Balance, equity and Follow Capital answer different questions. Balance describes what has been booked to the account. Equity shows the account's changing value while positions are open. Follow Capital describes the amount assigned to copying. Reading them together gives a more useful picture than treating any one figure as the account's complete financial state.
What account balance means
Balance is built from deposits, withdrawals and realised trading results, together with booked charges or credits under the account rules. An open position normally does not change balance until it is closed. A balance can therefore look stable while the market value of open positions moves sharply.
Balance is a history, not a live valuation
Think of balance as the result of completed account events. It is useful for reconciling cash movements and realised performance, but it should not be used alone to decide whether the account can sustain current exposure.
What account equity means
Equity combines balance with the current profit or loss of open positions and relevant account adjustments. A simplified relationship is balance plus or minus floating profit or loss, with credits, commissions or blocked amounts included according to the platform's calculation. Because prices move, equity can change tick by tick.
Equity is the more immediate measure when reviewing drawdown and margin pressure. Read Maximum Drawdown in Copy Trading to see why balance and equity drawdown can tell different stories.
What Follow Capital means
Follow Capital is the amount assigned to a provider relationship or to copying activity under the platform's current design. It helps separate the intended copy allocation from the rest of the account. It does not necessarily create a legally separate wallet, cap every possible loss or stop other account exposures from affecting equity.
Allocation is not the same as current exposure
A 5,000 allocation does not mean 5,000 is continuously invested. Actual exposure depends on copied positions, price, contract size, leverage, margin and copy-scale rules. Nor does it guarantee losses cannot exceed a chosen amount during gaps or unusual execution conditions.
Copy-Trading Allocation and Provider Diversification explains how to set and review account-level limits.
How provider AUM fits in
A provider profile may display assets under management, follower capital or another aggregate measure. In a copy-trading setting this commonly represents capital connected or assigned by followers under the platform's methodology. It is not necessarily money held by the provider, and a large value does not prove quality, liquidity or future performance.
Check the label, calculation date, currency treatment and whether the figure changes with deposits, withdrawals or market value. Review it beside provider age, drawdown, exposure and trading activity using How to Read Copy-Trading Provider Metrics.
An example of three changing states
Suppose an account has a balance of 20,000 and assigns 6,000 as Follow Capital. If open positions show a floating loss of 800, simplified equity is about 19,200 before any other adjustment. The 6,000 allocation still describes the intended copy relationship, while the 19,200 equity describes live account value. Closing the positions would move the realised result into balance.
This example is educational. Platform displays, currencies, charges and calculation methods can differ.
Events that change each figure
- Deposit or withdrawal: changes balance and usually equity; it can also alter copy-sizing relationships.
- Open-market movement: changes equity but not normally balance.
- Closing a position: transfers realised profit or loss into balance.
- Changing allocation: changes Follow Capital without itself creating a market profit or loss.
- Fees and financing: affect balance or equity when booked under the account rules.
A practical review routine
- Reconcile balance with deposits, withdrawals, closed trades and charges.
- Compare equity with balance and explain the difference using open positions.
- Confirm Follow Capital for each provider and the amount left unallocated.
- Check margin, exposure and copy scale rather than relying on allocation alone.
- Investigate unexpected changes before increasing capital or following a new provider.
The secure account portal is the definitive source for live RockCopy figures. If a label or formula is unclear, confirm its current definition before using it in a risk decision.