How to Copy Trade on Alpaca

Step-by-step guide · 5 min read

Alpaca’s modern, commission-free brokerage pairs naturally with RelayTrades. Connect your account, subscribe to the strategies you want, and let signals route to your own Alpaca account under the sizing and risk rules you define. You stay in control of every parameter.

Copy trade on Alpaca in 5 steps

1. 01

   Sign up and connect your Alpaca account

   Create an account at app.relaytrades.com, then connect your Alpaca account through SnapTrade. SnapTrade is a secure brokerage-connection service, so your Alpaca login is never shared with RelayTrades. Once connected, RelayTrades automatically detects what your Alpaca account is enabled to trade (stocks and ETFs).

2. 02

   Choose a strategy to follow

   Browse the available traders and strategies, review their historical metrics, and subscribe to the one(s) you want to copy. Some strategies are free to follow; others are paid by the trader who runs them.

3. 03

   Set your sizing and safeguards

   Before any trade copies, decide how it maps to your account: a sizing multiplier (or maximum position size) so a larger account's trade scales sensibly to yours, your routing mode (auto-copy or manual approval), and risk controls, maximum exposure, daily-loss caps, and slippage protection. Set up your one-tap kill switch here too. Every rule is enforced server-side before an order is placed.

4. 04

   Let trades route to your own Alpaca account

   When the trader places a trade, RelayTrades relays the signal in about a second and places the matching order in your own Alpaca account, scaled to your settings. Your funds never leave your Alpaca account, RelayTrades only routes the orders you have chosen to follow and never takes custody or discretionary control.

5. 05

   Monitor and stay in control

   Track your positions and profit/loss from the dashboard. You can switch any strategy to manual approval, pause automation, or use the kill switch to halt all activity and flatten open positions on your Alpaca account instantly. You can revoke the Alpaca connection at any time.

Why Alpaca works well with RelayTrades

• Built for automation. Alpaca is designed for programmatic trading, so routed executions and fills surface cleanly in your RelayTrades dashboard in real time.
• Server-side safeguards. Max position size, exposure caps, concurrent-position limits, and slippage protection are enforced before any order reaches your account.
• You keep control. Switch any strategy to manual approval, pause automation, or hit the kill switch whenever you choose.

New to copy trading? Read how copy trading works or see the Alpaca copy trading overview.