crypto copy portfolios for traders looking for a more passive approach to crypto trading. It is a crypto social trading revolution where you can copy top crypto traders.

What is the Best Platform for Forex Copy Trading?

If you’re looking to trade Forex pairs, AvaTrade is the clear winner. Because of their regulations, they are considered low-risk in the forex industry.

They have access to an impressive 55 currency pairs to trade. Additionally, they have some of the lowest commission charges of any retail Forex broker.

What's the Difference Between Copy Trading, Social Trading, and Mirror Trading?

The differences between these types of copy trading are small but essential.

Copy trading allows users to select the specific investment strategy they wish to follow. Copy-trading platforms give users access to the signal provider’s performance history and other crucial data to choose which signal provider matches their goals. Sometimes the term social trading platforms are used instead of copy trading. Copy trading is a great way to get started in the markets, as it allows you to learn from and copy the trades of more experienced investors.

Mirror trading is an older trading strategy refined into copy trading through big data. With mirror trading, users have to mirror the portfolio of other experienced traders without any manual input. 

Platforms will conglomerate signal data from their top-performing traders, which mirror retail traders then follow.

Social trading is the umbrella that both copy and mirror trading fall under. Social trading combines the best aspects of social media into automated trading software, allowing users to chat and exchange ideas. The goal is to build a community of global traders.

What are the Popular Copy Trading Softwares?

Retail brokers like eToro and Avatrade use proprietary trading platforms to execute orders. Various other platforms utilize copy-trading software, the most popular of which is MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 (MT4 & MT5). Copy Trading is not a fully automated trading bot but copies investors' trades.

These platforms provide the fundamental features that allow users to copy trade by hosting important data on traders and market sentiments.

Before committing to a broker, it’s essential to understand what each potential platform uses and what that means to the trader.

MetaTrader4

It is possible to trade directly through MT4. Retail brokers using MT4 conglomerate the many different graphs and spread them into focussed information that’s easier to digest for most users.

MT4 is the older version of MT5, but many brokers still use it. For most users, the features on MT4 are more than enough to trade accurately. One of the most significant drawbacks of this platform is the lack of an economic calendar to track important dates.

The platform has a portfolio tester but is limited to a single thread.

MetaTrader5

MT5 was released in 2010. Despite its expanded list of features, many brokers have slowly adopted it.

It has an economic calendar useful for gaining a broader perspective of global trends.

One of the most critical aspects of MT5 is the embedded community chat. This allows users across all platforms to swap tips and tricks. This is useful as it massively expands the user base of any brokerage to include many traders who use different firms.

cTrader

cTrader Copy is an overhaul of a previous system known as cMirror. Although it is not as prolific as MT4 or 5, it’s used widely among more niche brokers.

They are focused on social trading and allow any traders to become signal providers, as opposed to only the highest performing. Also, each signal provider can choose how much commission to charge their followers.

This creates a competitive market where the most profitable signal providers quickly rise.

DupliTrade Copy Trading

DupliTrade offers strategies in stock, CFDs, and Forex, but the vast majority focuses on the Forex market.

While it offers the least amount of instruments to trade, it provides the most in-depth analysis of traders of any platform on this list.

DupliTrade allows users to examine eleven different categories of signal providers, including the entire trading history and gross profit of their portfolio.

Although their trade instruments are limited, maximized transparency gives copy traders a good chance of following a winning portfolio.

Should You Start Copy Trading?

Brokers argue that copy trading reduces the risk traders take on when they start trading. This holds some truth but isn’t entirely accurate.

We’ve put together a list of the pros and cons of copy trading below.

Pros

  • Follow your platform's best traders' to automate trading strategies.
  • Auto trading limits time investment. Trades can be made while you sleep.
  • Many platforms allow you to start and stop copy trading quickly.
  • Little experience in trading is needed to start.
  • There is no emotional factor, as you're not the one to make a decision.
  • There are many brokers and traders to choose from.

Cons

  • Even the most profitable traders don’t always win.
  • Copy trading costs more in commission than manual trading.
  • You will always be slightly behind the trend if you copy other traders.
  • Your knowledge about trading will not be as extensive when you copy trader as it would be if you were to learn trading on your own.

How to Pick a Copy Trading Broker?

As a copy trader, you need to know which copy trading platform is the best one for you and your needs. More experienced traders know more or less which sites are worth their attention, but it is still good to have a “cheat sheet” of what to look for when assessing copy trading platforms. That's why, below, you will find some of the most important things you should take into consideration whenever you're debating joining a new platform.

Fees & Commissions

The first that should be considered are the fees the platform charges. Brokers charge their users to make money for themselves. Some brokers, like eToro, don’t charge much for commissions on trades, but they take a cut of every trade’s profits.

Inactivity fees are also something worth paying attention to. Brokers penalize traders who leave their accounts dormant without trading. These fees can add up if you’re not paying attention. Many signal providers charge a commission on each copied trade.

Regulation

The regulations a broker must adhere to depend on the territories in which that broker has offices. Traders should familiarise themselves with all the regulations of a broker before trading with them.

Authorities can set rules determining any aspects of trading, including leverage amounts and tradable instruments. Leverage maximums are different all over the world. In the US, they are limited to 50:1. In the UK and EU, it is limited to 100:1

Whether your funds are kept in segregated accounts will also depend on the regulations of the area. Whenever looking at a platform, make sure that it is a regulated broker.

Customer Support

Brokers are in charge of keeping your money safe, so you need to be sure that you can get hold of them if something goes wrong. Many traders are concerned that their broker might not respond to them.

If you want to reach your broker over the phone, odds are you will only be able to during their office hours. Since you can trade with brokers from all over the planet, time zones can make communication between trader and broker difficult.

Many industry awards are given to brokers with good customer support. AvaTrade has won awards for its support many times. 

Before committing to a broker, you should check the methods you can use to contact them. The best platforms will usually have more than one way in which you can get in touch with them – the most popular ones are via email or a phone call, but the live chat feature is gaining popularity.

Deposit and Withdrawal Methods

Each social trading platform will have its own method by which traders can deposit and withdraw money into and out of their accounts.

Some companies, such as eToro, allow users to select withdrawing money through direct bank transfers, PayPal, or credit card payments.

It is becoming increasingly common to allow traders to withdraw their funds in some form of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Etherium. These are viable options, but we would recommend steering away from trading platforms where that is the only option.

The Risks of Copy Trading

Copy trading comes with risks, like all forms of online trading.

Trades are predictions that a stock or currency will perform a certain way, either increasing or decreasing in value. As sure as a prediction may seem, no one can claim to be 100% sure how a market will behave.

New traders must be especially cautious when trading using leverage. It’s a helpful feature that brokers offer to increase your trading power using limited capital. 

While it could massively increase earnings on profitable trades, losses incurred using leverage could be more than your initial investment.

How to Pick a Good Trader to Copy

Picking the best copy trading platform is just the beginning – you also need to choose the right traders to copy. Otherwise, your efforts will be fruitless. So, we prepared a short instruction on what to take into consideration when looking for the best trader to copy.

Track Record

The first, and probably one of the most important things you need to look at, is your potential trader's track record. Have they had successful trades? Are their results consistent? How long have they been trading?

Generally speaking, it is better to look for traders to copy that have been trading for more than 12 months, as the market isn't always consistent, so it will let you see how their trades looked during different times of the year. As for the trades themselves, look for someone who has been bringing in consistent results rather than someone who has successful trades every once in a while.

Be aware that if trades made by a trader seem too good to be true, they probably are. That's because very high annual returns are usually either because of luck or because someone is using very high-risk trading strategies – neither of which are ideal circumstances for you.

When it comes to how you can check your potential provider of trading signals, you can look at their historical performance graph. If a graph shows steady growth, chances are they are a good trader to copy. If the graph shows a lot of inconsistencies, then it would probably be better to avoid copying such a trader.

Number of Followers and Amount of Money Invested

Social trading platforms are similar to social media – a person who has more followers is more likely to be a good trader to copy than someone who has only a few. It's really simple – people deciding to copy trade do it because they want to see results (profit), and they wouldn't follow someone who didn't bring it to them.

However, it's important that you also check whether their followers are using their own money to trade. After all, you're about to use yours, so you probably don't want to take any risks. If there are a lot of demo accounts following them and not a lot of real money traders, then you probably need to give that specific person a second thought.

Another thing that you should take into consideration whenever you're assessing who would be the best traders to copy is to see how much profit those following them actually make and how much money is actually invested in them.

Drawdown

Drawdown, in simple terms, is the amount of money the trader lost before they started to make a profit again. If a trader has very high drawdowns, then copying their trades would be risky – especially if you're just starting in financial markets and can't afford to lose big amounts of money. However, a trader that doesn't have any losing trades isn't a good choice either. If you have to choose, choose a trader that has a maximum drawdown of 20% or less.

If you're a day trader, then you should also take into consideration the trader's daily drawdown and not only the maximum drawdown.

FAQ

Is copy trading legal?

Yes, copy trading (including copytrade forex) is completely legal all across the world. The most important aspect to look at concerning legality is which region a broker is regulated in and whether they adhere to those regulations.
In the U.S., copy trading is legal. Check for regulation of CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission.

Can you trade forex for free?

Yes, free forex copy trades are possible, and we already kind of mentioned how to achieve them – open a free demo account.

Can you make money with copy trading?

This is probably one of the most common questions one thinking about starting copy trading would like to know the answer to – is copy trading profitable?

The truth is that anyone can make money with copy trading, provided they copy a profitable signal provider. Traders looking to make money should do as much research as they can before copying another trader.

Not every trader will be profitable. Traders could copy signal providers who don’t make high returns. Most platforms allow users access to trade history to try and mitigate this. We shared a few tips on how to find and copy successful forex traders above.

How to start copy trading?

Provided you’ve read this guide, starting copy trading is easy. Pick out the platform that you think best suits your needs. We’ve gone over some of the most popular in this list, but there are hundreds more out there.

Which one will be best for you depends mostly on what you want to copy. Do you want to copy trade forex? Or do you prefer stock trading? You need to think hard about that, as the best platform offering forex copy trade services will be different from the best stock trading platform.

Make sure you’ve researched commission charges and deposit amounts before you open an account on any trade copy service platform. Once you’ve opened an account, find a signal provider and research their trade history. Try and find one that makes a profit on average before you copy them.

How to find good traders to copy?

We already gave you a more in-depth explanation about what to look for in good traders, whether you want to copy forex traders, copy stock traders or copy other types of traders.

One easy way to vet a trader is by looking at the amount of money other traders have invested using their strategies. Do not include demo accounts in this tally. If a trader has large amounts of capital following their trades, odds are they’re a trusted provider.

It’s also helpful to look at a trader’s returns. Negative returns should be avoided. But returns that are too high can also raise some red flags.

About the author

Ziga Breznik is the owner and head of research at PublicFinanceInternational.org – he is an active investor in the forex, crypto and stock markets – he has seen trading platforms disappear along with his investments – especially during the “crypto boom”. Ziga learned the hard way that finding a reputable and trustworthy online brokerage is key to long-term success in the financial markets. He founded PublicFinanceInternational.org as a platform where he shares his research with one goal in mind: to provide unbiased and trustworthy online brokers reviews.