Followers

A follower is an account that copies a copier's master, with its own rules for how it copies. Every rule has a default, so to attach an account you only need its ID. To read followers, your API key needs the copiers:read scope. To attach, change or remove them, it needs copiers:write.

Attach a follower

curl https://api.algotradertools.com/v1/copiers/c7d1e5f2-3a4b-4c6d-8e9f-0a1b2c3d4e5f/followers \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "account_id": "9b2e7d4c-1a3f-4c8e-b5d6-7e8f9a0b1c2d",
    "lot_mode": "multiplier",
    "lot_value": 0.5,
    "max_lot": 5
  }'

Send the account_id (required), any of the rules below, and optionally is_active. It defaults to true, and false attaches the follower paused. The response is 201 Created with the follower.

The account must be one of yours, and it must:

If the account doesn't meet a requirement, or a rule is invalid, the response is 400 validation_failed. The netting and automated-trading checks ask the account's terminal. If the terminal doesn't answer, the request fails with 503 terminal_unavailable. Try again shortly.

Retrying an attach is safe: if the first attempt went through, the second fails with already_following.

A new follower copies what the master opens after it was attached. Positions the master already has open are left alone, unless you set copy_existing.

Rules

Lot sizing

Each copy's size is worked out from the master's position when it opens:

Then:

1. The size is rounded down to the follower broker's lot step and capped at its maximum lot.
2. If it is below the broker's minimum lot, below_minimum decides: minimum trades the minimum, skip skips the trade.
3. If max_lot is set, the copy is capped at it.

Notes on the modes:

• risk_percent needs a stop loss: the master's trades without one are skipped.
• balance_ratio and equity_ratio compare the two figures as they are, without converting currency. With a master in EUR and a follower in USD, the size is off by the exchange rate.
• adjust_contract_size applies to multiplier, balance_ratio and equity_ratio. Brokers size the same instrument differently: gold can be 100 oz a lot at one broker and 10 oz at another. With adjust_contract_size on, a master lot of 100 oz counts as 10 follower lots of 10 oz each, and the mode's own factor applies on top.

Direction and stops

• reverse: true sells when the master buys and buys when it sells, and swaps stop loss and take profit.
• copy_stops: true copies the master's stop loss and take profit, and every later change to them. A new copy opens with them.

Execution

• max_slippage_pips limits how far the price may move between the request and the fill. null leaves it to the broker.
• max_delay_seconds sets how old a master trade may be and still get copied, for example after a terminal reconnects. Older trades are skipped.
• copy_existing: true also copies the positions the master already has open when the follower is attached. It doesn't apply when a follower or its copier is resumed: what the master opened during a pause is never copied.

Pending orders

With copy_pending: false, the default, a master's pending order is copied when it fills, as a market order.

With copy_pending: true, each pending order the master places is placed on the follower too:

• It has the same type and price, and the master's stop loss and take profit. Its size follows the follower's rules. With reverse, it is the opposite type at the same price, with the stops swapped: a buy limit becomes a sell stop.
• When the master moves its order, the follower's order moves with it. When the master cancels its order, or the order expires, the follower's order is cancelled. The expiry time is copied too if the follower's broker accepts it. If not, the follower's order stays until the master's expires.
• When the follower's order fills, that position is the copy and follows the master from then on.
• If the master's order fills and the follower's hasn't filled within 2 seconds, the follower's order is cancelled and the copy opens at the market. If the follower's order fills just as it is being cancelled, the follower still ends up with exactly one copy of the trade.
• Orders the master already has when the follower is attached are left alone, unless copy_existing is set. Orders the master places during a pause are never placed on the follower. If one fills after the pause, that fill is copied like any new trade.

Even with copy_pending, stop-limit orders are copied only when they fill if the follower is on MT4, which has no stop-limit orders, or uses reverse.

If you cancel a follower's pending order by hand, it stays cancelled. Turning copy_pending off cancels the follower's pending orders that were placed for the master's.

Symbols

symbol_filter and symbols choose which of the master's symbols are copied:

symbols holds the master's symbol names. A name also covers the same name with a broker's extra characters: XAUUSD also covers XAUUSD.m. With include or exclude, symbols can't be empty.

Matching

Brokers name the same instrument differently, so each master symbol is matched to one of the follower broker's symbols, in this order:

1. The follower's own symbol_map.
2. The same name.
3. The same name without the broker's extra characters, such as EURUSD.m or US30.cash.
4. Known aliases, such as XAUUSD and GOLD.

When several symbols fit, the plain name wins: US500 over US500m. Anything still ambiguous is skipped, never guessed.

The full list of aliases, with examples, is on copying between MT4 and MT5.

Mapping

Map only the names that don't match by themselves:

{ "symbol_map": { "XAUUSD": "GOLD.pro", "NAS100": "USTEC" } }

Keys are the master's symbol names, values the follower's. Each name is up to 32 characters.

Trading sessions

sessions limits when new trades are copied. Each session has the weekdays it applies to and a start and end time:

{
  "sessions": [
    { "days": [0, 1, 2, 3, 4], "start": "07:00", "end": "16:30" },
    { "days": [6], "start": "22:00", "end": "02:00" }
  ],
  "timezone": "Europe/London"
}

• days are 0 (Monday) to 6 (Sunday).
• start and end are HH:MM, 24-hour. An end before its start runs past midnight, like the Sunday session above. A session can't start and end at the same time.
• Up to 14 sessions. With none, trades are copied at any time.
• Sessions only decide which new trades are copied. Copies that are already open always follow the master's closes and stop loss or take profit changes, at any time.

timezone sets which clock the session times use. It is either broker, the master broker's server time as its MetaTrader charts show it, or a time zone name such as Europe/London or America/New_York.

The follower object

{
  "id": "e2f4a6b8-c0d2-4e46-8a8c-9e0f1a2b3c4d",
  "object": "follower",
  "copier_id": "c7d1e5f2-3a4b-4c6d-8e9f-0a1b2c3d4e5f",
  "account_id": "9b2e7d4c-1a3f-4c8e-b5d6-7e8f9a0b1c2d",
  "account": {
    "id": "9b2e7d4c-1a3f-4c8e-b5d6-7e8f9a0b1c2d",
    "name": "Funded #2",
    "platform": "mt5",
    "server": "ICMarketsSC-Demo",
    "login": 51239876,
    "status": "connected"
  },
  "is_active": true,
  "magic": 1840273951,
  "lot_mode": "multiplier",
  "lot_value": 0.5,
  "adjust_contract_size": true,
  "below_minimum": "minimum",
  "max_lot": 5,
  "reverse": false,
  "copy_stops": true,
  "max_slippage_pips": null,
  "max_delay_seconds": 60,
  "copy_existing": false,
  "copy_pending": false,
  "symbol_filter": "all",
  "symbols": [],
  "sessions": [],
  "timezone": "broker",
  "symbol_map": {},
  "status": {
    "state": "copying",
    "message": "",
    "master_connected": true,
    "follower_connected": true,
    "open_copies": 2,
    "last_event_at": "2026-10-25T14:21:07.430Z",
    "balance": 5000.0,
    "equity": 5031.2,
    "currency": "USD",
    "heartbeat_at": "2026-10-25T14:21:15.002Z",
    "engine_online": true
  },
  "created_at": "2026-10-25T14:09:02.118Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-25T14:09:02.118Z"
}

Status

The copier engine refreshes status on every change, and at least every 15 seconds.

List and read followers

GET /v1/copiers/{copier_id}/followers lists the copier's followers, oldest first, in the list format. GET /v1/copiers/{copier_id}/followers/{follower_id} returns one. Reading the copier itself returns all of them too.

Change a follower's rules

curl -X PATCH https://api.algotradertools.com/v1/copiers/c7d1e5f2-3a4b-4c6d-8e9f-0a1b2c3d4e5f/followers/e2f4a6b8-c0d2-4e46-8a8c-9e0f1a2b3c4d \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "lot_value": 0.25, "symbol_map": { "XAUUSD": "GOLD.pro" } }'

PATCH changes only the fields you send, and the engine picks up the change within seconds. Lists and objects are replaced as a whole: sending symbols or symbol_map replaces the previous value. The account can't be changed: sending account_id fails with the code immutable. To copy to another account, attach it as a new follower.

You can also send the whole follower back as you read it, with your changes. Read-only fields such as id, account, magic and status are ignored. A field that followers don't have, such as a misspelt lot_vlaue, is refused with validation_failed and the code unknown_field instead of being ignored.

Pause and resume a follower

curl -X PATCH https://api.algotradertools.com/v1/copiers/c7d1e5f2-3a4b-4c6d-8e9f-0a1b2c3d4e5f/followers/e2f4a6b8-c0d2-4e46-8a8c-9e0f1a2b3c4d \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "is_active": false }'

While a follower is paused, nothing new is copied to it. Copies that are already open stay open, and still follow the master's closes and changes. Resuming with "is_active": true copies from that moment on. What the master opened while the follower was paused stays uncopied, also with copy_existing.

Equity Guard can pause a follower too. That pause shows in the follower's status, not in is_active, and you resume it in the app.

Remove a follower

curl -X DELETE "https://api.algotradertools.com/v1/copiers/c7d1e5f2-3a4b-4c6d-8e9f-0a1b2c3d4e5f/followers/e2f4a6b8-c0d2-4e46-8a8c-9e0f1a2b3c4d?close_positions=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATT_API_KEY"

close_positions=true (or 1) closes the follower's copies at market before it is removed. Without it, or with false (0), they stay open as ordinary positions that the copier no longer manages. Any other value fails with validation_failed. If a terminal refuses to close them, the request fails with close_failed (502, 503 or 504). The follower is kept but paused, so nothing new is copied while you decide what to do.

When the removal succeeds, the response is 204 No Content. Removing a follower deletes its events. The account stays connected.