Copy trading can be profitable. At least it has been for me! The thing is you don’t have to be pro in trading but can still make money if you follow the right trader.Though I had to spend some time analysing the performance of traders on zulutrade and checking their data but it was worth it.
Yeah, copy trading has worked for me too and I'm quite satisfied with the results. Been following a few traders and learning from their insights as well, which has really helped me improve my knowledge.
I had been thinking about sharing my trades on a copytrading platform. Right now, I am testing out my strategies on demo of a few platforms. If everything works well, I will go live and start sharing my trades with the platform that suits me best.
It's better to invest a bigger amount privately with a professional trader rather than small amounts to publicly available "copy" traders. Due to the nature of the markets, the popular traders on the copy platforms simply cannot survive long term. Also, I'm not aware of any professional traders who would actually give out their trades to those copy platforms. It's a game for the masses, but not for the masters.
TBH I don't have enough time to trade on my own and because of that I have been copy trading on a few platforms for some time. As you mentioned, I have never encountered this issue with the traders I follow, in fact, they have been sharing trades on the platforms for quite a long time.
I have seen many signals that are clearly grid/Marti style. These people reach the top of the lists with beautiful, straight equity curves. Until they don't.... However, what is stopping them from reopening a new account and start over again? They make more money from the copy platform than they are risking themselves by trading. On cTrader I have seen signal providers who have $200 equity themselves, and yet are being followed by over $1M (of which they get 15%). So there is no risk for them! Yes, they could lose their $200, but in the meantime gained thousands of dollars from fees.
Copy trading is one of the simplest ways to benefit from another trader's expertise. It also means that you retain complete control over the outcome. You can still close trades and open new ones whenever you want.