Ctrader putting on 2x Volume per trade it is supposed to ? Please help.

PanagiotisCharalampous
05 Nov 2019, 08:27

Hi goose567berry,

cTrader Copy is copying based an equity to equity ratio. If your account's balance is twice the size of the strategy provider then the trades copied will have double the volume. Read more about the copying logic here.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

goose567berry
05 Nov 2019, 14:22

Hi,

I started with less than equity than the account I was copying. (EDIT: For anyone reading - I started with a lower account balance, but! higher equity which led to my broker rounding upwards to the nearest figure... which was double...  ---- something to be aware of and cautious about if joining a strategy with current open positions) Yet my account was placing twice the volume.

I later deposited enough to make our accounts roughly the same as I was going to be margin called due to the error.

This seems to me; an error with your software, not my equity versus the account copied.

I have screenshots proving this.

Please advise.

Mine

https://ibb.co/q03vf5Q

The account I was copying:

https://ibb.co/Qc9D9NT

PanagiotisCharalampous
05 Nov 2019, 14:24

Hi goose567berry,

To be able to investigate we will more information. We need you to provide us with the following

1. Strategy name
2. Your broker and account number
3. The position ID you are referring to

Some screenshots that support your claim would be also useful

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

goose567berry
05 Nov 2019, 14:37

Strategy name: Herotrade Master

My broker and account numer: ICmarkets   ------   1075031

The position ID's  (it was every single position already open when I clicked; copy and every trade opened afterwards.

PID35296433
PID35296434
PID35296435
PID35296436
PID35296437
PID35296438
PID35296439
PID35296440
PID35296441
PID35296442
PID35296443
PID35296444
PID35296445
PID35296446

 Plus there were 3 more... totalling 17 positions by the time I 'stopped copying'  Due to fears of getting an unfair margin call as there was clearly something very wrong. This gave me -30% of my account balance which is very unfair and concerning.

Here are two uncropped screenshots:

Mine: (With ~1.2% more equity than account copied): https://ibb.co/m42T0xb

Theirs:  https://ibb.co/nc9HQm1

1.2% more equity should not be rounded up 98.2% to place double the volume on trades.

So what happened?

PanagiotisCharalampous
05 Nov 2019, 14:43

Hi goose567berry,

If the images you posted are correct then your account's equity is 74.44 which is larger than the strategy provider's which is 67.05. Therefore it is normal for your positions to be larger.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

goose567berry
05 Nov 2019, 14:59

100% / double the volume - larger? with 1.2% more equity? (I uploaded new screenshots with time stamp)

Clearly 1.2% more will not allow me to copy 100% more volume than the account I am copying.

What happens in the hypothetical instance; I had 1.2% less equity? Do I still place any trades?

If you rounded it to even the nearest 5% I would have the same equity as the account copied... so It would make sense that I put on the volume on trades.. not double.

Can you clarify, at what point I place double the trades and what percentage of the account I'm copyings' equity I need to have in order to even begin copying please.

PanagiotisCharalampous
05 Nov 2019, 16:20

Hi goose567berry,

Volume is rounded upwards to the nearest step set by the broker. So in your case, even with 1.2% more equity, the volume based on the equity to equity ratio is 1012. Thus, volume was rounded to 2000 since the symbol is traded in steps of 1000. I am not aware of any broker that allows trading in steps less than 1000.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis

goose567berry
05 Nov 2019, 17:22

Ah, Ok. Thankyou for explaining Panagiotis Charalampous.

So it is advisable to make my initial deposit {into a strategy} slightly less than the current equity of the strategy I would like to copy? (providing I do not want to double each position of the strategy I am copying)

And only increase it above 100% of the traders equity if I have at least double their equity available to invest in their strategy - to ensure I have enough margin to copy their trading strategy exactly - without being margin called; prior to them.?

----

Additionally - It seems impossible to join a trading strategy that has open postions due to different entry points and thus a fluxuation in the corellation of equities of my account and the strategy I begin following.

Is the any way to mitigate this issue? I can't really see a way of caluculating this in order to avoid going 0.1% e.g over the equity of the strategy and suddenly placing 100% the volume intended if the trader decides to place an additional trade whilst I'm in positive equity over them ------ causing a 'snowball' effect where I contiously place 2x the volume they do.

PanagiotisCharalampous
06 Nov 2019, 08:24

Hi goose567berry,

The answer to your questions really depends on the strategy you are following. Your case is a special case. If for example your strategy provider was opening positions of 100.000, you would be copying with 102.000. In this case the ratio of the position would be close to your real equity to equity ratio. But because the next step after 1000 is 2000, you get this difference in results. We are currently looking into ways to handle such cases differently for upcoming versions of cTrader Copy.

Best Regards,

Panagiotis