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Copy-trading glossary

The terms you'll run into most in copy trading and trader-quality analysis, in plain language.

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).

This is information only, not investment advice. Disclaimer