How to choose a signal provider or channel (and avoid the scams)
In this lesson you'll learn
- The red flags that rule a provider out straight away
- What a trustworthy track record looks like
- How to test a provider safely before committing
Most signal sellers can't show what you need to see
Thousands of channels and providers sell trading signals. A few are skilled and honest. Many show only winning screenshots, delete losing calls, or quietly run risky strategies that work until they don't. Choosing well is mostly about knowing what to ask for.
Red flags: walk away
- Guaranteed or fixed returns ("10% a month guaranteed"). Nobody can guarantee market returns.
- "Account management": asking for your trading password or login to "trade for you". Never give it.
- Only screenshots of wins, no verifiable record over months.
- Deleted or edited signals after they lost.
- Pressure and urgency: "only 3 spots left", "price goes up tonight".
- A 90%+ win rate with no visible losses: often a grid or martingale strategy (lesson 6).
- Payment to a personal crypto wallet with no company, terms or refund policy.
What a good track record shows
- Length: at least 6 months, ideally 12 or more, including a difficult period.
- Verified, not claimed: results tracked by a third party from real trades or real signals, including losers.
- Maximum drawdown next to the return (lesson 5). +30% with a 10% drawdown beats +100% with 60%.
- Enough trades to mean something: dozens at least, ideally a hundred or more.
- Sensible risk per trade, and a stop loss on every trade.
- Losses shown openly, with explanations. Honest providers lose often, and say so.
Fit matters too
A good provider can still be wrong for you. Check the markets traded, how long trades are held (does it hold over weekends?), how many signals a day, and whether the drawdowns are ones you could sit through calmly.
Test before you trust
- Follow on a demo account or in practice mode for a few weeks.
- Then start real money at a small size, with a drawdown limit set.
- Compare your results to the provider's. A big gap means delays, costs, or a record that isn't what it seems.
- Decide in advance what would make you stop (a drawdown level), and when you'll review (monthly, not daily).
Common mistakes
- Choosing by the biggest return instead of return against drawdown.
- Giving anyone your account password.
- Quitting after a normal losing week, or doubling size after a good one.
How this works when you copy trades
On Goldman Copier, provider and channel pages show results worked out from our own records of every trade or signal, losers and skipped signals included. Practice mode lets you watch a provider with no real trades first.
Check yourself
1. A channel offers "15% a month, guaranteed". This is…
2. Which record is more convincing?
3. What should you never give a provider?
Key takeaways
- Guarantees, password requests and screenshot-only records are reasons to walk away.
- Judge verified results over many months, with drawdown next to return.
- Test on demo or small size first, and decide your exit rule in advance.
Education, not advice. Goldman Academy teaches how markets and tools work. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell, and no lesson promises profits. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of losing money; only trade money you can afford to lose. · Written by Goldman Academy, reviewed by Faisal