Best trader to copy: how to judge a strategy

Rankings of the “best traders” usually sort by recent return, which is exactly the number that misleads most. Here is what to check before you copy anyone, including me.

Look beyond the headline return

A strategy that made +200% in one month often took huge risk to do it. Look at monthly returns over time, not one great month, and at how the strategy behaved in losing periods.

Check drawdown and risk

Maximum drawdown tells you how far the account fell from a peak. Brokers such as Vantage also show a risk band. Ask yourself whether you could watch your own account drop that much without panicking.

Understand what is traded and how often

Know the instruments, the number of trades per week and the average holding time. A gold scalping strategy behaves very differently from a slow swing strategy.

Prefer transparency

The best traders to copy show verified results calculated by the broker, explain their approach and keep trading through losing streaks. On Vantage my strategy’s results are calculated and shown by Vantage, and I explain my setups live on Kick.

Start small and diversify

Even after careful research, allocate a small amount first. Many copiers split their capital between two or three strategies so that one bad month does not hurt too much.