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Copy Trading

Why Is My Bot Not Trading?

Troubleshoot Trader Bots and Strategy Bots: check status, eligible trades, available funds, budgets, limits, wallet setup and execution issues.

Last updated September 15, 2026

Open My Bots, select the bot and read its status and recent activity. The checks below apply to Trader Bots and Strategy Bots.

Start here: three checks that answer most cases

1

Read the status word first

Open My Bots and read the bot’s status. It is a diagnosis, not an on/off light, and it usually ends the investigation in one glance. "Running", "Waiting for trader" and "Trader inactive" all mean the bot is armed and there is nothing wrong with it. "Paused by you" waits for you to press Unpause, including after Pause and sell all. "Stopped" means a rule turned the bot off, not you. Contact support if you are not sure why. Everything else names its own cause and is covered below.

2

Check spendable cash, not portfolio value

If the status reads "Out of cash" or "Low funds", this is the whole answer. Look at the Cash figure in the Polycopy top bar. It sits beside portfolio value, and they are different numbers. Money inside open positions cannot buy anything. A Real bot needs at least $10 of spendable pUSD to open new copies. Below that it still sells, and new copies restart on their own once cash is back, usually within about half an hour. You do not need to press anything. See Low spendable cash.

3

Check for new eligible trades

A Trader Bot follows one trader. A Strategy Bot follows its current trader list and filters. Neither copies every trade or replays positions opened before the bot started. Check recent eligible activity on the trader or Strategy page.

If the bot is funded and the trader is active

1

Check capital and the caps

Open the bot and review Capital, Setup & settings, and Health & limits. Two things stop a funded bot here. Capital fully deployed into open positions leaves nothing to place with — that clears by itself as positions resolve. A bot whose Max Open Exposure is set below its budget will likewise wait once its open positions reach that line rather than add.

2

Check whether the market was too thin to copy safely

A status of "Filters blocking" with reasons that read "Book spread … exceeds cap" means the trader bought into a market whose buy–sell gap was wider than the bot's Max Spread. That refusal is the bot protecting you: thin markets are where copies often lose. If a trader you copy lives in thin markets, the honest fix is a different trader, not a wider setting.

3

Loosen filters if the bot is too selective

A status of "Filters blocking" says exactly this: the trader traded, and none of it became an order. If you set filters, the usual causes are Min Win Rate, a narrow Min Price and Max Price range, or Min Days To Close. Relax them one at a time so you learn which one it was. A new Trader Bot starts with these filters off, so if you never changed them, this step does not apply.

Access and wallet problems

1

Confirm Premium is active

A status of "Premium required" means the subscription lapsed — through cancellation, a failed payment, or the end of a grace period — and Real Trading bots pause until it is active again. Check Settings. Paper bots keep running to their scheduled end regardless.

2

Check the wallet link

"Wallet issue" means the key Polycopy signs with does not match the Polymarket account it is supposed to trade for. "Wallet setup needed" means the connection was never finished. Both are fixed in Settings: compare the trading wallet address shown there against the account on polymarket.com/portfolio, and reconnect with the key for the account you actually fund. System pauses re-check on their own and resume once the cause clears — a bot you paused yourself never does.

Orders that reach the exchange and fail

1

Look for execution or market reasons

"Execution issue" means orders reached the exchange and did not fill. Open the bot and check Pending, Closed, and Health & limits. The usual causes are price moving past your slippage tolerance between the trader's fill and yours, a book too thin for the size, a market that stopped accepting orders, an order under the market's own minimum, or Polymarket restricting the account or region. Widening slippage from the 7% default helps with the first of those and nothing else — and only widen it if you would still want the trade at the worse price.

What to send support

1

Send support the useful details

If none of the above explains it, use the Get Help form (the ? icon in the top navigation, or /help#contact) or email help@polycopy.app. Send the bot name, the trader or strategy it copies, the exact status word shown on your Bots page, one specific trade you expected it to copy with roughly when it happened, and your current Polymarket Cash figure. Those five things let us separate a quiet trader from a balance, rules, wallet, or execution problem without a round of questions.

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