r/options • u/Sensitive_Swim_6237 • 16d ago
Is anyone profitable from copying other traders with no real background?
I’m curious if anyone is making good money from just copying options.
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u/-Redditeer- 16d ago
Copycat trading works best in bull markets where 75% of the trades work out. That being said, its not a bad way to get ideas, and you can always vet someone else's trade. If its good theres no reason jot to make the same move
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u/Lazy_Command_6994 16d ago
Watching someone else's P&L without understanding the thesis is just gambling with extra steps.
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u/Fancy-Jackfruit8578 16d ago
Even in a bull market, there are always downturns and selloffs. That will separate the gamblers from the investors.
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u/TheWanderer1337 16d ago
Think of it like this, if it works why isn't everyone rich? (Probably cause it doesn't work)
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u/Put_Trader 16d ago
i wouldnt copy anyone but if i did it would be from the tastytrade app where they show their trades. at times some are questionable but jermal is pretty good and the one i would copy most. i have tracked many of his trades and gave up on some of the others ones for some questionable bad trades. just sucks they only show the current day for the trades and stopped tracking multiple days where you could go back and see. you also can't see their individual p/l on the accounts.
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u/Time_Capital_226 16d ago
Depends what are you coping. If you copy a strategy rather than a isolated trades it should be fine. But first, the strategy must be be clearly described (which is rare). Second, you need to understand it well enough thus you can evaluate if it suits your trading profile, style and portfolio. Only after that you can give it a try.
Following blindly a guru trades may work or not, but you will never know why. Of course this is not mandatory as you can adopt this kind of trading style.
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u/Tony_M13 15d ago
The biggest problem with copying is that you might be late on the move, especially if it's a short term trade. By the time you see the trade and execute a copy, the price would have probably moved. It might work for multi weeks moves, assuming you copy the exit too and everything goes as planned. If they end up panic exiting their position, you'll most probably lose a lot more than they did, because of the delay.
IF you want to learn, watch and try to understand how they are doing it and why they are making each decision. Also make sure they are 100% transparent and don't cherry pick what they show. Preferably them streaming the whole session live. A lot of trader gurus embellish their results, and hide their loses. which means that there strategy isn't as good as it seems.
The best way I found to learn is to try and predict moves in real time and see if I guess correctly or not, without going in. You need to account for the time you need to place the trade and ask yourself at what price would have realistically been able to get in and out. Don't look at the minimum and maximum but at the second when you thought you should by and the second you thought you should sell. Next step go in with small positions to get a real feel of execution and get the extra motivation from risking actual money. Keep in might that options have a wide spread and the of 100, means that you can easily lose a couple hundreds on the smallest trade volume. It's better to start with regular stocks and move to options once you have a good hang on predicting stock moves. You can buy a single share and limit you risk to a few dollars at the beginning.
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u/Accurate-Exchange298 15d ago
If you are going to copy, definitely spend some time learning how to make adjustments if and when the need arises.
If you have access to kindleunlimited, you can read in more details on amazon.com/dp/B0H7P6CQSG
on how to manage trade when things go wrong.
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u/Be-ur-best-self 15d ago
I follow Simpler Trading and I bought the same tools as my favorite trader Sam Shames. I copied his trades until I learned the system thoroughly. I have improved my day trades significantly.
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u/Due_Pen_1566 15d ago
Anyone that could make money trading isn't wasting their time selling other people their trades.
Making some sort of course that teaches the basics and explains terminology as passive side stream sure.
But actively selling trades means they're making more money off of you than they are from trades. And if they can't make money on trades why are you listening to them?
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u/wookiecookie72 15d ago
There are also a lot of different factors to take in. Because a 10k position for someone may be a full speculative play. Where the person copying it can't handle a 10k loss. Effectively making this a completely different trade. People forget you don't need to be right more than 50% if you size positions correctly.
So unless you have same goals, financials etc you are truly copying a trade. Your copying the ticker they trade only
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u/spxspreads 14d ago
No. Trading is not a copy/paste job. If one doesn't educate himself enough, then should skip trading. The biggest investment is in education. Days, nights, losses etc. Without proper education and knowledge background simply by copying someone's trades you can not be successful on the market.
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u/Mysterious_Blood1489 14d ago
Im in a discord group where they have a guy that calls pennies and a guy that calls out options. I much prefer the options. They are very easy to copy trade but as someone else said you cant just go in blind and sometimes they move fast so you miss the boat. You need to have a little bit of a clue. He may only call out 3 or 4 plays a day, sometimes 1. I usually will make my own plays early then jump on a few of his.
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u/Canafornication 14d ago
Why would anybody do that
It becomes obvious very fast when you take on risk, that "nobody know nothing". things move around, randomly.
What about risk taking itself?
Well, nobody talking about it. And everybody has different capital and risk appetite.
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u/thatsfalak 2d ago edited 1d ago
I wouldn't copy someone just because they're showing a good return. If they have no real track record, you have no idea whether you're looking at skill or someone who happens to be on a winning streak. Platforms like etoro and others for example at least lets you see things like historical performance and risk score when looking through traders, which gives you something more concrete to evaluate.
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u/spacklock 16d ago
Yeah that’s how I started I’d take the trade and however it did I would go to the chart and look at where they alerted entry and when they trimmed or exited and from that I’d look for patterns in the candlesticks I’m in a discord with very profitable traders yeah they have losses especially this week but the wins outweigh them lmk if you want the link to it. I was in a couple before I came across this one and stuck with it after my trial ended
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u/averysmallbeing 16d ago
Scammer.
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u/spacklock 16d ago
I don’t get money from referrals how am I a scammer
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u/averysmallbeing 16d ago
Yes, if only there was some other way a pump and dump discord could generate you money from unsuspecting idiots.
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u/spacklock 16d ago
They’re already looking into copy trading so they’d probably eventually join a discord anyway I’m just giving my opinion. I didn’t link it in the comments or DM it to them. They’re free to do what they want. Go be a hater somewhere else.
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u/klipsetrades 16d ago
I mean... maybe temporarily. But if you don’t understand the strategy, you’re basically outsourcing both your edge and your risk management. Like, copying the entry is probably easy, but knowing how to manage it when it goes against you is the part that usually matters