Who charges what
On cTrader Copy a provider may charge nothing, or any combination of three fees within printed caps. This page sets out those caps and the help page's worked example, read on 6 November 2026. What a particular strategy charges is not on any public page this site could read; the help pages say it appears on the "Start copying" button.
Three fees, in any combination
The help page says that strategy providers can offer their strategies for copying on a free basis, while some strategies involve fees. The types of charges, in any combination depending on the provider's preferences, are the performance fee, the management fee and the volume fee. A provider can also set all three to zero for live and demo accounts, the page for providers says.
The three fees and the caps printed on the help page
The table is the one on help.ctrader.com/ctrader-copy/fees-calculation, read on 6 November 2026. A provider may set any combination of the three, or none, within these caps.
| Fee | Charged on | Maximum printed |
|---|---|---|
| Performance fee (P) | Investor's net profit, high-water mark model | 40% |
| Management fee (M) | Investor's equity, per year, accrued daily | 10% |
| Volume fee (V) | Per million of copied volume, per side | USD 10 |
The performance fee and the high-water mark
The performance fee is a percentage of the investor's net profit, calculated by the high-water mark model, with a printed maximum of 40%. The help pages have a separate section on that model. In plain terms a high-water mark is the highest value the account has reached; a fee on profit is charged on the part above it, so that a loss has to be recovered before the next profit is charged. That is a definition of the term, not a statement about any strategy.
The management fee
The management fee is a periodic payment to the provider for managing the investor's funds, "regardless of the strategy performance". It is set as an annual percentage of the investor's equity and accrues daily; the printed maximum is 10%. Because it is charged on equity, it is charged in months in which the strategy lost money as well as in months in which it made money.
The volume fee
The volume fee is an amount per million of volume copied, with a printed maximum of USD 10. It is calculated per side and added to each position. The help page's example: at USD 10 per million, an investor who copies USD 1 million of volume pays USD 10 on opening and USD 10 on closing. It is charged for the provider's trading actions and not for deposits or withdrawals.
The help page's own example, with the arithmetic
Inputs are the page's: USD 1,000 allocated, performance fee 10%, management fee 5%, volume fee USD 5 per million, USD 700 net profit, one lot of EURUSD quoted 1.19. The results are the page's too; the last column is only the share of the USD 1,000, worked out here. Source: help.ctrader.com/ctrader-copy/fees-calculation, read on 6 November 2026.
| Fee | Working | Result (USD) | Share of USD 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | 700 × 0.10 | 70 | 7.0% |
| Management, one year | 1,000 × 0.05 | 50 | 5.0% |
| Management, one day | 1,000 × 0.05 ÷ 365 | 0.14 | — |
| Volume, one lot opened and closed | 1.19 × 100,000 ÷ 10^6 × 5 × 2 | 1.19 | — |
What the example shows
With the page's own inputs, the performance fee is USD 70, which is 7.0% of the allocation, and the management fee is USD 50 a year, 5.0%. The volume fee of USD 1.19 is for one lot only. These are the page's inputs, chosen for the example; they are not typical figures of any strategy, and this site publishes no typical figure.
When the fees are charged
All fees are charged to the investor's copy-trading account on the 1st of each month, and the payout to the provider follows immediately. They are also charged when the provider stops the strategy, when the investor stops copying, and when the investor removes funds. For a removal the page says "all fees will be charged at once and in full". If the investor copies several strategies, fees are applied to each dedicated copy-trading account independently.
Where the platform's own interest sits
The fees page adds that from 4 July 2026 cTrader charges a 30% commission on all fees earned by the provider, deducted from the provider's fees and adding no extra charge for investors. In the page's example the provider earns USD 30, the platform takes USD 9 and the provider receives USD 21. The page about sorting says the platform's rank method downgrades strategies that use management and volume fees, because "many traders consider the performance fee to be the fairest for investors". Those are the platform's statements about itself; this site does not judge them.
In brief
Read next
Questions about copy costs and risk
Can a strategy be free to copy?
Yes. The help page says providers can offer strategies on a free basis, and that demo strategies are always free.
Where do I see the fees of a strategy?
On the "Start copying" button, the help page says. This site could not read that button and prints no strategy's fees.
Is a performance fee charged on a loss?
The page defines it as a percentage of net profit by the high-water mark model, so it is not charged on a loss; the management and volume fees are charged on equity and on volume.
Does the platform's commission raise the investor's cost?
The page says it is deducted from the provider's fees and adds no extra charge for investors.
The broker this site links to
This site links to FxPro, which cTrader's list marks as a copy-enabled broker. A copied trade is a leveraged contract on a price, not ownership of anything. Read the terms before you decide anything.