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Disclosure: I may receive a referral reward from High Capital Group if you become a client through my link. It costs you nothing extra.

Imagine a professional trader places a trade at ten o'clock on a Tuesday morning, and the identical trade appears in your own account a moment later, with no phone call, no email and no clicking from you. That is forex copy trading in one sentence, and the rest of this article explains what sits behind it, using High Capital Group as the worked example because it is the service I know best.

What is actually being copied

Forex, short for foreign exchange, means buying and selling the currencies of different countries. Every trade involves a pair, such as the British pound against the Australian dollar. If a trader thinks the pound will rise against the Australian dollar, they buy the pair. If they think it will fall, they sell it, and they can profit from that too. Forex is bidirectional, which is one of the main reasons people trade it.

Copy trading takes the decisions of one trader, usually called the signal provider or the lead trader, and mirrors them automatically in the accounts of the people who choose to follow. When the lead trader opens a position, closes it or changes it, the followers' accounts do the same, scaled to each follower's account and risk setting.

The worked example: how High Capital Group sets it up

High Capital Group, which was formerly known as Oak Valley Investments, runs its service in three steps, and the order of those steps matters for anyone who worries about who holds the money.

- You open your own account with a highly reputable, regulated forex broker. The account is in your name.

- You deposit your money with the broker. High Capital Group does not hold client funds and has no access to withdraw them.

- You set the account up so that the head trader's trades are mirrored on it automatically.

The head trader is Norman Hart, who has an honours degree in economics. The company says its team has over 10 years of trading experience. Your part is to open the account, deposit and connect the copy software. After that the trades arrive on their own, which is why the company describes it as running on auto pilot, even for people who are completely new to the markets.

What you control and what you do not

You do not choose the trades. That is the whole point, and it is also the main limitation, so it is worth being plain about it. If you enjoy analysing charts and placing your own orders, copy trading will probably feel frustrating.

What you do control is more than most people expect. You choose how much to deposit, subject to the minimum of US$1,000. You can set a personalised risk level, which means your account can trade more or less aggressively than the lead trader's, and it takes a few clicks to change. And you can access your money at any time, because it sits with the broker. You withdraw through the broker, the same way you would from any broker account, and the broker's normal withdrawal methods apply.

The company asks for a leverage setting of at least 30:1 on the account. Leverage lets a small deposit control a larger position, which can magnify gains and losses alike, so it deserves respect and I come back to it below.

What you pay and when you pay it

There are two costs, and both are stated on the High Capital Group site. The copy software normally costs US$19 a month, but the broker the company recommends has agreed to cover that cost for life when you sign up through the company's link. The other cost is a fee of 30% of profits, payable only after you have made money and calculated on a high water mark, with no upfront fees.

The high water mark deserves a short example, because it is fairer than many people assume. Say you invest US$5,000 and make US$1,000 in month one. You pay 30%, which is US$300. In month two the account loses US$200, so there is no profit and no fee. In month three it makes US$1,000, but you were US$200 down, so the fee applies only to the remaining US$800 of profit, which gives US$240. You never pay twice for the same gains.

The numbers, and how to hold them

The company publishes a target of a 10% average monthly return after fees and a target of keeping maximum drawdown below 15.0%. It also reports one losing quarter out of 33 and a profit factor of 4.99. Results from before 2018 came from the older legacy system, and the current system's record starts in 2018, so read the history with that in mind.

The word target matters. A target is what the trader aims for and has not promised, and no forex trader controls the market. The results are verified in real time by a third party, FX Blue, and you can look at the record yourself before you decide anything. The Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}) has the video and the link to the verified account.

Why leverage and drawdown still matter

Drawdown is the fall from the highest peak of an account to the lowest valley that follows. If an account grows from US$4,000 to US$5,000 and then dips to US$4,500, the drawdown is US$500, or 10%. A 15.0% target for maximum drawdown means the company aims to keep falls below that level, and a target can be missed. If a fall of that size would worry you, set a lower risk level or leave the whole thing alone.

The same goes for leverage. A requirement of at least 30:1 is a feature of how the system operates, and it is one reason a copy trading account can move quickly in either direction. The company also states that it does not use martingale, grid or hedging techniques, which it describes as the fastest way to blow up an account.

Who copy trading tends to suit

The company names four kinds of people it expects to hear from: high net worth individuals looking to diversify, professional investors, financial planners and new investors who want to enter the market. What they have in common is that they would rather follow an experienced trader than learn to trade themselves. It does not suit people who need a result by a certain date, people who cannot afford any loss, or people who want to place their own trades.

If you want the background on the two founders, the story of Dan Leman and Norman Hart ({{LINK_ABOUT}}) is worth ten minutes. If you would like to see what forex is in plainer language, the company's forex 101 page ({{LINK_HOW}}) covers it. And if you want to see the regions and brokers available to you, the Get Started page ({{LINK_START}}) shows them without committing you to anything.

Copy trading is an investment, and investments can lose money. The sensible way to approach it is to read the record, ask questions, start with money you could lose without it hurting, and decide for yourself.

Risk warning: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Forex trading carries risk and you can lose money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Client money is held by a regulated broker in the client's own account.

Disclosure: I may receive a referral reward from High Capital Group if you become a client through my link. It costs you nothing extra.

Most people who lose money to a trader they trusted skipped the same few questions at the start. They liked the sales page, they liked the numbers and they never asked who could touch the money. Here are seven questions worth asking before you copy anyone's trades, with the answers High Capital Group gives to each one, so you can see what a good answer looks like and compare any other service against it.

1. Where does my money actually sit?

This comes before everything else. If the answer is "with us", ask why, and ask who regulates them.

With High Capital Group, you open your own account with a highly reputable, regulated forex broker, and you deposit your money with the broker. The account is in your name, and the money is held by the broker, not by High Capital Group. That means the broker's regulation applies to your account, which is a very different position from handing cash to a trader directly.

2. Can the trader withdraw my money?

It sounds like the same question but it is not, because a trader can have permission to place trades without having permission to take money out. Ask exactly which permissions they hold.

The company states that it can place trades on your account but has no access to withdraw any money. The invoice process shows how the arrangement works in practice: at the end of the month the company sends you an invoice, and you pay to keep your access. As the company's FAQ puts it, you could technically choose not to pay, because the fee is only owed after the money is made, but there is no way the company could take your money.

3. Can I check the record myself, and who checks it?

A screenshot proves nothing. A record verified by an independent third party, ideally in real time, is a much better starting point.

High Capital Group's results are verified in real time by a third party, FX Blue, and there is a link to the verified account on the Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}). The company says it is one of its accounts. Note also that results before 2018 came from the old legacy system and the current system's record runs from 2018, so look at the two periods separately.

4. How far has the account fallen at its worst?

Everyone shows you the best month. Ask for the worst fall from peak to valley, which is called maximum drawdown, because that is the number that tests your nerves.

The company's target is to keep maximum drawdown below 15.0%. It also reports one losing quarter out of 33 and a profit factor of 4.99. These are the company's published figures, and the word target applies to the drawdown goal and the 10% monthly return aim. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and a future fall could be larger than a past one.

5. What methods does the trader use?

Some strategies look brilliant for months and then wipe out an account in a day. Martingale (doubling down after a loss), grid trading and hedging are the three most often blamed.

The company says plainly that it does not use martingale, grid or hedging techniques, and that it is fiercely against them. It describes them as the fastest way to blow up an account. You cannot verify a promise about future behaviour, but the stated policy is a fair thing to ask any provider about, and the verified record lets you look for the pattern yourself.

6. What does it cost, and when do I pay?

Fees decide your real result, so get every one in writing, including the ones that look small.

The fee here is 30% of profits, charged only after you have made money and calculated on the high water mark, so a loss has to be recovered before any new fee applies. There are no upfront fees. The copy software normally costs US$19 a month, and the broker the company recommends covers that for life when you sign up through the company's link. The minimum investment is US$1,000. If you invest US$5,000 and make US$1,000, the fee is US$300. Ask any other provider to give you that same kind of worked example.

7. Can I turn the risk down, and can I leave whenever I want?

A good service lets you decide how hard your money works, and it lets you walk away without penalty.

You can set a personalised risk level so your account trades more or less aggressively, and you can change it with a few clicks. Your money is not locked in, and you can access it at any time, though you withdraw through the broker. The account requires leverage of at least 30:1, which raises risk, so a lower risk setting is worth thinking about if you are new to this.

What to do with the answers

Write the seven answers down for each service you are considering and put them side by side. A provider who dodges any of them has told you something. A provider who answers all seven clearly has at least earned a closer look, and a closer look is all any of this should be.

You can read the full answers on the company's FAQ page ({{LINK_FAQ}}), and if a question is still unanswered, email support@highcapitalgroup.com and ask. Copy trading is an investment, so it can lose money, and no checklist removes that. What a checklist does is make sure you know exactly what you are agreeing to before you send a single dollar to a broker.

If you do decide to go ahead, the Get Started page ({{LINK_START}}) asks you where you live, shows you the broker available in your region, and takes you through the setup.

Risk warning: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Forex trading carries risk and you can lose money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Client money is held by a regulated broker in the client's own account.

Disclosure: I may receive a referral reward from High Capital Group if you become a client through my link. It costs you nothing extra.

Dan Leman spent years as a full time investor, and he kept hitting the same wall. It seemed that to get into the best investments, you needed to bring multiple 7 figures to the table. That frustration is the reason High Capital Group exists, and the story of how it got solved is worth knowing before you decide whether copy trading is for you.

An investor who could not get in the door

Dan was investing full time, and he could see the quality of the investments that were out there. What he could also see was that the good ones seemed to be reserved for people with far more money than he had to commit. The retail investor, the ordinary person with a few thousand dollars, was offered what was left.

He decided to fix the problem, first for himself and then for other retail investors like him. The company describes what followed as many long and frustrating years, because most top tier traders were happy trading for large hedge funds and institutional investors. They had no reason to take on small private accounts.

The trader he had been looking for

Then Dan met Norman Hart. According to the company's own account, Norman was everything Dan had been searching for. He has an honours degree in economics. His skills had been responsible for tens of millions of dollars in investment. Companies had paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars just to use the software he designed. And Norman wanted to help people.

He did have one condition, and it is my favourite detail in the whole story: all he wanted to do was trade. Together they formed Oak Valley Investments, which is now High Capital Group, with a mission to bring otherwise unavailable, high return investment opportunities to the retail investor.

What had to change for a small investor to take part

Having a good trader is half the answer. The other half is a way for someone with a modest amount of money to benefit from his trading without handing that money to anybody. That is where copy trading comes in.

Under the High Capital Group set up, you open your own account with a highly reputable, regulated forex broker and deposit your money there. The company never has access to withdraw it. Your account is then set to mirror Norman's trades automatically. The minimum investment is US$1,000, which is a very different number from multiple 7 figures, and this is the heart of what changed. You stay the owner of the account and the money, and the trading is done by someone with a long record.

What the record says, and what it cannot say

A story like this is only worth something if the numbers can be checked, so here is what the company publishes. Its targets are a 10% average monthly return after fees and a maximum drawdown below 15.0%. Its record shows one losing quarter out of 33 and a profit factor of 4.99. Results before 2018 are from the old legacy system, and the current system's record starts in 2018.

Those results are verified in real time by a third party, FX Blue, and you can see them on the Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}) without taking anyone's word for it. What the record cannot do is tell you the future. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and a good record does not make the next quarter a good one.

The honest limits of the idea

The company's own FAQ is direct about it: yes, you can lose money. It calls the service a very high return investment, which means there are things you can do to limit risk but it is still possible to lose. Leverage of at least 30:1 is required on the account, which raises the risk further. The fee is 30% of profits, paid only after you make money, and nothing upfront.

It is also an investment for a particular kind of person. The company says it may suit high net worth individuals looking to diversify, professional investors, financial planners and new investors looking to enter the market. If you cannot afford to lose the money, or you want to place your own trades, it is not the right fit, and I would rather say that than have you find out later.

Why I think the story is worth your time

Plenty of investment companies tell a founder story. What I find useful about this one is that it explains a specific problem, the cost of entry to good investments, and then points to a specific mechanism that addresses it, with a record you can inspect. You can read the whole founder story in Dan's own words on the About page ({{LINK_ABOUT}}), and you can see how the account set up works step by step on the Get Started page ({{LINK_START}}).

Whatever you decide, take your time. Read the record, read the FAQ and ask questions by email at support@highcapitalgroup.com. An investment that is right for you will still be right after a week of checking, and one that is wrong will usually show itself in that time.

The idea behind High Capital Group is simple to say: the best investment opportunities should not belong only to people with seven figures. Whether the service delivers for you depends on markets that nobody controls, and that is the part no founder story can promise.

Risk warning: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Forex trading carries risk and you can lose money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Client money is held by a regulated broker in the client's own account.

Disclosure: I may receive a referral reward from High Capital Group if you become a client through my link. It costs you nothing extra.

A trading record can look wonderful and still tell you very little, because a chart that only goes up hides the three things that matter most: how far the account fell along the way, how much was won compared with lost, and how often a quarter ended in the red. This article explains each of them in plain terms, using the figures High Capital Group publishes as the example, so you can read any record you meet with the same eyes.

Start with how the record was verified

Before you look at a single number, ask who produced it. A record the trader typed up is a claim. A record pulled from a trading account by an independent third party is evidence. High Capital Group's results are verified in real time by FX Blue, and the link to the verified account is on the Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}). The company describes it as the verification of one of its accounts, so it is a sample and not every client's result, and each client's own result depends on when they started and the risk level they chose.

Drawdown: how far it fell before it recovered

Drawdown is the distance between an account's highest peak and the lowest valley after it. The company gives a simple example: you start with US$4,000, grow it to US$5,000, then it dips to US$4,500 before rising again. The drawdown is US$500, which is 10% of the peak.

Maximum drawdown is the largest such fall in the whole record, and it is the number that tells you what holding the account actually felt like. High Capital Group's target is to keep it below 15.0%. Two things to remember when you read that. It is a target, so it is a goal and not a limit that cannot be crossed. And a record's worst fall so far does not set a ceiling for the next one.

A practical way to use the figure is to turn it into money. If you put in US$1,000 and the account fell by a drawdown of 15%, you would be looking at US$150 on paper at the low point. Ask yourself honestly whether you could watch that happen without selling in a panic. If the answer is no, a lower risk setting or a smaller deposit may suit you better.

Profit factor: what was won for every dollar lost

Profit factor is the total money made on winning trades divided by the total money lost on losing trades over a period. A profit factor of 1 means winners and losers cancelled out. Above 1 means the winners were bigger in total. The company reports a profit factor of 4.99, which means that, across the period measured, gross winnings were close to five times gross losses.

It is a useful number because it shows whether a good month came from a sound method or from a lucky streak. It does not show how large the account was or how long the record has run, which is why it needs to be read alongside the others. A very high profit factor over a handful of trades means much less than a high one over many years.

Losing quarters: how often did it end in the red

Monthly figures swing about. Quarters smooth some of that out, and they give a clearer picture of consistency. The company reports one losing quarter out of 33. When you see a number like that, resist the urge to read it as a promise. It tells you how the record has looked, and no trader can promise that the next quarter will be a winner.

It helps to ask what happened in the losing quarter and how long the account took to recover. The high water mark in the fee structure is relevant here: clients pay the 30% performance fee only on profit above their previous peak, so a losing stretch has to be made back before new fees apply.

The target return, and why the word target matters

The company's target is an average monthly return of 10% after fees. A target describes the aim of the strategy. It does not describe what a particular client received, and a target figure is not a prediction. If you see anyone, including me, quote a return figure without the word target next to it and without a risk warning beside it, treat that as a red flag.

The legacy note: read the two periods separately

This is the honest wrinkle in the record, and the company states it openly. All results before 2018 came from the old legacy system. The past performance of the current system can be seen from 2018 onwards. When you read the verified account, check which period you are looking at, and give the current system's period the most weight. The older history still tells you something about the trader, but it was produced by different technology.

A short checklist you can use on any record

- Is it verified by an independent third party, and is the link live so you can check it yourself?

- What is the maximum drawdown, and could you stomach that fall with your own money?

- What is the profit factor, and over how many trades and how many years?

- How many losing quarters are there, and what happened in them?

- Are the return figures labelled as targets, with a risk warning beside them?

- Does the provider tell you which period came from which system?

You can work through all six with High Capital Group's own material. The Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}) has the video and the verified account, and the FAQ page ({{LINK_FAQ}}) explains drawdown and the high water mark in the company's own words. If something is still unclear after that, email support@highcapitalgroup.com.

A verified record is a good reason to look closer, and no more than that. Forex trading carries risk, leverage of at least 30:1 is required on the accounts, and a good history cannot remove the chance of a loss.

Risk warning: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Forex trading carries risk and you can lose money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Client money is held by a regulated broker in the client's own account.

Disclosure: I may receive a referral reward from High Capital Group if you become a client through my link. It costs you nothing extra.

There are three common ways to put money behind a trader's skills, and people mix them up constantly: a managed account, copy trading and trading it yourself. Each gives you a different mix of control, effort, cost and risk. Here is a fair comparison of the three, with High Capital Group's copy trading service as the example for the middle one, and with the points where each of the other two can beat it.

Trading it yourself

You pick the currency pairs, you decide when to enter and exit, and you accept every result. The strongest argument for doing it yourself is control and cost. You pay no performance fee to anyone, and every decision is yours, which suits people who enjoy the work.

The weaknesses are time and experience. Forex markets run around the clock from Monday morning in Australia until Friday afternoon in New York, and learning to trade them well takes a long time, usually with losses along the way. If you want to trade yourself, nothing here should talk you out of it, but be honest about how many hours a week you will spend and how much a beginner's mistakes could cost.

A managed account

In a typical managed account arrangement, you hand an account manager the authority to trade for you, and they decide what to buy and sell. The details vary a great deal from one provider to another. Some keep your money in an account in your name, others pool it. Fees may include a management charge, a performance charge or both, and minimum deposits are often much higher than for copy trading.

The advantage is that a professional makes every decision, and there is nothing for you to set up. The things to ask about are the same wherever you look: who holds the money, who can withdraw, how fees are calculated, how the record is verified and how you get out. Because the arrangements differ so much, get the answers in writing before you commit.

Copy trading

Copy trading sits between the two. A professional trader makes the decisions, and you keep an account in your own name where the trades are mirrored automatically. In the High Capital Group version, you open your own account with a highly reputable, regulated forex broker, deposit with the broker, and set the account up to mirror the head trader, Norman Hart. The company has no access to withdraw money. You can set a personalised risk level, and you can access your money whenever you wish through the broker.

The costs are 30% of profits, payable only after you make money and calculated on a high water mark, with nothing upfront. The copy software normally costs US$19 a month, and the recommended broker covers that for life if you join through the company's link. The minimum is US$1,000, and the account needs leverage of at least 30:1.

How the three compare on the questions that matter

Who makes the trading decisions

You do when you trade yourself. A manager does in a managed account. The lead trader does in copy trading, although you decide whether to follow and how much risk to run.

Who holds the money

When you trade yourself, your broker holds it. In copy trading with High Capital Group, your broker holds it, in your own account, and the company cannot withdraw. In a managed account it depends on the provider, which is exactly why the question has to be asked.

How much time it takes

Trading yourself takes the most, and copy trading takes the least once the account is set up. Managed accounts also take little of your time, though you may have more paperwork at the start.

What it costs

Trading yourself has no performance fee, only the broker's costs. Copy trading here has a performance fee of 30% of profits after the high water mark. Managed accounts vary, and some charge both a management and a performance fee.

How you can check the results

Your own records are the only thing you need when you trade yourself. For copy trading with High Capital Group, the record is verified in real time by FX Blue, and you can view it on the Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}). For managed accounts, ask what independent verification exists.

What can go wrong

All three can lose money. Trading yourself adds the risk of your own inexperience. Managed accounts add the risk of the arrangement itself, depending on where your money sits. Copy trading adds the risk that the lead trader has a poor stretch, and the leverage requirement of at least 30:1 raises risk in this particular service.

The record that goes with the copy trading option

The company states a target monthly return of 10% after fees and a target maximum drawdown below 15.0%, and reports one losing quarter out of 33 with a profit factor of 4.99. Results before 2018 came from the old legacy system, and the current system's record starts in 2018. These are the company's published figures. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and targets can be missed.

A fair way to choose

If you love markets and have the hours, trade yourself and keep the whole result. If you want a professional deciding for you and you are comfortable with the provider's arrangement, ask the managed account questions above and compare. If you want a professional's trades without giving anyone access to your money, and you like the idea of staying in control of the risk dial, copy trading is worth a look. You can also combine the approaches, for example by copying a service with a small portion of money while you learn to trade on a separate account.

The company's FAQ notes that you can open a sub-account with the same broker for your own trading, which it prefers over placing your own trades on the copied account. The FAQ page ({{LINK_FAQ}}) has the details, and the forex 101 page ({{LINK_HOW}}) helps if you are new to currencies.

No approach is right for everyone, and none of them is free of the chance of loss. Pick the one whose trade-offs you understand and can live with.

Risk warning: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Forex trading carries risk and you can lose money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Client money is held by a regulated broker in the client's own account.

Disclosure: I may receive a referral reward from High Capital Group if you become a client through my link. It costs you nothing extra.

Let us say you have US$1,000 you could afford to lose without it hurting, and you are wondering what forex copy trading would actually involve. This is not advice about what you should do, because I do not know your situation. It is a plain walk through the steps, the costs and the risks of starting with the minimum amount, using High Capital Group as the example, so you can decide with your eyes open.

Start with the money you could lose

The minimum investment is US$1,000. Before anything else, ask whether this is money you can afford to lose. The company's FAQ says clearly that you can lose money, that it is an investment with a high return aim and that you should not invest money you cannot afford to lose. Money for rent, bills, emergencies or debts has no place here, and it is a bad idea to borrow for this at all.

Step 1: learn the basics, or skip that if you prefer

You do not need to know anything about forex to copy trades, and the company says so itself. Still, ten minutes of background helps. Forex means buying and selling currencies in pairs, such as the British pound against the Australian dollar, and you can profit when a currency rises or falls against another. The forex 101 page ({{LINK_HOW}}) explains it in simple language.

Step 2: check the record before you do anything else

The company publishes a target of a 10% average monthly return after fees and a target maximum drawdown below 15.0%. It reports one losing quarter out of 33 and a profit factor of 4.99, with results before 2018 coming from the old legacy system. The record is verified in real time by FX Blue, and the link is on the Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}).

Put those numbers in terms of your US$1,000. A 15% drawdown would mean a fall of about US$150 from the peak. A 10% monthly return target would be about US$100, but that is only an aim, and a month can come in below it or lose money. Do not plan your life around a target.

Step 3: choose where you are from

The broker depends on where you live. On the Get Started page ({{LINK_START}}) you pick either the United States or the rest of the world, and it shows you the broker available to you. The company says all the brokers it recommends are highly reputable, regulated brokers. If you invest over US$20,000 you may be able to choose your own broker, but at US$1,000 you will use one of the recommended brokers.

Step 4: open your own account and deposit

You open an account in your own name with the broker and deposit there. Brokers ask for identification, and most offer several ways to deposit and withdraw. The company never holds your money and has no access to withdraw it. Select a leverage of at least 30:1 on the account, which the company asks for. Higher is fine but not necessary. Remember that leverage magnifies losses as well as gains.

Step 5: connect the copy software and pick your risk level

The copy software mirrors the head trader's trades on your account. It normally costs US$19 a month, and the recommended broker covers that for life if you sign up through the company's link. You also choose a personalised risk level, which means your account can trade more or less aggressively than the lead trader's. With a small account and no experience, a lower setting is worth serious thought, and you can change it later with a few clicks.

Step 6: leave the trades alone

The trades come through automatically. The company prefers you do not place your own trades on the copied account or close its trades by hand, since that can interfere with the strategy. If you want to try trading yourself, you can open a sub-account with the same broker and do it there.

Step 7: understand the fee before it arrives

The fee is 30% of profits, payable only after you make money, with nothing upfront. It is calculated on a high water mark. As an example from the company: invest US$5,000, make US$1,000 in month one and pay US$300. Lose US$200 in month two and pay nothing. Make US$1,000 in month three, and the fee applies to US$800, so you pay US$240. Each month the company sends an invoice, and you pay to keep your access.

The risks, stated plainly

- You can lose money, including a large part of your US$1,000.

- A drawdown target is a target. A real fall could be bigger.

- Leverage of at least 30:1 magnifies losses as well as gains.

- Past results do not predict future ones, and the company's own record before 2018 comes from a different system.

- You do not choose the trades, so you must be comfortable with someone else's decisions.

Questions to settle before you start

Could I watch this account fall by US$150 and leave it alone? Would losing the whole US$1,000 change my month or my year? Have I read the FAQ and the record? If you cannot answer yes comfortably, wait. There is no rush, and the service will still be there next week.

If you have questions the site does not answer, email support@highcapitalgroup.com. A short reply can save a long worry.

Starting small is a sensible way to learn how copy trading feels in practice, and a small sum limits what you can lose. It does not remove the chance of loss, and nothing about this article is a recommendation to invest.

Risk warning: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Forex trading carries risk and you can lose money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Client money is held by a regulated broker in the client's own account.

Disclosure: I may receive a referral reward from High Capital Group if you become a client through my link. It costs you nothing extra.

These are the questions people ask me most about High Capital Group, answered with what the company itself states on its site. Where the answer is a number I have kept the word target beside it, because that is what the company calls them.

What it is and who runs it

What is High Capital Group?

It is a forex copy trading service. The older name, Oak Valley Investments, still appears on the videos and on the verified account. The company was founded by Dan Leman, a former full time investor, and head trader Norman Hart. Its stated mission is to bring otherwise unavailable, high return investment opportunities to the retail investor. You can read the full story on the About page ({{LINK_ABOUT}}).

What does it trade?

Foreign currencies, known as forex. The company buys and sells currencies from around the world to make a profit, and it can profit from currencies rising or falling.

Do I need experience?

No. Trades are mirrored on your account automatically, and the company says you can copy them without knowing what forex is. If you would like to learn, there is a forex 101 page.

What you pay and when

What is the minimum investment?

US$1,000.

What does it cost?

The fee is 30% of profits, payable only after you make money, calculated on a high water mark. There are no upfront fees. The copy software normally costs US$19 a month, and the recommended broker covers that for life when you join through the company's link.

What is a high water mark?

It means you only pay fees on profit above your account's previous peak. If you invest US$5,000, make US$1,000, pay US$300, then lose US$200 and make US$1,000 the next month, you pay 30% of the US$800 recovered above your peak, which is US$240.

Can I get a discount?

The company says it will consider discounts for accounts over US$100,000, and you can email support@highcapitalgroup.com to discuss it.

Where your money sits and how you reach it

Who holds my money?

A highly reputable, regulated forex broker holds it, in an account that is yours. The company does not hold client funds and has no access to withdraw them.

Can I get my money out?

Yes, you can access it at any time. Because the broker holds the funds, you withdraw through the broker, which usually offers several methods.

Which broker do I use?

It depends on where you live. On the Get Started page ({{LINK_START}}) you choose your region and see the broker available to you. If you invest over US$20,000, you can choose your own broker by contacting the company.

How much leverage do I need?

At least 30:1. Higher is fine but not necessary. Leverage can magnify losses as well as gains.

Can I place my own trades on the same account?

You can, but the company prefers you do not. A better option is to open a sub-account with the same broker for your own trading.

What the record shows and what can go wrong

Can I lose money?

Yes. This is an investment, and the company says it is possible to lose money even with the steps available to limit risk. It asks you not to invest money you cannot afford to lose.

What are the numbers?

The targets are a 10% average monthly return after fees and a maximum drawdown below 15.0%. The record shows one losing quarter out of 33, with a profit factor of 4.99. Results before 2018 came from the old legacy system, and the current system's record begins in 2018. Third party verification by FX Blue is on the Past Performance page ({{LINK_PERFORMANCE}}).

How much money can I make?

Nobody can tell you, and the company says so itself. It depends on how much you deposit, the risk level you choose and what the markets do. The past results show what you would have made up to now, and they are not a prediction.

What is drawdown?

The fall from an account's highest peak to its lowest valley. If an account goes from US$4,000 to US$5,000 and dips to US$4,500, the drawdown is US$500, or 10%.

Does it use martingale, grid or hedging?

The company says no, and that it is fiercely against those techniques because it believes they are the fastest way to blow up an account.

Is the trading FIFO compliant?

The company says yes.

If your question is not on this list

The full list of answers is on the FAQ page ({{LINK_FAQ}}). If your question is not there, email support@highcapitalgroup.com and ask it directly. Asking before you invest is always cheaper than finding out afterwards.

This article answers questions. It does not tell you whether to invest, because that depends on your situation and your appetite for risk.

Risk warning: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Forex trading carries risk and you can lose money. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Client money is held by a regulated broker in the client's own account.