copy settings explained: sizing modes, margin, leverage

Every perps copy has a sizing mode, which decides how big each copied order is, and a margin, which decides what a copied position can lose. This page explains both, the rules around them, and how to choose them for the trader you have in mind.

the three sizing modes

When you tap copy this trader, the bot asks how your copy sizes a trade. You can switch later from the copy's summary (✏️ mode).

pro rata of your capital (the default)

You set an amount invested on this trader, from $20. Your copy then puts the same part of that amount in each position as the trader puts of their capital: if they use 10% of their account on a trade, you use 10% of your amount.

• Leverage: the trader's real leverage, not the one they set. That is their exposure divided by their capital at its peaks; on a coin they trade isolated, their own leverage for that coin. It is capped by the market's maximum and, if you set one, by your own cap (advanced settings).
• The amount is a ceiling: the margin of all the copy's positions together never goes beyond it.
• Small adds: when the trader adds less than Hyperliquid's $10 minimum would allow you to follow, the adds are grouped until they reach $10, then copied in one order.
• Advised minimum: the bot shows the smallest amount that copies most of this trader's positions: 10 × their capital ÷ their average trade, and at least $20. Under it, most of their positions stay below $10 on your side and are not copied.

The summary shows the share of each of their positions you copy and the leverage the copy will use. Pro rata is the closest copy of a trader's risk: the same part of your amount at stake as of their account.

a fixed $ per trade

Every opening copies the same dollar amount, from $20. The trader's adds and cuts on that position then follow in proportion. Useful when the trader's sizes vary a lot and you want every trade to weigh the same.

a % of their trade

Two settings: the share of each trade you take (0.1% to 100% of the trader's order), and a max per trade in dollars (from $10). If the trader buys $5,000 of SOL and your share is 2%, the copy buys $100; if they buy $50,000 of BTC, 2% would be $1,000, and a max of $250 makes it $250. The bot tells you the smallest trader order that will be copied with your share ($10 ÷ share).

In the fixed $ and % modes, the leverage is the trader's for that coin, up to a maximum you pick (no leverage at 1×, any whole number up to 50×, or the trader's with no cap; 10× by default) and the market's maximum.

margin, per copy

Each copy has its own margin (✏️ margin on its summary):

• Isolated (the default, recommended): each position risks only its own margin. What a copy can lose stops at its margin; a liquidation leaves your other positions and the rest of your balance untouched.
• Like the trader: isolated or cross, coin by coin, as the trader trades it. The closest copy; where they are cross, your whole wallet backs that position.
• Cross: your whole wallet backs every position. Liquidated later, but one bad move can take the wallet, your other copies with it.

A stop-loss is required for a copy in cross or like the trader: the bot will not start or save it without one. See stop-loss and take-profit.

the wallet's limit in trades

One setting belongs to the wallet, not to a copy: the limit in trades, the most all its copies may hold in margin together, in % of the wallet's value. By default there is no limit (100%). Beyond it, new trades are not copied; exits always are. It lives in 👛 my wallets → ⚙️ leverage management.

the $10 minimum

Hyperliquid refuses orders under $10 notional. In the % and fixed $ modes, a copy that would be smaller is skipped; in pro rata, a small add waits until the grouped adds reach $10. Full closes are exempt: when the trader goes flat, hypercopy closes your whole position even if it is under $10.

existing positions

When you start a copy, the trader's open positions are not copied. Only their new moves are: you join on their next opening, and a coin they already held becomes copyable once they go through zero on it.

how the exits follow

• Trader reduces by x%: you reduce by x%, reduce-only.
• Trader closes: you close.
• Trader flips (long to short in one move): you close, then open on the other side.

Reductions are proportional to your position, whatever the mode: if the trader sells 30% of theirs, you sell 30% of yours.

choosing settings for a trader

1. Start with pro rata: put an amount at least the advised minimum the bot shows, and an amount you could lose entirely.
2. Keep the margin isolated unless you know why you want cross.
3. Look at their profile: leverage (usual and at peaks), max drawdown, median hold.
4. Add a stop-loss if their drawdown is more than you would sit through.

Change a copy's settings any time under my copies. New settings apply to the next order; open positions keep their size.

faq

which mode should i pick?

Pro rata, unless you have a reason. It copies the trader's risk as a share of your amount, at the leverage they really use, and never puts more margin at work than the amount.

what if my wallet does not have the margin for a trade?

That entry is skipped, the wallet's entries rest for five minutes, and the bot tells you (at most once a day). The copy keeps going and its exits are always mirrored; it is never paused for this.

can i cap the leverage in pro rata?

Yes, in the advanced settings. The copy then uses the trader's real leverage or your cap, whichever is lower.