OKX · Strategy Hands-On
OKX Copy Trading Rules: Modes, Profit Share, Stopping
When you copy a trader on OKX, the money never leaves your own trading account. You pick a lead trader; when they open a position the system opens one in your account by the rule you set, when they close you close, the profit or loss is yours, and a share of the profit goes to them. OKX's Copy trading FAQ says you pay the regular trading fees for your tier and no other transaction fees, apart from that profit share.
Which copy trading modes does OKX offer?
Futures copy trading sizes each order in one of two ways, fixed amount or proportional amount. Spot has a third mode, smart sync:
| Mode | How each order is sized | Example from OKX's pages |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed amount | The same sum every time the lead trader opens a position | 100 USDT per order; after 10 positions you have put in 1,000 USDT |
| Proportional amount | Lead trader's order value × your multiplier | A 0.1x multiplier on a 10,000 USDT lead position gives a 1,000 USDT order |
| Smart sync (spot) | The lead trader's buy as a share of their equity × your total investment | Lead equity 10,000 USDT, buys 1,000 USDT of BTC (10%); your investment is 1,000 USDT, so you buy 100 USDT |
The appeal of proportional copying, as Introduction to proportional copy trading describes it, is that your order size moves with the lead trader's. The same page gives a recommended range for the multiplier, meant to limit liquidation risk: recommended multiplier = modifier × min{maximum total copy amount, your USDT equity} ÷ lead trader's USDT equity, with a modifier of 0.5 for the minimum and 1 for the maximum. In its example, with a 30,000 USDT maximum total copy amount, 10,000 USDT of your own equity and 20,000 USDT of lead trader equity, the maximum recommended multiplier is 1 × 10,000 ÷ 20,000 = 0.5 and the minimum is 0.5 × 10,000 ÷ 20,000 = 0.25.
The limits on smart sync come from What is smart sync spot copy trading?: the minimum investment is 100 USDT, and the page states "We currently don't support switching copy mode for existing trades", so changing mode means stopping and copying again. There is also a "Buy existing assets" switch. Turned on, you buy the spot assets the lead trader already holds, at market price. Turned off, you only buy what they purchase from then on.
How much per order, how many traders: the limits
What a copy trader can enter is listed in What limits are there for futures copy trading?:
| Setting | Range |
|---|---|
| Fixed amount per order | 10–100,000 USDT |
| Proportional amount per order | 0.01x–100x |
| Maximum copy amount | 10–10,000,000 USDT |
| Lead traders copied at once | Up to 10 in hedge mode, 1 in one-way mode |
OKX's own pages disagree on three of the numbers:
- Proportional multiplier: 0.01x–100x on the limits page above, 0.01 to 10 on the proportional copy trading page.
- Maximum copy amount (called "Maximum total amount" on the proportional page): 10–10,000,000 USDT on the limits page, "between 20 and 30,000 USDT" on the proportional page.
- Profit share: up to 30% on the profit sharing rules page, 8%–13% of profits in the Copy trading FAQ.
All four pages are marked as updated in August 2026, on the 19th or the 26th, so the dates do not show which one is out of date. Go by what the input fields on the copy settings screen accept.
The proportional page also sets the per-order ceilings: take profit at a maximum of 150% and stop loss at a maximum of 75%, with the position closing automatically when either is reached. Margin mode and leverage follow your manual futures trading page.
The maximum amount is the setting to fill in with the most care. Once your total margin across all orders under one lead trader reaches it, new trades stop being copied until some existing positions close. Set it to the full amount you are prepared to commit this time, not to a large number picked at random.
There is a cap on the lead trader's side as well. The Copy trading FAQ says a lead trader can lead up to 500 trades per day, and positions opened after that are not copied.
How much is the profit share, and when is it settled?
The rules are in Lead traders: Trader profit sharing rules. The page is addressed to lead traders, but the money it describes comes from the copy trader:
- Ratio: copy traders share up to 30% of their copy trading profit with the lead trader, depending on the lead trader's level. The lead trader can change the ratio up to 3 times a month. The other figure OKX gives is in the previous section.
- What it is charged on: the profit and loss of each copied order, after trading fees, netted over the settlement cycle. Losing trades offset winning ones.
- Withholding and refund: on profitable copy trades a percentage is withheld before settlement. If the amount actually owed at settlement is smaller than what was withheld, the excess is returned to your trading account on the settlement date.
- Cycle: weekly, Monday 00:00 to Sunday 23:59:59 (UTC+8), with profit sharing calculated every Monday at 00:00 (UTC+8).
- Precondition: you and the lead trader must have no linked positions left open. For futures, if you are still copying an open position, settlement moves to the next period. For spot, the week's pending profit is settled only once all the crypto bought during that week has been sold.
OKX's own example uses a lead trader with a 10% ratio. Six copied trades in one week come to +200, −50, +300, −500, +500 and +100, a net profit of 550 USDT. The four winners had 20, 30, 50 and 10 USDT withheld, 110 USDT in all. At settlement the lead trader receives 550 × 10% = 55 USDT and 110 − 55 = 55 USDT goes back to the copy trader.
The withholding happens before settlement day, so during the week your balance is lower than you might expect, and the excess only comes back on Monday. The precondition matters too: leave one copied position open and that week is not settled. The page does not say what happens in a week that ends in a net loss.
How to stop copying, and when copied positions get closed
The steps in How do I manage my copied trades? are: in the app go to Trade > Bots & Copy, select My bots and switch to My copies, open the trader, select Manage, then use the stop copying icon.
The same page lists the ways a copied position gets closed:
- You close it yourself, under Copy trading > My trades, where only closing all positions at market price is supported, or under Futures trading > Open positions.
- The lead trader closes, and your matching copy position closes automatically.
- A take-profit or stop-loss you set in the copy settings is triggered.
- Forced liquidation, which closes the corresponding copy positions automatically.
OKX's pages do not say that open positions close when you stop copying, so do not assume they disappear with the copy relationship. Before you stop, look at your open copy positions and decide for yourself whether to close them. What OKX does spell out, on the proportional copy trading page, is the case where your stop loss for the trader is hit: copying of that trader stops automatically, and the remaining positions are handled in the way you chose in advance, one of three: "Close immediately at market price", close when the trader closes, or close manually.
Editing settings is not the same as stopping. The page notes that changes apply only to new copy trades opened after the modification; trades already open are unaffected.
The reasons OKX lists for a failed copy
The Copy trading FAQ gives six:
- The lead trader has stopped leading trades or has had their lead trader status revoked.
- The lead trader has reached the daily lead trade limit.
- The lead trader's trade has triggered risk control.
- Your trading account has insufficient funds.
- Your open position value has exceeded the spread protection amount.
- Your total copy trade amount reached the maximum limit you set.
The last three are on your side. Spread protection is 0.5%: if your opening price exceeds the lead trader's opening price by more than 0.5%, the trade is not copied. The maximum is the cap you entered yourself; set it low and you will be left out of the lead trader's later positions. OKX notifies you by push notification and email when any of these happens.
Each missed trade pulls your positions out of line with the lead trader's. Some of the positions they later close are ones you never opened, and your results stop matching the curve on their profile. A related Help Center page, Position data differences on manual trading and copy trading pages, explains a neighbouring effect: the manual trading page groups all orders under one position and shows an average open price, while the copy trading page shows each order separately, so the two screens usually show different figures for the same holdings.
How PnL% and win rate on a trader's profile are calculated
OKX defines the numbers on a profile in Lead traders: Lead trader profile and How do I choose a lead trader?. The fields marked as periodic can be switched between 7 days, 30 days and all time:
| Field | OKX's definition |
|---|---|
| PnL% | Profit ÷ cost, where cost accounts for funds transferred into or out of the trading account |
| Win rate | Number of profitable orders ÷ total number of orders |
| Avg. holding period | Total time positions were held ÷ number of positions |
| Copy trader PnL | The combined profit of all copy traders for the selected period |
| Current copy traders | Shown against the maximum allowed, for example 120/250 |
| AUM | Total value of assets currently being copied by the traders who follow this lead trader |
Two suggestions for reading these. PnL% is a ratio with cost in the denominator, so read it next to Copy trader PnL, which is the profit of the people who actually copied. And a win rate tells you nothing about the size of the losses: win eight trades out of ten, lose five times a typical win on each of the other two, and the total is negative.
The Overview ranking on the leaderboard is a weighted score. How do I choose a lead trader? lists the weights: cumulative PnL% 20%, PnL% over the last 30 days 15%, PnL% over the last 7 days 10%, historical max drawdown 10%, weekly max drawdown 10%, number of copy traders 20%, and PnL of copy traders 15%, with a note that the weights may change. It also says lead trader data is updated every hour. Number of copy traders and their PnL add up to 35%, so part of what puts a trader near the top is simply having many followers.
Max drawdown appears in those weights, but neither page says how it is calculated. For how it is usually computed, and how much the result moves with the sampling frequency, see How to calculate max drawdown.
Copy trading rules: Q&A
When is profit share settled in OKX copy trading?
Weekly. OKX's profit sharing rules give the cycle as Monday 00:00 to Sunday 23:59:59 (UTC+8), with profit sharing calculated every Monday at 00:00 (UTC+8). A share of each profitable copy trade is withheld before settlement, and anything withheld beyond what is actually owed is returned to your trading account on the settlement date. Settlement only happens once you have no open positions linked to that lead trader; otherwise it moves to the next period.
How much profit share do lead traders take on OKX?
It depends on the lead trader's level. OKX gives two figures for the ceiling: up to 30% on the profit sharing rules page, and 8% to 13% of profits in the Copy trading FAQ. The share is taken on net profit after trading fees across the settlement cycle, with losing trades offsetting winning ones. In OKX's example, a 10% ratio on 550 USDT of net weekly profit sends 55 USDT to the lead trader.
What is the difference between fixed amount and proportional copy trading on OKX?
With a fixed amount you put in the same sum each time the lead trader opens a position; the limits page gives 10 to 100,000 USDT per order. With a proportional amount your order equals the lead trader's order value times your multiplier, so a 0.1x multiplier on a 10,000 USDT position gives you a 1,000 USDT order. Proportional copying tracks the lead trader's results more closely, but a large multiplier can push your effective leverage too high.
Do my open positions close when I stop copying a trader?
OKX's pages do not say they do, so do not assume it. Before you stop, check your open copy positions and decide whether to close them yourself. What OKX does describe is a different case, where your stop loss for the trader is hit and copying stops automatically: remaining positions are closed immediately at market price, closed when the trader closes, or left for you to close manually, depending on what you chose.
Why was a lead trader's position not copied to my account?
The Copy trading FAQ lists six causes: the lead trader has stopped leading trades or had their status revoked, the lead trader has reached the daily lead trade limit, the lead trader's trade triggered risk control, your trading account has insufficient funds, the spread protection was exceeded, or your total copy amount reached the maximum you set. Spread protection is 0.5%: if your opening price exceeds the lead trader's opening price by more than 0.5%, the trade is not copied.
How many lead traders can I copy at once on OKX?
Up to 10 in hedge mode and 1 in one-way mode, according to the limits page for futures copy trading. Separately, a lead trader can lead up to 500 trades per day; after that, further positions from that trader are not copied.
If what you copy is a lead trader's grid bot instead of the trades they place by hand, a different set of rules applies: which settings are copied, and what happens to your bot when theirs stops. Those are in OKX Trading Bot Marketplace: what is copied with a bot.