Can you really make money from copy trading?

Yes, it is possible to make money from copy trading, however it's not really as foolproof as it potentially sounds. The returns advertised for certain traders won't necessarily be the returns you receive if you sign up to copy their trades. Many platforms will reduce (or remove) the trading fees of traders who offer their strategy for copy trading. This can help improve their trading returns, but will not be an accurate representation of the potential return you would make were you to copy their trades (because you'll need to pay fees). It may sound obvious, but in order to make money from copy trading, you'll also have to copy a profitable trader. Not only that, but they'll need to remain a profitable trader over time. Say you find a trader who has managed a return of 70% over the last 12 months and decide to copy trade them. There's no guarantee that they'll achieve similar returns over the next 12 months, and may in fact lose money instead.

How much money do I need for copy trading?

There's no set minimum you'll need to start copy trading, especially if you're trying to manually copy a trader's strategy instead of using a copy trading platform. If you are using a platform that offers a standalone copy trading feature, there may be a minimum investment limit. For example, eToro requires you to invest a minimum of $200 in order to use copy trading.

Is copy trading free?

This will depend on the platform you use to copy trade. While some platforms will offer copy trading services for free, others may charge a fee. But regardless of which platform you use, you'll almost certainly still need to pay the standard trading fees when copying trades.