How to Choose a Copy Trading Strategy to Follow
June 21, 2026 · 6 min read
Quick answer
To choose a copy trading strategy, look beyond headline returns: review the full track record including its worst drawdowns and how consistent it is, check that the instruments and trading style match your account and risk tolerance, and consider how often it trades. Pick a strategy that fits your goals rather than the one with the flashiest recent numbers, and always apply your own risk limits on top.
Part of the complete guide to copy trading.
Choosing which trader or strategy to copy is the most important decision you make, because their results, scaled to your account, become yours. Flashy recent returns are the worst way to choose. Here is what to look at instead.
Read the whole track record, not just the wins
- Drawdown: how much the strategy lost from peak to trough at its worst. This tells you the pain you would have had to sit through.
- Consistency: steady results over time beat one lucky month. Look for a track record that holds up across different market conditions.
- Longevity: a longer history is more meaningful than a short hot streak. Be skeptical of strategies with only a few weeks of data.
- Win rate vs. risk/reward: a high win rate can still lose money if the losses are large, look at both together.
Match the strategy to your account and tolerance
Make sure the instruments the strategy trades are ones your account is enabled for and comfortable with. An options-heavy strategy carries different risk than one trading large-cap stocks. Consider the trading frequency too: a high-frequency strategy means more activity (and potentially more fees and slippage) than a slower, position-style approach. Pick what fits how involved you want to be.
Watch for red flags
Be cautious of strategies promising guaranteed or unrealistic returns, hiding their drawdowns, or showing only a short, perfect history. No legitimate strategy wins every time. Diversifying across more than one strategy, rather than betting everything on a single high-risk trader, also reduces the impact of any one of them having a bad run.
Always keep your own limits on top
Whichever strategy you choose, you stay in control of how it interacts with your account. With RelayTrades you set the sizing, the routing mode (auto-copy or manual approval), and risk limits (position size, exposure, daily-loss caps, slippage protection), all enforced server-side before any order is placed, plus a one-tap kill switch. Your own safeguards are the backstop no matter who you follow.
Choose a strategy that fits your goals and risk tolerance, not the one with the best recent numbers, and always layer your own risk limits on top. Past performance is historical and not indicative of future results.
Frequently asked questions
Related reading
How Many Traders Should You Copy?
There is no magic number, but copying two to five well-chosen, non-correlated strategies is a common, sensible range. Here’s how to think about diversification in copy trading.
Read moreCopy 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 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.