A novel magnetic weak acid resin NDMC was self-synthesized for the removal of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions. NDMC showed superior properties on the removal of Cu2+ compared to commercial resins C106 and IRC-748, which was deeply investigated by adsorption isotherms and kinetic tests. The equilibrium adsorption amount of Cu2+ onto NDMC (267.2 mg/g) was almost twice as large as that onto IRC-748 (120.0 mg/g). The adsorption kinetics of Cu2+ onto the three resins fitted well with the pseudo-secondorder equation. The initial adsorption rate h of NDMC was about 4 times that of C106 and nearly 8 times that of IRC-748 at the initial concentration of 500 mg/L. External surface area was determined to be the key factor in rate-controlling by further analyzing the adsorption thermodynamics, kinetics parameters and physicochemical properties of the resins. NDMC resin with the smallest bead radius possessed the largest external surface and therefore exhibited the fastest kinetics. The adsorption amount of Cu2+ onto NDMC was not influenced as the concentration of Na+ increased from 1.0 to 10.0 mM/L. Dilute HCl solution could effectively desorb Cu2+. NDMC demonstrated high stability during 10 adsorption/desorption cycles, showing great potential in the rapid removal of Cu2+ from wastewater. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.