Copy Trading

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

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

What the amber chip means

An amber chip next to a trader name means Polycopy has identified that wallet as a market maker, an arbitrage wallet, or a very high frequency wallet. 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.

Decide whether to still copy

Treat the chip as context for why a strong-looking track record may not transfer to a follower. On our own Auto Copy fills, skipping traders who are harder to mirror did better than copying everyone. That is not a promise that copying is now safe.

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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. Public Copy Score states include Clears copy costs, Too close to call, Hard to copy, Losing on their own book, Can't score, Not enough history, and Not scored. When there is a number, it looks like +6, with no percent sign.

Treat a missing chip as neutral

No amber chip 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.

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 amber chip. 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.

Very high frequency

A very high frequency wallet places 90+ orders a day. 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. The chip wording is about mirroring difficulty, not a Copy Score state.

Copy Score

Answers whether copying has paid. Hard to copy is one possible Copy Score state. It is not the name of the amber flag.

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.

Common questions

What does the amber chip on a trader mean?

It means Polycopy identified the wallet as a market maker, an arbitrage wallet, or a very high frequency wallet that places 90+ orders a day. The chip explains why that behaviour 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 chip as context, then read Copy Score separately. On our own Auto Copy fills, skipping traders who are harder to mirror did better than copying everyone. That is not a promise that copying is now safe.

What if a trader has no amber chip?

No chip 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.

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. Hard to copy is one possible Copy Score state. It is not the name of the amber flag.

Keep reading

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