What is Manual Approval?
Quick answer
Manual approval is the copy-trading mode where each copied trade waits for you to confirm it, usually within a short window, before it is placed. It gives you a final say on every trade, at the cost of possibly missing ones that expire before you act. It is the counterpart to auto routing.
Manual approval keeps a human in the loop. Instead of trades routing automatically, each copied trade pauses and waits for you to say yes, so nothing is placed without your explicit go-ahead.
How manual approval works
When a leader you follow places a trade, you get a prompt to approve the matching order, usually within a short window. If you approve, it is placed, sized to your settings and checked against your limits; if you do not act in time, it expires and is skipped. This gives you a final say on every trade and a chance to opt out of any you are not comfortable with.
Why it matters in copy trading
Manual approval is a good way to build trust with a strategy and to stay closely involved, since you see and confirm each trade. The trade-off is that you have to be available: trades you do not approve in time are missed, so a strategy copied manually may not fully track the leader. Many people start in manual mode to learn how a leader trades, then switch to auto routing once comfortable. Either way, your risk limits still apply.
Frequently asked questions
Back to the full copy trading glossary, or read the complete guide to copy trading.