Learn · Terms
Copy-trading glossary
The terms you will run into most in copy trading and trader-quality analysis, in plain language and with what each one actually means when you are reading a leaderboard. Knowing just these words helps you dodge most of the traps before you pick a trader.
- Copy trading
- Investing by having your account automatically mirror an experienced trader's trades.
- Lead trader
- A trader who shares their trades so others can copy them.
- ROI
- Return on investment. Exchanges rank by it, but a flashy ROI doesn't mean quality.
- PnL
- Profit and Loss — the money actually gained or lost.
- Copier PnL
- Combined P&L of people who actually copied the trader. Negative is a warning sign.
- MDD (max drawdown)
- The largest drop from a peak. Over 40% is hard to sit through.
- Profit factor
- Gross profit ÷ gross loss. Above 1 means profits exceed losses; higher is better.
- Leverage
- A multiplier using borrowed funds. 50x means 50× your capital — gains and losses both scale up.
- Win rate
- Share of trades closed in profit. Too high (95%+) can signal martingale.
- Holding time
- How long a position stays open. Under 1 hour is scalping, hard to copy.
- Sample size (n)
- Number of closed trades analyzed. Under 20 is statistically weak.
- AUM
- Assets under management — the total the trader runs.
- Slippage
- The gap between order price and fill price; copy delay hurts followers.
- Martingale
- Increasing bets after losses to recover — a high win rate can hide one big loss.
- Quality score (CopyRadar)
- A 0–100 score from measured metrics, not headline ROI, shown as a grade (A–F).
- Liquidation
- When losses drain the margin and the position is force-closed. Higher leverage means a smaller move can liquidate you.
- Funding rate
- A recurring fee longs and shorts pay each other on perpetual futures. Held long enough, it quietly eats copier returns.
- Profit concentration
- The share of total profit from the single biggest trade. High concentration usually means luck, not a repeatable edge.
- Sharpe ratio
- Return earned per unit of volatility. Higher means steadier gains for the same risk.
- Isolated vs cross margin
- Isolated caps risk to one position's margin; cross uses your whole balance as collateral and can liquidate far more.
→ How these metrics reveal risky traders
This is information only, not investment advice. Disclaimer