🏦 Brokers·intermediate

PAMM Account

Also called: percent allocation management module

A managed account structure where multiple investors pool capital and a single trader manages it — profits are distributed proportionally.

PAMM stands for Percent Allocation Management Module. It's a managed account structure where multiple retail investors pool their capital into a single trading account, managed by a professional trader (or "PAMM manager"). Profits and losses are distributed to each investor proportionally based on their share of the total capital. The manager typically charges a performance fee (often 20-30% of profits). PAMM accounts are popular at forex brokers like FXOpen, InstaForex, and HotForex. They give retail investors access to professional trading without having to learn trading themselves — but they also expose investors to the manager's drawdowns and risks. The critical question is WHO the manager is. Some PAMM managers have real track records. Many are semi-anonymous traders with short histories and volatile returns. Due diligence is everything — treat a PAMM allocation like any other investment decision.

Real trade example

Many PAMM accounts on mid-tier brokers show 200%+ annual returns in their headline numbers but have been active for less than a year. The best have multi-year records with Sharpe ratios above 1.5 — those are the ones worth considering.

Related terms

Copy Trading

beginner

A service that lets you automatically copy the trades of another trader — popularized by platforms like eToro.

Broker

beginner

The company that gives you access to the forex market — the middleman between you and the currency you want to trade.

Drawdown

intermediate

The peak-to-trough drop in your account equity — a measure of how bad your worst losing streak got.

Sharpe Ratio

advanced

A risk-adjusted return metric that measures how much excess return you're getting per unit of risk — higher is better.

ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission)

beginner

Australia's top-tier financial regulator — oversees forex and CFD brokers with strict rules on leverage, disclosures, and client protection.

CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission)

intermediate

Cyprus's financial regulator — a common EU regulator for forex brokers that offers MiFID II passporting across Europe.

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