01 / Copy Trading

Pilot risk settings, recommended.

Five pilots. Five different risk profiles. These are starting points from the Trade Echo team - copy them, then tune every row to your account and risk tolerance.

Not financial advice. You are responsible for trades in your account. Settings are reviewed monthly and current as of May 2026.

View pilots How to read these

Updated May 12, 2026

02 / Pilots

Five pilots. Five risk profiles.

Each card shows the recommended Copy Trading dashboard settings for that pilot. Aggressive at the top - Chris's live toggles for Cblast. Tighter risk floors below.

Cblast✓

Chris's live toggles · Aggressive

Maximum risk

Sizing100% of Trader Size
Max % per trade100% capital
Other risk fieldsLeft blank - no Max Daily Loss, Auto-Stop Drawdown, or Max Contracts cap

Heads up. Full mirror is maximum risk. A bad day at 100% / 100% can move the account hard. Most members with larger accounts should use smaller sizing (for example % of Equity around 5% per idea) and working loss caps - not this bare mirror.

Buckwheat

Recommended

Tightened

Sizing100% of Trader Size
Tickers excludedSPX and NDX - skip the index complex
Max % per trade25% capital
Max daily loss$400
Auto-Stop drawdown50%
Hard stop30% per trade
Trading hours9:30 AM - 12:00 PM ET only

Darkhorse

Recommended

Discipline-led

Sizing1:1 only if the account can absorb the same dollar risk
Otherwise10-15% Max Capital Per Trade
Hard stop35% per trade
Daily stopPause copying after 2-3 losses or a rough drawdown
Don'tSize up after losses. Don't overexpose on a single trade.

Steel

Recommended

Tight execution

Sizing100% of Trader Size
Max slippage10% / $0.10
Max spread SPY/QQQ$0.05
Max spread SPX$0.30
Max spread NDX$1.00
Fill strategyMidpoint limit, then market - 5s at midpoint, then market remainder

Built for tight execution. Slippage and spread caps skip wide quotes - midpoint-then-market helps when liquidity allows.

Chapsy

Recommended · 5K Challenge tuned

5K Challenge

Sizing1:1 - 100% of Trader Size, 100% Max Capital Per Trade
Max daily loss$500
Hard stop25% per trade

Tuned for 5K Challenge members. Not on the challenge? Scale down to 25-50% of Trader Size and 10-15% Max Capital Per Trade.

03 / Sizing methods

Five ways to size every copy.

Pick the method that matches how you want exposure scaled. Each one stores a single position_sizing_value in the dashboard.

Fixed Dollar Amount

Set a dollar budget per buy. App sizes contracts using the live option price. Best for tight budget control.

% of Equity

Size as a percent of account equity per idea (e.g. 5 = 5%). Auto-scales as the account grows or shrinks.

Percent of Trader Size

Scale as a percent of the pilot's quantity. 100% = exact mirror, 50% = half their contracts.

Fixed Contracts

Always copy a fixed number of contracts regardless of account size or pilot quantity.

Mirror Pilot %

Put the same % of your account into the trade as the pilot did in theirs. 1:1 allocation mirror.

04 / Glossary

How to read the settings.

Every Copy Trading dashboard groups risk fields the same way. Here's what each lever does.

Capital & portfolio guardrails

Max contracts / trade

Hard ceiling on contracts per order, regardless of sizing math.

Cap to pilot quantity

Never buy more contracts than the pilot. Works with Fixed Dollar, Fixed Contracts, % of Equity.

Max % per trade

Largest share of your account that can sit in a single position. The first real risk cap.

Max daily loss

Hard dollar number. Once same-day losses cross it, copying pauses until next session.

Auto-Stop drawdown

Account drops by this peak-to-trough %, copying halts automatically.

GFV protection

Optional. Caps new copy buys against start-of-day buying power to avoid good-faith violations.

Stops & exits

Hard stop

Auto-exit at a loss % from entry. Closes the position when hit.

Take profit

Auto-exit at a gain % from entry. Locks the win without watching.

Skip auto-sells

Manual exit mode. Pilot's sell signals are ignored - you close yourself.

Max forced-market spread

Max dollar spread for forced-market index-style exits. Skips fills outside the tolerance.

Time & session

Trading hours

ET window for opening new buys. Copies outside the window are skipped.

Excluded days

Weekdays to skip new buys (e.g. MON, TUE). STCs still run - only opens are blocked.

Pause until

Per-pilot pause for new buys. Closes still execute.

Filters & ticker controls

Excluded tickers

Skip new buys on these tickers entirely.

Index only

Only copy SPX / NDX family. Skip everything else on opens.

Min / max DTE

Min and max days to expiry allowed on new buys.

Max contract price

Skip the buy if premium per contract exceeds this dollar amount.

Per-pilot throttles

Max daily buys

Cap on new buys per pilot per NY day.

Max open positions

Max distinct open positions allowed for a single pilot.

Max buys per position

Cap on add-on buys into the same position. Limits averaging in.

Execution quality

Max slippage

Max slippage as % or $. Fill is rejected if it would exceed the tolerance.

Max spread

Separate caps for SPY/QQQ, SPX, and NDX. Wider quotes are skipped.

Time to fill

Seconds the system works the order before falling through to the next step.

Fill strategy

Three modes: midpoint-then-market, pilot-price-then-market, or strict limit (reject if unfilled).

05 / Calibration

Adjust for your account.

Same pilot, different sized accounts behave very differently. Three rules of thumb before you save.

Start smaller than you think.

If a recommended setting calls for 25% Max Capital, dial it to 10% for your first month. Watch how the position size actually feels in your account before scaling up.

Set a real daily loss cap.

Even if a pilot's recommended settings leave it blank, set one for yourself. A number you can stomach losing twice in a week.

Re-tune monthly.

The team reviews recommended settings every month. Check this page on the first weekend of the month and compare with your live toggles.

06 / Get started

Ready to copy a pilot?

Open the Copy Trading dashboard, pick a pilot, and apply the settings above. Most members start with Buckwheat or Darkhorse - they have the tightest risk floors.

Open Trade Echo app Ask in #copy-trading

Copy Trading product page Pricing