Is copy trading profitable?

The mechanism is worth understanding because it is not about provider dishonesty. A ranked list sorted by return puts whoever took the most risk and has not yet been punished at the top. A provider running 40% drawdowns will outrank one running 8% for months — right up until the month that ends them. Subscribers choosing from the top of that list are, on average, selecting the accounts closest to failure.

The second drag is arithmetic. A performance fee takes a share of every profitable period, while losing periods cost the provider nothing. If the fee is not charged against a high water mark, a provider can lose 20%, recover it, and bill you on the recovery.

The third is execution. Your fill is never the provider's fill, and the gap works against you every time because they execute first. On fast instruments like gold that difference is a meaningful share of the edge on short-term trades.

What separates the minority who do well

They ignore the headline return and read the monthly table, because twelve unremarkable positive months describe a system while one enormous month describes an event. They check account age and total trades before anything else — a two-month record has told them nothing.

They read maximum drawdown as the number they will actually have to sit through, and deposit load to see whether a smooth curve is genuine or just untested. And they size their own exposure rather than assuming the provider has done it for them.