#跟单日记 Making trades in the crypto space—can copy-trading really make money?

#跟单日记 Making trades in the crypto space—can copy-trading really make money?

Now most exchanges have a copy-trading feature. Open the exchange’s copy-trading page and you’ll see the whole screen filled with “monthly earnings of 500%-1000%” from trading pros. Newcomers look at that and feel an itch—like they’ve found a secret wealth code. No need to learn trading skills; just click a button and you can lie back and earn.

The truth is: you think you’re copying homework, but you may end up copying into a trap that someone else dug for you.

Copy-trading is basically trading derivatives. You see all those “celebrity trader” leaderboards, so it’s hard not to feel the urge to copy them!

However, the bigger exchanges are relatively okay. The unknown exchanges are different: their data is designed so you’ll see what they want, and to win your trust.

“Coaching teachers” who lead trades have two main income sources.

1、Trading fees (fanyong). If it’s normal trading, that’s fine. But some people lead others to trade frequently. Every time they trade, they earn a commission cut. They don’t care whether the people below can make money.
2、Client losses (eating the customer’s loss). This only exists on smaller, less-known exchanges. They pre-arrange cooperation with the exchange, then they share the proceeds. That’s also why copy-trading with small capital often seems to make money. Once the capital size grows, losses become the main reason—so you hear things like “so-and-so small exchange has run away” all the time.

There are also some “trade-leading teachers” who use two accounts: one goes short and the other goes long. That way, no matter which way the market moves, they won’t lose—they still earn the trading fee commission. Then they only post the trades that are “correct” in their朋友圈 (WeChat/ Moments), which is why you end up only seeing profitable trade screenshots. This method attracts more small-time newcomers to copy-trade.

Copy-trading also has another big drawback: timing issues. For example: if Bitcoin goes to 80,000 and someone enters a long position first, then people who copy in later will push the price up. The later someone enters, the higher their entry cost becomes. If it’s 100x leverage, then moving the price up by just 1 point gives them a 100% return. Closing positions is similar too: the first one to close goes first, and the later closers get a lower closing price. That causes the profit of later closers to shrink, and they may even end up losing.

So copy-trading must be done cautiously. Playing around with small capital is fine, but the bigger the capital, the bigger the risk. The odds of making money by copy-trading are just like going to a casino.

The above analysis only represents personal viewpoints and is not investment advice.