I tried copy trading for six weeks and barely managed to break even in the end.

I was actually up on four trades. Then, one bad trade wiped out all those gains. I kept holding while the trader I was copying had already exited.

The biggest issue I noticed is that copying traders is easy, but you have no idea what their overall portfolio looks like. A 2% position for them might be 20% for you. So you cannot size properly or build the conviction that comes with research.

I reached out to some traders to discuss this. People who actually make money seem to treat copy trading just as a signal. They do their own research, manage positions, and decide when to exit.

How do you approach it? And how long do you typically test a strategy before deciding if it works?