Can You Lose Money Copy Trading?
June 21, 2026 · 5 min read
Quick answer
Yes, you can lose money copy trading. Copying another trader replicates their losing trades as well as their winning ones, and adds costs like slippage and fees. The trader you follow can have a losing streak or a large drawdown, and your account follows it. Risk controls such as position-size limits, daily-loss caps, slippage protection, and a kill switch help contain losses, but no tool removes market risk. Never copy with money you cannot afford to lose.
Part of the complete guide to copy trading.
It is important to be direct about this: yes, you can lose money copy trading. Any marketing that suggests otherwise is misleading. Copy trading replicates another trader’s decisions in your account, and those decisions include the losing trades, not just the winners.
How you lose money copy trading
- The trader you follow has losing trades or a drawdown, and your account mirrors them.
- Slippage: the price you get can be slightly worse than the trader’s, especially in fast-moving markets.
- Costs: commissions, spreads, and any platform or subscription fees reduce your net return.
- Over-sizing: copying a larger account at full scale can put too much of your account at risk on one trade.
- Chasing: subscribing to a strategy after a hot streak, right before it reverts, is a common way to buy the top.
What risk controls can and cannot do
Good copy-trading software gives you tools to contain losses, but not to eliminate them. RelayTrades enforces your limits server-side before each copied order: maximum position size, total exposure, concurrent-position count, daily-loss caps, and slippage protection. If a copied trade would breach a limit, it is capped or skipped. A one-tap kill switch halts everything and flattens open positions. These controls cap how bad a single day or trade can get, they do not predict the market or guarantee a profit.
Risk controls limit how much you can lose, not whether you can lose. Size positions so that a string of losses is survivable, and never copy with money you need for something else.
How to lose less
Start small while you learn how a strategy behaves in your account. Use proportional position sizing rather than full mirroring. Set a daily-loss cap that, if hit, stops trading for the day. Diversify across more than one strategy if you can, so a single trader’s bad week does not define your results. And keep manual approval on until you trust both the strategy and the automation.
Frequently asked questions
Related reading
Copy Trading Risks and How to Manage Them
The main copy trading risks are market risk, over-sizing, slippage, over-concentration, and over-trusting a track record. Here is how to manage each one.
Read moreIs Copy Trading Worth It? An Honest Look
Copy trading can be worth it if you choose strategies carefully, size positions to your account, and keep risk controls on. It is not free money. Here’s an honest breakdown.
Read moreCan You Make Money Copy Trading?
Yes, it is possible to make money copy trading, but it is not guaranteed. Your results depend on the trader you follow, your sizing, fees, and risk settings.
Read moreOr read the complete guide to copy trading and browse the glossary.
Copy trade on your own broker, with safeguards you control.
Connect your account, follow the strategies you choose, and keep position-size limits, slippage protection, and a kill switch in your hands at all times.
Get startedRelayTrades provides software and automation support, not investment advice or capital management. All trading involves risk; past performance is not indicative of future results.