Building Your Watchlist: Track Traders Like a Pro

Why Use a Watchlist?

Trading perpetuals successfully isn't just about technical analysis—it's about learning from those who consistently profit. The Watchlist feature transforms how you follow successful traders, giving you a personalized dashboard to monitor their every move.

Getting Started with Your Watchlist

Building an effective watchlist starts with finding the right traders to follow. Here's how to set up your watchlist for maximum value:

Step 1: Create Your Account

To save traders to your watchlist, you'll need a PerpsTracker account. This ensures your list is saved and accessible from any device.

• Sign up using the button in the top navigation
• Verify your email to activate your account
• Log in to access the full Watchlist feature

Step 2: Find Traders Worth Following

Use our discovery tools to identify promising traders:

• Leaderboard: Browse top performers across different timeframes
• Live Trades: Spot active traders making interesting moves
• Trader Lookup: Research specific wallet addresses you've heard about

Step 3: Add to Watchlist

When you find a trader you want to follow, look for the star icon or "Add to Watchlist" button. One click adds them to your personal list.

Understanding the Watchlist Dashboard

Your Watchlist page is designed to give you maximum information at a glance. Let's break down what you'll see:

Labels and Notes

Make your watchlist more readable with custom labels and notes:

Real-Time Position Tracking

Click on any trader card to expand and see their current open positions:

• Position details: Long or short, which market, size
• Entry price: Where they opened the position
• Current PnL: Real-time profit or loss on the position
• Leverage used: How much leverage they're employing
• Liquidation price: The price that would liquidate their position

Position Simulation (Elite Feature)

Elite members can create simulated positions to track hypothetical trades:

• Virtual Entry: Set a custom entry price different from the actual position
• Custom Size: Track with your own position size (e.g., if you copied at 50%)
• TP/SL Tracking: Set take-profit and stop-loss levels to monitor
• What-If Analysis: See how a position would have performed with different parameters

This is powerful for paper trading alongside real traders—track how you would have done if you copied a trade with your own settings.

Strategic Watchlist Organization

As your watchlist grows, organization becomes crucial. Here are strategies used by experienced traders:

Categorize by Trading Style

Consider mentally grouping traders by their approach:

Quality Over Quantity

Don't add every profitable trader you find. A focused watchlist of 10-20 high-quality traders is more valuable than 100 random addresses:

• Remove traders who become inactive for extended periods
• Prune traders whose style doesn't match yours
• Focus on traders whose reasoning you can understand

Using Your Watchlist Effectively

Having a watchlist is one thing—using it to improve your trading is another. Here's how to extract maximum value:

Daily Check-In Routine

Start your trading day with a watchlist review:

1. Check new positions: What did your tracked traders open overnight?
2. Review closed trades: How did their recent trades perform?
3. Note patterns: Are multiple traders making similar moves?
4. Identify opportunities: Any setups you want to research further?

Learn from Losses Too

Don't just watch when traders win. Their losing trades teach you:

• How they manage risk and cut losses
• Market conditions where even pros struggle
• Position sizing adjustments after losses
• Recovery strategies after drawdowns

WebSocket Alerts (Elite Feature)

Elite members receive real-time alerts when watchlisted traders make moves:

Toggle alerts on/off per trader, or enable alerts for your entire watchlist at once. Alerts are delivered via WebSocket for sub-second latency—crucial for copy trading.

Watchlist + Other Features

Your watchlist becomes even more powerful when combined with other PerpsTracker features:

Live Trades Chart Overlay

On the Live Trades page, enable Watchlist Position Overlay to see your tracked traders' entry points directly on the price chart:

• Horizontal lines show where watchlisted traders are positioned
• Your custom labels appear on the chart (instead of wallet addresses)
• Color-coded for longs (green) vs shorts (red)
• Quickly see how close price is to their entries or liquidation levels

Compare Tool Integration

Use the Compare page to analyze multiple watchlist traders side-by-side:

• Compare performance metrics across different market conditions
• See who performs better in trending vs. ranging markets
• Identify which traders to follow for specific market types

Live Trades Cross-Reference

When watching the Live Trades feed, you'll see when watchlisted traders appear. This gives you context: is this a random trade, or is it from someone you've identified as skilled?

Trader Lookup Deep Dives

Use Trader Lookup to go deeper on watchlisted traders:

• Analyze their complete trading history
• Study their performance by market (SOL, BTC, ETH)
• Understand their typical holding periods
• See their behavior during market crashes and pumps

Common Watchlist Mistakes to Avoid

Building Your Watchlist Workflow

Here's a proven workflow for maintaining an effective watchlist:

Weekly Maintenance

1. Review Performance: How did your tracked traders perform this week?
2. Add New Discoveries: Found promising traders on the leaderboard? Add them
3. Remove Underperformers: Traders who consistently lose or go inactive
4. Document Learnings: Note patterns or strategies you observed

Monthly Analysis

1. Identify Your Best Sources: Which watchlist traders have been most educational?
2. Refine Your Criteria: Update what qualifies a trader for your list
3. Track Your Progress: Has following these traders improved your understanding?

The Watchlist Checklist

Before adding a trader to your watchlist, ask yourself:

Taking Action

Ready to build your watchlist? Here's your action plan:

Your watchlist is a living tool that evolves with your trading journey. Start small, stay focused, and continuously refine based on what you learn. The traders you follow today will help shape the trader you become tomorrow.