Updated November 2026 · 7 min read
Copy trading means letting software repeat another trader's bets on your own account. On Polymarket every trade is public, so you can pick traders with a long, verifiable record and mirror what they do, in proportion to your own bankroll and inside limits you set. This guide walks through it from zero, using Shadower as the example, and covers the risks to understand before you put real money in.
There is nothing to install and no server to rent. The bot runs 24/7 on Shadower's servers, so it keeps copying when your laptop is closed.
Go to shadower.trade/app and sign in with Google or an email link. The free trial lasts 3 days or 100 copied trades, whichever comes first, and starts on a $10,000 demo balance. No card is needed.
This is the decision that matters most. Open the leaderboard and look at three numbers together:
Start with two to five traders rather than one, so a single bad week doesn't decide your result. You can also browse by market: sports, politics or crypto.
| Setting | What it does | A careful start |
|---|---|---|
| Bet ratio | Each copy is this share of your balance, so a whale's $10,000 bet doesn't become yours | 1–2% |
| Max bet | Hard cap on any single copied bet | 2–5% of your balance |
| Price range | Skips outcomes that are too cheap or too expensive to be worth copying | 5–95¢ |
| Hourly limit | The most the bot may spend in one hour, as a share of your balance | 20% |
| Sell mode, auto-sell | Whether you follow the trader's sells, and when to take profit automatically | Follow sells |
The full list with explanations is in the user guide.
Press Start and watch the live feed for a few days. You will see which trades were copied, which were skipped and why. Skips are normal: they mean a trade fell outside your filters. If a trader's style doesn't suit you, replace them now, while it costs nothing.
When you're happy with the demo, stop the bot, add your Polymarket wallet address and private key in Settings, turn on Live Mode and start again. From here every copy is a real order on your account.
Your key. A private key that can trade can also move funds. Shadower stores it encrypted with AWS KMS and its bot only places orders; there is no withdrawal function. Still, treat any service holding a key as a risk and keep only your trading money in that account.
Results. Good traders have losing weeks, and you enter a moment after them at a slightly different price. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Never trade money you can't afford to lose.
Yes. A copy-trading service watches the wallets you choose and places the same bets on your account, scaled to your balance and limited by your own rules. With Shadower you can start on a $10,000 demo balance before risking real money.
No. Shadower runs in the browser and the bot works 24/7 on Shadower's servers, so you can close the tab or switch off your computer.
Any key that can trade can also move funds, so the risk is real. Shadower stores the key encrypted with AWS KMS and its bot only places orders; it has no withdrawal function. The sensible protection is a separate Polymarket account funded only with the money you plan to trade.
There is no fixed minimum in Shadower, but Polymarket rejects very small orders. Many people start with a few hundred dollars after testing on the demo balance.
The first 3 days or 100 copied trades are free, with no card. After that Shadower costs $99 a month or $990 a year, with no commission on profits.
Try it on a $10,000 demo →