General comparison of copy-trading PAMM and MAM accounts
Last updated
Last updated
This article explains when to use each account type: copy trading (also called social trading ), PAMM, or MAM.
Best for retail clients.
Easy to use: designed for simplicity, with minimal need for users to understand complex details of its behaviour.
Suitable for both retail and professional money management.
Flexible Leaderboard options: can be used with or without the Leaderboard, depending on the business model. Without the Leaderboard, it can also function as a type of MAM for professional managers.
Commonly viewed as an investment fund: this account type is widely recognized and understood as an investment fund, making it easy to explain to users.
Complexity for retail investors: deposits and withdrawals aren’t processed immediately, which can be more complex for retail investors than copy trading.
Only for institutional or professional money managers.
Full control: money managers have the ability to adjust allocation settings for each investor.
General investment structure: MAM is a broad term for any investment structure where the money manager has comprehensive control over allocation methods. In some cases, PAMM accounts may also be considered MAM.
Combination options: MAM can be combined with PAMM. For such setups, please contact the Support team for a consultation.
| No. | Feature | Copy Trading | PAMM | MAM | Comment |
|---|
1 | Money managers appear on the Leaderboard | Yes | Optional | Optional | It’s better to hide MAM money managers from the Leaderboard since their performance may differ from the investors’. MAM managers can activate or deactivate investors and use different formulas for copying trades to investment accounts. |
2 | Investors can subscribe to money managers by themselves | Optional | Optional | Optional | Any master account can be hidden from the Leaderboard, preventing investors from seeing or subscribing to it. |
3 | Investors can see open positions in MT5 | Yes | No | Yes | PAMM investors receive only balance operations reflecting their share of the PnL from the PAMM master account, without seeing the positions. |
4 | Investors receive the exact same return as the money manager | No | Yes | No | In Copy trading and MAM, trades are replicated from the master account to the investment account, which takes some time. As a result, execution prices may vary slightly between the money manager and the investor. |
5 | Deposits and withdrawals on the investment account affect the equity of the master account | No | Yes | No | In PAMM, the master account is a pool of several investment accounts. Therefore, when funds are deposited to a PAMM investment account, the same amount is reflected in the master account. In MAM and copy trading, investment accounts are separated from the master account. |
6 | Instant deposits and withdrawals | Yes | Optional | Yes | PAMM accounts typically handle deposits and withdrawals during scheduled rollovers, ensuring the money manager can anticipate changes. However, it is possible to configure them for immediate processing. |
7 | Immediate subscriptions and unsubscriptions | Yes | Optional | Yes | Subscriptions and unsubscriptions usually trigger deposits or withdrawals, so the same logic applies as above: PAMM money managers can control when investors can subscribe or unsubscribe by using scheduled rollovers. |
8 | Investors can trade on their investment accounts | Yes | No | No | In PAMM and MAM, investment accounts are in read-only mode, meaning that investors can’t trade on those accounts. |
9 | Investors can close positions opened by the money manager | Yes | No | No | In PAMM and MAM, investment accounts are in read-only mode, meaning that investors can’t close open positions on their accounts. |
10 | Investors can reverse positions | Yes | No | Yes | In copy trading and MAM, investors or money managers can enable the reverse copy option, allowing them to take the opposite positions from the master account. In copy trading, this feature helps investors profit by copying losing traders. |