Master and child accounts in copy trading, explained

Every copy trading setup has two kinds of account. The master is the one you trade in. The child accounts follow it. This explainer covers what each one is, what gets copied between them, and how each child is sized.

The examples use MyAlgoMate's Copy Trading Software. The software runs on your own Windows PC or a cloud machine you rent, and connects to each account through its broker's official API.

What a master account is

The master is the one account you actually trade in. It is usually the account you already use, through your broker's terminal, its app or website, or your own algo. Nothing about how you trade has to change.

The software watches the master's order book. When a new order appears, it places matching orders in the child accounts. It does not matter how the master's order was created: an order placed by hand and an order placed by another program are copied the same way.

A few things to know about the master:

• There is one master per setup, and your subscription records its broker and Client ID.
• Any supported broker can be the master.
• The master logs in first. A child cannot log in before the master, because everything a child does comes from the master's orders.

What a child account is

A child account is any other trading account you link to the software. Each one receives a copy of every order placed in the master, sized by its own multiplier.

• A child can be at the same broker as the master or at a different one.
• Nothing is installed for a child account, and nobody has to sign in to it separately. You add its broker details once, inside the software, and the software logs it in.
• Each child still needs working API access with its own broker, and its own static IP registered there.
• Your subscription sets how many children copy at the same time, and you switch copying on or off for each child.

Broker details differ. See copy trading with Angel One or copy trading with Dhan for how an account is set up at those brokers, as a master or as a child.

What gets copied: new orders, modifications, cancellations and exits

Here is what passes from the master to the children, and what does not.

• New orders. Completed orders are copied, and so are pending limit, SL-M and SL-limit orders that are waiting for their trigger.
• Modifications. A change to the limit price or the trigger price is copied. A change to the quantity or the product type is not. If you need a different size, cancel the order and place a new one.
• Cancellations. Cancelling a pending order in the master is copied to the children too.
• Exits. An exit you place in the master is an order like any other, so it is copied the same way. From the software itself, you can also exit one position, several at once, or everything in every account with EXIT ALL.
• Rejections in the master. If your broker rejects the master's order, there is nothing to copy and nothing is sent.

How copies are priced. A limit order in the master reaches each child as a limit order at your price. A market order is copied as a limit order with a buffer you set.

Per-account limits. Each account can have its own Max Loss and Max Profit setting. When an account reaches its figure, that account is squared off and taken out of copying for the rest of the session, while the others carry on.

Multipliers and fixed quantities

Each child's size comes from its multiplier. The child trades the master's quantity times that number, so a larger account can trade a bigger size than a smaller one.

• ×1 copies the master's quantity exactly, lot for lot.
• ×3 triples it: the master trades 2 lots, and the child trades 6.
• ×0.5 halves it.

A fixed quantity means a child trades the same number of lots every time, whatever the master trades. In MyAlgoMate's copy trading, every copied order is sized by the multiplier instead, so each child stays in step with the master. To type an exact quantity for each account on a single order, use PMS mode: press Buy or Sell on your market watch, tick the accounts and set a quantity for each. Each quantity starts from that account's multiplier, and you can overtype any of them.

Decimals and lots. Decimal multipliers work too. In futures and options the result has to land on a whole lot, so you choose Round Up or Round Down. With Round Up, 2 lots of 50 times 1.4 gives 140, which becomes 150. With Round Down, it becomes 100. If you book part of a position or add to one in stages, whole-number multipliers avoid small leftover quantities.

Choosing segments per child account

The software copies eight segments: NSE, NFO, NCO, MCX, CDS, BSE, BFO and BCD. You decide which of them reach each child, in two places.

• The desk-wide rule. Settings ▸ Copy Option has a tick box for each segment and for each product type (MIS, NRML, CNC, MARGIN and MTF). A master order in an unticked segment or product type is not copied to any child.
• The per-child rule. Each child row in the ACCOUNTS grid has its own segment ticks. A segment has to be on in both places for an order to reach that child.

So one child can take only equity orders while another also takes F&O and commodity orders.

One thing to watch: an unticked segment produces no error, and positions still show on screen for every account. This is why the software reads your segment choices back to you before you start copying each session.

The master has no segment settings of its own. Segments describe what is copied into an account, and nothing is copied into the master.

Common questions

Can a child account be at a different broker from the master?

Yes. The master can be at one broker and each child at a different one. There is no requirement that any two accounts share a broker.

Is an order that the broker rejects in the master still copied?

No. If the master's order is rejected, there is nothing to copy, and nothing is sent to the child accounts.

What happens when a child account's order is rejected?

You decide, in the rejection settings. Copying can carry on with the rejection logged, stop for the whole desk on the first rejection, or retry the order a set number of times and then stop or carry on.

Can I change a child's multiplier while copying is running?

Yes. Multipliers stay editable while copying runs, so you can change a child's size mid-session, and you can set a different multiplier for each segment.

Does each child account need its own static IP?

Yes. Every account that places orders through a broker API, the master and each child, needs a static IP registered with its broker. The software lets you give each account its own proxy, so accounts can connect from different static IPs.

MyAlgoMate Technologies LLP is a technology provider and does not act as an investment adviser, research analyst or portfolio manager. We provide automation tools; all trading decisions and transactions are the user's own responsibility and are subject to market risk.