Why a Trade Cost More Than You Expected

The price you saw was the price a moment ago. Between seeing it and filling it, the book changed. On a copy this is amplified, because the trade you are copying already used up the shares at the good price. This is slippage. It is not a fee, nobody collects it, and your slippage tolerance caps how far it can go.

You buy at the ask and the position immediately marks at the bid. If the two sit four cents apart, your position shows a loss the second it opens, with nothing having gone wrong. This is a cost of entering, not a fee, and it is much larger in thin markets.

Polymarket charges its own fee on some markets. It varies by market category and by price, it is set by Polymarket and can change, and it goes to Polymarket rather than to us. Their help center carries the current schedule.

A flat 0.5% of the trade, charged on every trade executed through Polycopy, on the free plan and on Premium alike. This is the only money Polycopy takes from a trade. No profit share, no maker/taker split.

A smaller order fills closer to the best price. This is the most effective lever you have and it costs nothing.

A wide spread is a guaranteed cost on entry and a worse one on exit. Check the shares resting near the price, not the headline volume.

The default is 7%. Widening it does not find better prices, it authorises worse ones. Tightening it means more copies get skipped, which is sometimes exactly what you want.

Every order shows "Est Total (Incl. Fee)" before you confirm. That is the number to hold yourself to, not the price printed on the trade card.