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Copy Trading

Trader Types We Flag: Why Market Makers Are Harder to Mirror

What the red flag means on Polycopy: market makers, arbitrage wallets, and wallets placing 90+ orders a day. Results can be real. Mirroring those edges is the problem.

Last updated August 21, 2026

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What the red flag means

A red exclamation mark next to a trader name means Polycopy has identified that wallet as a market maker, an arbitrage wallet, or a very high frequency wallet. Hover it to see which one and why. It is not a claim that the trader is bad, dishonest, or unskilled. Many of these wallets are among the most sophisticated on Polymarket. Their result is real. Mirroring it is the problem.

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Decide whether to still copy

Treat the flag as context for why a strong-looking track record may not transfer to a follower. That is not a promise that copying is now safe.

Browse DiscoverWhat Traders to Copy
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Read Copy Score as a separate signal

The flag explains why mirroring can fail. Copy Score is a separate verdict on whether copying that trader has paid after costs. The flag does not replace, override, or outrank Copy Score. When we can score a wallet, Copy Score shows a signed whole number beside the trader name and a word plus a magnitude on the Discover board. When we cannot, it shows a dash, and hovering it tells you why.

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Treat a missing flag as neutral

No flag only means we have not identified the wallet as one of these three types. It is not a badge of safety, and it is not a recommendation to copy.

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Keep the risk in view

Copy trading can lose money. Nothing on this page is investment advice, and no flag or score makes copying safe. Only risk capital you can afford to lose, and review markets yourself before you follow anyone.

The three trader types we flag

These are the only types behind the red flag. Each one can show strong results for the wallet itself while leaving a copier with a worse deal.

Market maker

A market maker quotes both sides and earns the spread rather than betting on one outcome. Their profit is the spread a follower would pay. Copying often means taking the other side of the fill they are selling, so you collect their cost instead of their edge.

Arbitrage

An arbitrage wallet holds both sides of the same market at once, locked in below $1. The profit lives across the paired legs. A bot that mirrors one leg leaves you holding the risk without the locked-in profit.

High frequency

A high frequency wallet places a large number of orders a day (the fastest average 90+ buy orders daily over the last 30 days). Their edge is usually gone before a copy can fill, and that volume of orders can flood a copy budget before you get useful fills.

How the flag relates to Copy Score

Keep the two signals in their places when you see them next to each other on a profile or leaderboard.

Flag

Answers why a wallet can be harder to mirror. It is a behavior warning, not a Copy Score state.

Copy Score

Answers whether copying has paid: a signed whole number, or a dash when we have no verdict. A trader can be flagged and still score positively, or carry no flag and still be a bad copy.

Absence of a flag

Means only that the wallet was not identified as a market maker, arbitrage, or very high frequency type. It is not an all-clear.

What a market maker is in plain terms

People often search for what a market maker is before they decide who to follow. In prediction markets, the short answer is: someone who earns money by quoting both sides and collecting the spread, not by being right about a single outcome.

Why that matters for copy trading

A market maker can look profitable while the people who lift their quotes pay the spread. If you copy the quotes instead of providing them, you are usually on the paying side of that relationship.

Why we still show their results

The wallet P&L can be real. The warning is about transferability: the strategy that produced the result may not survive when a follower tries to mirror it trade by trade.

What does the red exclamation mark on a trader mean?

It means Polycopy identified the wallet as a market maker, an arbitrage wallet, or a very high frequency wallet averaging 90+ buy orders a day. Hover the flag to see which one and why that behavior is harder to mirror. It is not a claim that the trader is bad, dishonest, or unskilled.

Does a flagged trader mean I should not copy them?

No. Their result can be real. Mirroring it is the problem. Treat the flag as context, then read Copy Score separately. That is not a promise that copying is now safe.

What if a trader has no red flag?

No flag only means we have not identified the wallet as one of these three types. It is not a badge of safety, and it is not a recommendation to copy.

Does the flag change what I see anywhere?

In one place. Fire Feed leaves flagged wallets out, because that tab promises traders who are not hard to copy and these are the definition of hard to copy. Everywhere else the flag is context only: it never hides a trader from Discover or your feed, and it never stops you creating a Trader Bot on one.

How is the flag different from Copy Score?

The flag explains why a wallet can be harder to mirror. Copy Score is a separate verdict on whether copying that trader has paid after costs. The flag does not replace Copy Score, and the two can disagree: a flagged wallet can still score positively, and an unflagged one can still be a bad copy.

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