Prop Firm & Copy Trading Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terms that show up in prop firm rulebooks, broker docs, and trade copier settings. Written for traders, not lawyers.
Copy Trading
Mirroring trades from one account to one or more others, automatically and in real time.
Prop Firm
A proprietary trading firm that funds traders with the firm’s capital after they pass an evaluation.
Trailing Drawdown
A drawdown limit that ratchets up with new highs in your account balance, capping your distance to the floor.
Bracket Order
An entry order paired with a take-profit and stop-loss as an OCO group, used to enforce risk per trade.
Tradovate
A futures trading platform used by most modern prop firms — Apex, TopStep, Tradeify, MyFundedFutures, and more.
NinjaTrader 8
A desktop futures trading platform popular with discretionary traders for its charting, ATM strategies, and broker flexibility.
Daily Loss Limit
A maximum dollar loss permitted per trading day — break it and most prop firms close the account.
Position Sizing
How you decide contract or share count on a trade. Critical when copying trades across accounts with different rules.