Why a Bot Stops Copying on Its Own

A bot that stops on its own has almost always been paused by a protection, not broken. The usual causes are the loss circuit breaker, low spendable cash, a lapsed Premium subscription, a Paper bot reaching the end of its run, or a bot that is simply fully invested. Each behaves differently, and most resolve themselves.

Every bot carries a drawdown breaker. It measures the fall from the bot's HIGHEST value so far (its high-water mark), not from the amount you put in. A bot that grew 20% has to give that back and then fall the threshold again before it trips. A new Trader Bot starts at 50%. You can change it under Safety limits when you create the bot, or in Manage bot later. Bots created with the old Custom or Mirror setup before 2026-09-11 started at 30%. It counts money that has actually left. An open position marked down does not trip it, because a bot's value here is its cash plus the cost basis of what it holds. That makes it a "this bot is broken" signal rather than a mark-to-market stop, which is why it sits so wide. On your Bots page it shows as "Risk limit hit". A separate setting, Max Daily Loss, shows as "Max Daily Loss hit" and clears at the next daily reset.

If your Polymarket cash drops below $10, your Real Trading bots stop opening new copies. They are not paused. A bot still sells when its trader exits, still runs its stop-loss and take-profit, and resolved markets still pay out. Selling is one of the ways cash comes back, so a bot keeps doing it.

On My Bots a banner says new copies are on hold, and each affected bot reads "Low funds". The check runs about every 30 minutes. New copies restart on their own once your cash is back above $10, whether that cash came from a deposit, a sell or a resolved market. There is nothing to press.

Portfolio value is not spendable cash. Money inside open positions cannot buy anything until it is sold or the market resolves. See Cash vs Portfolio Value.

Real Trading bots require an active Premium subscription. If Premium ends — a cancellation, a failed payment, or a grace period running out — those bots pause and read "Premium required" until it is active again. Paper bots are unaffected and run to their scheduled end.

Paper Trading bots run for a set length and end when that run is over. Trader Bot and Strategy Bot setup both start a 14-day run. That is the design, not a fault, and pausing partway does not push the end date back. Review the results, then start a new Paper run or a Real Trading bot when you are ready.

A bot that has committed its capital to open positions stops placing because there is nothing left to place with. If you have set Max Open Exposure below the budget, the same thing happens at that line, which is the cap doing its job. Either way, copying resumes on its own as positions resolve and cash comes back.

A bot showing "Running", "Waiting for trader" or "Trader inactive" has not been paused by anything — it is armed with nothing to copy, and the answer is on the trader's side. If the status names a cause you have already fixed and it has not cleared within an hour, tell us: the Get Help form (the ? icon in the top navigation) or help@polycopy.app, with the bot name and the exact status word.