I used to be quite obsessive: I only watched on-chain activity. The moment I saw “a whale bought,” I would get an itch to follow along. Later, after getting taught a few times, I understood that the same large inflow could be for building a position, or it could be used to hedge spot, do arbitrage, or even just change addresses to put on a show… If you charge in after them, they’ll turn around and treat you as liquidity on the perpetual side.

And besides, those on-chain data tools/tag systems are not some kind of oracle either—I’ve seen delays, mislabeling, and being baited before. Once a screenshot gets shared, it can instantly turn into “smart money.” Now I’d rather look at the path first: where the money comes from, how it gets split and moved in steps, and where it finally enters (CEX or a contract position). Then I decide whether to make a move. Put simply, before you copy someone’s trades, make sure they’re actually adding size—or just “warming up the cover.” Otherwise, when your allergies kick in, it’s really uncomfortable.