> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tradealign.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Copy Trades

> Confirm trades mirrored across multiple accounts so they count as one, and journal them all in a single step.

<Note>
  If you use a copy trader to mirror one entry across several accounts (common with multiple prop-firm accounts), each account creates its **own** trade in TradeAlign. Copy Trades lets you tell TradeAlign those rows are the **same trade** — so the group counts as **one trade** toward your daily limit and overtrading checks (your P\&L still counts every account), and you can journal them all at once.
</Note>

## Why it matters

When a copy trader fires the same entry on five accounts, you get five separate trades — same instrument, side, and time, but a different account (and sometimes a different size) on each. Left as-is, that creates two problems:

* **Your trade count is inflated.** One decision reads as five, which can trip your [Game Plan](/game-plan/overview) trade limit and flag false **overtrading**.
* **You'd journal the same trade five times.** Identical notes, emotions, and ratings, re-typed for each account.

Confirming the trades as a **copy group** fixes both. Your real **P\&L is never changed** — every account keeps its own profit or loss, and your totals still reflect all accounts.

<Warning>
  TradeAlign never groups trades automatically. A trade only counts as a copy when **you confirm it** — so a genuine re-entry (for example, taking a loss and re-entering on another account) is never quietly hidden from your overtrading rules.
</Warning>

## Mark copies while importing

The fastest way is to tell TradeAlign up front, as you import. On the CSV importer's upload screen, tick **"These are copy trades across multiple accounts."**

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start a copy import">
    Open the CSV importer and check **These are copy trades across multiple accounts** before uploading. (Shown when you have two or more accounts.)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload each account, one after another">
    Choose **which account this CSV is for** (it pre-selects the next account you haven't done yet), then upload that account's file. When it finishes, choose **Add another account** and repeat for the next one. A running tally shows how many accounts and trades you've added, and each account keeps its own trade and P\&L.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Finish">
    When all accounts are in, click **Done — group copies**. TradeAlign matches the trades across your accounts and groups the copies automatically, then shows a summary (e.g. "Grouped 8 trades into 2 copy groups").
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Because you confirmed up front, there's **no follow-up prompt** — and trades grouped this way are skipped by the after-import check below.
</Note>

## Confirm copies after an import

If you didn't use the copy-import option, TradeAlign still checks: after you import, if it spots trades that look mirrored across accounts, it asks you to confirm them.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Import your accounts">
    Import each account's trades as usual. See the [import guides](/getting-started/import-trades-manual-csv) if you need them.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review the suggestion">
    When copies are detected, a **"Were these copy trades?"** prompt lists each suggested group — the instrument, the time, and the accounts involved, each with its own P\&L.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm or dismiss">
    Choose **Confirm copy** to group them into one logical trade, or **Not copies** if they were genuinely separate trades. Dismissed suggestions won't be offered again.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Info>
  Both prompts only appear for **new** imports. To group trades you imported earlier, use the manual method below.
</Info>

## Mark copies manually

You can group (or ungroup) any trades yourself from the [Trades Page](/journal/trades-page).

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select the trades">
    Tick the checkbox on each mirrored trade — two or more, across your accounts.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Mark as copy group">
    Click **Bulk Options → Mark as copy group**. The selected trades are now treated as one trade for counting.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Undo if needed">
    To split a group back into individual trades, select them and choose **Bulk Options → Unmark as copies**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Trades that belong to a copy group show a small **group icon** next to the symbol on the Trades Page.

## How copy trades are counted

Once confirmed, a copy group counts as **one trade** everywhere your trade *count* matters:

* Your [Game Plan](/game-plan/post-session) daily trade limit and **overtrading** check
* Mistake-frequency patterns (a single mistake isn't counted once per account)
* The Game Plan **Trades / Session** metric and **Overtrading Detection** in [Analytics](/analytics/overview)

Everything involving **money stays real** — your net P\&L, win/loss, and per-account results still include every account. Only the *count* of decisions changes.

## Journal once, apply to your copies

You don't need to journal each copy separately. Journal one trade, and TradeAlign offers to apply that entry to its copies.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Journal one trade and mark it reviewed">
    Complete the journal for any one of the copies and toggle **Mark trade as reviewed**, then **Save Journal**. See [Journaling a Trade](/journal/journaling-a-trade).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Apply to the copies">
    If same-day copies exist in your other accounts, a prompt lists them. Tick the ones to update and choose **Apply** — your notes, emotions, alignment answers, mistakes, rating, setup, and trade construction (stop, target, risk) are copied across. Each trade keeps its own P\&L and size.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Confirming this prompt also marks the trades as a copy group, so there's no need to confirm twice.

### Copy and paste a journal manually

For trades the prompt doesn't catch, you can copy a journal entry from one trade to others:

* Open the row menu (**⋯**) on a journaled trade and choose **Copy journal**.
* On another trade, choose **Paste journal** — or select several trades and use **Bulk Options → Paste journal** to apply it to all of them at once.

<Check>
  Your copy-traded entry now counts as one trade, your P\&L still reflects every account, and a single journal covers them all.
</Check>

<Tip>
  Grouping is about **counting**, not hiding. Use **Unmark as copies** any time you want those trades to count individually again.
</Tip>