{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1","title":"Autopilot Journal","home_page_url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog","feed_url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/feed.json","description":"Ideas, research, and product notes from Autopilot.","language":"en-US","items":[{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-with-etoro","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-with-etoro","title":"How Autopilot works with your eToro account","summary":"How Autopilot differs from eToro, how brokerage compatibility works, and what to check before connecting an account.","content_text":"I'm Chris, one of the co-founders of Autopilot. A lot of people search \"Autopilot vs eToro,\" and I get why. But it's the wrong question, so let me answer the right one.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\neToro is a brokerage. Autopilot is an adviser designed to work with supported brokerage accounts. Autopilot's current U.S. App Store listing (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799) names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, “and more”; it does not name eToro. Because integrations change, the connect screen in the app is the authoritative list. If eToro is not shown there, you cannot connect that account to Autopilot.\n\nWhy people end up asking this\n\nYou have an eToro account. You've seen the Pelosi Tracker or another Pilot, and you want to know whether that account can connect directly. Do not assume it can: check the in-app connect screen. If eToro is absent, using Autopilot requires a separate account at a brokerage the app currently supports.\n\n1) What each one does\n\neToro USA Securities Inc. is a broker-dealer. Its current U.S. disclosures (https://www.etoro.com/en-us/customer-service/disclosures/) describe brokerage services for stocks, exchange-traded funds, and options. eToro also publishes separate information about its social and CopyTrader features; availability and eligible assets can vary by product and rollout.\n\nAutopilot never holds your money. We're not a broker-dealer. We don't execute trades, hold client funds, or custody anything. You connect a brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. The money stays put. Our Pilots include trackers built on public filings, politicians through STOCK Act reports and institutional managers like Berkshire Hathaway through 13Fs, plus independent managers and creators like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Michael Sikand, Quiver Quantitative, and Unusual Whales.\n\neToro is where an eToro customer's brokerage assets sit. Autopilot can direct trades only through a brokerage connection it currently supports.\n\n2) How to set it up\n\nStart with the connect screen. If eToro appears, follow the authorization flow shown in the app, choose a Portfolio, and set an allocation. If it does not appear, stop there; an unsupported brokerage cannot be made compatible by entering credentials elsewhere. Never rely on an old review or a third-party compatibility list.\n\n3) Can Autopilot trackers run in an eToro account?\n\nOnly if eToro is offered as a supported connection in the app. Autopilot's trackers use public records: STOCK Act periodic transaction reports for members of Congress and quarterly Form 13F filings for institutional managers. The source of the tracker does not override brokerage compatibility.\n\nTwo things you need to know. First, the delay. A STOCK Act report can be filed up to 45 days after the trade. A 13F can be 45 or more days old. Our trades follow the filing after it posts, so your trade lags theirs. We publish that on every tracker fact sheet. Second, a tracker is not the person's account. It doesn't use anything nonpublic and it doesn't reproduce their exact positions or timing.\n\neToro publishes its own CopyTrader features for eligible U.S. users and assets. Autopilot offers filing-based trackers and independent Pilots. They are different products, and they share an account only when a supported connection actually exists.\n\n4) Regulation: both registered, as different things\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. Look it up on IAPD. Autopilot Holdings Corporation runs the app and isn't an adviser. Because we're not a broker, the custody, execution, and account protections you get come from eToro, under eToro's agreement.\n\neToro USA Securities Inc. is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member, CRD 298361, as shown in its current FINRA BrokerCheck report (https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/firm/firm_298361.pdf).\n\n\"Which is better regulated\" doesn't apply. A broker and an adviser are regulated as different things because they do different things. Here, they work together.\n\n5) What it costs, and how the two stack\n\nBrokerage charges are governed by eToro's current fee schedule (https://www.etoro.com/en-us/trading/fees/). Autopilot's February 2026 Form CRS lists a Basic Tier with no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and a Premium Tier from $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed; separate Pilot subscriptions can add to the total.\n\nThose costs stack. They don't compete. Because our fee is a flat dollar amount, it's a bigger share of a small account than a big one. Do the math at your balance.\n\n6) Selection\n\neToro and Autopilot publish separate catalogs. Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/) covers up to 50 compliance-approved Portfolios from the broader Autopilot catalog and publishes dated gross and net live-composite records. Access to those Portfolios still depends on a supported brokerage connection.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhich is easier to set up, Autopilot or eToro, for a US-based investor?\n\nThey are separate services. Check Autopilot's connect screen first. If eToro is listed, follow the in-app authorization and allocation flow. If it is not listed, the eToro account cannot be used for Autopilot.\n\nIs Autopilot or eToro better for copying stock trades into my own brokerage?\n\neToro is a brokerage; Autopilot Advisers is an investment adviser. They can work together only through a supported connection. Check the in-app list before assuming orders can be sent to an eToro account.\n\nHow does following a hedge fund on Autopilot compare to eToro's CopyTrader for stocks?\n\nThey follow different sources. Autopilot hedge fund trackers act on quarterly Form 13F filings after publication, while eToro's CopyTrader follows eligible eToro investors. Using both in one account depends on eToro appearing as a supported Autopilot connection.\n\nIs switching from eToro to Autopilot worth it for someone focused on US politician tracking?\n\nDo not switch or transfer solely on that assumption. First check whether eToro appears in Autopilot's connect screen. If it does not, a supported brokerage account is required to use an Autopilot politician tracker.\n\nIs eToro or Autopilot the better choice for tracking Warren Buffett's portfolio moves?\n\nAutopilot's Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire Hathaway's public Form 13F filings after they post. It is not Berkshire's account, and the disclosed holdings can already be 45 days old when filed. Whether the tracker can run in an eToro account depends on current brokerage support.\n\nWhich app is better regulated, Autopilot or eToro, for US investors?\n\nThey are regulated as different types of firms. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 331749). eToro USA Securities Inc. is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member (CRD 298361). Registration does not establish compatibility or imply a regulator's endorsement.\n\nDoes Autopilot or eToro have a larger selection of portfolios and traders to follow?\n\nThe catalogs are different. eToro publishes eligible investors for CopyTrader; Autopilot publishes a compliance-approved set of up to 50 fact sheets from a larger catalog. One-account access depends on current connection support.\n\nAutopilot vs eToro fees: which is more affordable for copy trading?\n\nIf the services are used together, their costs stack. Review eToro's fee schedule and Autopilot's current agreement. Autopilot's February 2026 Form CRS lists no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee for Basic and a Premium range of $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually; separate Pilot subscriptions may apply.\n\nHow does copy trading on Autopilot compare to copy trading on eToro?\n\neToro's CopyTrader follows eligible eToro investors. Autopilot follows named Pilots, filing-based trackers, and independent managers through a supported brokerage connection. Do not assume that connection includes eToro unless the app currently shows it.\n\nTL;DR\n\nIf your money is at eToro, check Autopilot's connect screen before doing anything else. If eToro is not listed, it is not a supported account for Autopilot.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\neToro is a separate company and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Autopilot. eToro product and fee information can change; use eToro's current disclosures. Autopilot's in-app connect screen is the authoritative brokerage-availability list.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, one of the co-founders of Autopilot. A lot of people search &quot;Autopilot vs eToro,&quot; and I get why. But it&#39;s the wrong question, so let me answer the right one.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>eToro is a brokerage. Autopilot is an adviser designed to work with supported brokerage accounts. Autopilot&#39;s current U.S. <a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799\">App Store listing</a> names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, “and more”; it does not name eToro. Because integrations change, the connect screen in the app is the authoritative list. If eToro is not shown there, you cannot connect that account to Autopilot.</p>\n<h2>Why people end up asking this</h2>\n<p>You have an eToro account. You&#39;ve seen the Pelosi Tracker or another Pilot, and you want to know whether that account can connect directly. Do not assume it can: check the in-app connect screen. If eToro is absent, using Autopilot requires a separate account at a brokerage the app currently supports.</p>\n<h2>1) What each one does</h2>\n<p>eToro USA Securities Inc. is a broker-dealer. Its current <a href=\"https://www.etoro.com/en-us/customer-service/disclosures/\">U.S. disclosures</a> describe brokerage services for stocks, exchange-traded funds, and options. eToro also publishes separate information about its social and CopyTrader features; availability and eligible assets can vary by product and rollout.</p>\n<p>Autopilot never holds your money. We&#39;re not a broker-dealer. We don&#39;t execute trades, hold client funds, or custody anything. You connect a brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. The money stays put. Our Pilots include trackers built on public filings, politicians through STOCK Act reports and institutional managers like Berkshire Hathaway through 13Fs, plus independent managers and creators like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Michael Sikand, Quiver Quantitative, and Unusual Whales.</p>\n<p>eToro is where an eToro customer&#39;s brokerage assets sit. Autopilot can direct trades only through a brokerage connection it currently supports.</p>\n<h2>2) How to set it up</h2>\n<p>Start with the connect screen. If eToro appears, follow the authorization flow shown in the app, choose a Portfolio, and set an allocation. If it does not appear, stop there; an unsupported brokerage cannot be made compatible by entering credentials elsewhere. Never rely on an old review or a third-party compatibility list.</p>\n<h2>3) Can Autopilot trackers run in an eToro account?</h2>\n<p>Only if eToro is offered as a supported connection in the app. Autopilot&#39;s trackers use public records: STOCK Act periodic transaction reports for members of Congress and quarterly Form 13F filings for institutional managers. The source of the tracker does not override brokerage compatibility.</p>\n<p>Two things you need to know. First, the delay. A STOCK Act report can be filed up to 45 days after the trade. A 13F can be 45 or more days old. Our trades follow the filing after it posts, so your trade lags theirs. We publish that on every tracker fact sheet. Second, a tracker is not the person&#39;s account. It doesn&#39;t use anything nonpublic and it doesn&#39;t reproduce their exact positions or timing.</p>\n<p>eToro publishes its own CopyTrader features for eligible U.S. users and assets. Autopilot offers filing-based trackers and independent Pilots. They are different products, and they share an account only when a supported connection actually exists.</p>\n<h2>4) Regulation: both registered, as different things</h2>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. Look it up on IAPD. Autopilot Holdings Corporation runs the app and isn&#39;t an adviser. Because we&#39;re not a broker, the custody, execution, and account protections you get come from eToro, under eToro&#39;s agreement.</p>\n<p>eToro USA Securities Inc. is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member, CRD 298361, as shown in its current <a href=\"https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/firm/firm_298361.pdf\">FINRA BrokerCheck report</a>.</p>\n<p>&quot;Which is better regulated&quot; doesn&#39;t apply. A broker and an adviser are regulated as different things because they do different things. Here, they work together.</p>\n<h2>5) What it costs, and how the two stack</h2>\n<p>Brokerage charges are governed by eToro&#39;s current <a href=\"https://www.etoro.com/en-us/trading/fees/\">fee schedule</a>. Autopilot&#39;s February 2026 Form CRS lists a Basic Tier with no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and a Premium Tier from $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed; separate Pilot subscriptions can add to the total.</p>\n<p>Those costs stack. They don&#39;t compete. Because our fee is a flat dollar amount, it&#39;s a bigger share of a small account than a big one. Do the math at your balance.</p>\n<h2>6) Selection</h2>\n<p>eToro and Autopilot publish separate catalogs. <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a> covers up to 50 compliance-approved Portfolios from the broader Autopilot catalog and publishes dated gross and net live-composite records. Access to those Portfolios still depends on a supported brokerage connection.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>Which is easier to set up, Autopilot or eToro, for a US-based investor?</h3>\n<p>They are separate services. Check Autopilot&#39;s connect screen first. If eToro is listed, follow the in-app authorization and allocation flow. If it is not listed, the eToro account cannot be used for Autopilot.</p>\n<h3>Is Autopilot or eToro better for copying stock trades into my own brokerage?</h3>\n<p>eToro is a brokerage; Autopilot Advisers is an investment adviser. They can work together only through a supported connection. Check the in-app list before assuming orders can be sent to an eToro account.</p>\n<h3>How does following a hedge fund on Autopilot compare to eToro&#39;s CopyTrader for stocks?</h3>\n<p>They follow different sources. Autopilot hedge fund trackers act on quarterly Form 13F filings after publication, while eToro&#39;s CopyTrader follows eligible eToro investors. Using both in one account depends on eToro appearing as a supported Autopilot connection.</p>\n<h3>Is switching from eToro to Autopilot worth it for someone focused on US politician tracking?</h3>\n<p>Do not switch or transfer solely on that assumption. First check whether eToro appears in Autopilot&#39;s connect screen. If it does not, a supported brokerage account is required to use an Autopilot politician tracker.</p>\n<h3>Is eToro or Autopilot the better choice for tracking Warren Buffett&#39;s portfolio moves?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire Hathaway&#39;s public Form 13F filings after they post. It is not Berkshire&#39;s account, and the disclosed holdings can already be 45 days old when filed. Whether the tracker can run in an eToro account depends on current brokerage support.</p>\n<h3>Which app is better regulated, Autopilot or eToro, for US investors?</h3>\n<p>They are regulated as different types of firms. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 331749). eToro USA Securities Inc. is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member (CRD 298361). Registration does not establish compatibility or imply a regulator&#39;s endorsement.</p>\n<h3>Does Autopilot or eToro have a larger selection of portfolios and traders to follow?</h3>\n<p>The catalogs are different. eToro publishes eligible investors for CopyTrader; Autopilot publishes a compliance-approved set of up to 50 fact sheets from a larger catalog. One-account access depends on current connection support.</p>\n<h3>Autopilot vs eToro fees: which is more affordable for copy trading?</h3>\n<p>If the services are used together, their costs stack. Review eToro&#39;s fee schedule and Autopilot&#39;s current agreement. Autopilot&#39;s February 2026 Form CRS lists no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee for Basic and a Premium range of $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually; separate Pilot subscriptions may apply.</p>\n<h3>How does copy trading on Autopilot compare to copy trading on eToro?</h3>\n<p>eToro&#39;s CopyTrader follows eligible eToro investors. Autopilot follows named Pilots, filing-based trackers, and independent managers through a supported brokerage connection. Do not assume that connection includes eToro unless the app currently shows it.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>If your money is at eToro, check Autopilot&#39;s connect screen before doing anything else. If eToro is not listed, it is not a supported account for Autopilot.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>eToro is a separate company and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Autopilot. eToro product and fee information can change; use eToro&#39;s current disclosures. Autopilot&#39;s in-app connect screen is the authoritative brokerage-availability list.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Product","Which is easier to set up, Autopilot or eToro, for a US-based investor?","Is Autopilot or eToro better for copying stock trades into my own brokerage?","How does following a hedge fund on Autopilot compare to eToro's CopyTrader for stocks?","Is switching from eToro to Autopilot worth it for someone focused on US politician tracking?","Is eToro or Autopilot the better choice for tracking Warren Buffett's portfolio moves?","How does copy trading on Autopilot compare to copy trading on eToro?","Which app is better regulated, Autopilot or eToro, for US investors?","Does Autopilot or eToro have a larger selection of portfolios and traders to follow?","Autopilot vs eToro fees: which is more affordable for copy trading?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-with-public","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-with-public","title":"How Autopilot works with Public, our default brokerage partner","summary":"How Autopilot works with Public, including the disclosed referral relationship, product roles, costs, and performance records.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. People search \"Autopilot vs Public\" and the framing is off, so let me fix it.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nPublic is a brokerage, and Autopilot Advisers is an adviser that works with supported brokerage accounts. Public is named in Autopilot's current App Store listing and is Autopilot's default and preferred brokerage partner under a disclosed referral arrangement. Autopilot receives compensation when a newly referred client opens and funds a Public account, which creates a conflict of interest. Read the full Public brokerage disclosure (https://www.joinautopilot.com/public-brokerage).\n\nThe referral deal, first\n\nAutopilot Holdings Corporation has a referral arrangement with Public Holdings, Inc., a registered broker-dealer. We get paid when a new client we refer opens and funds a Public account, on a tiered schedule based on deposits in the first 30 days. That's a conflict of interest. It means we have a financial reason to point you toward Public, and Public may get enhanced placement in our app because of it. You can use another supported brokerage. The full schedule is on our Public brokerage page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/public-brokerage) and in our Form ADV Part 2A, Items 12 and 14. I'd rather say all that in the second paragraph than in the fine print.\n\n1) What each one does\n\nPublic is a brokerage. Its current product site (https://public.com/) lists stocks, ETFs, bonds, Treasuries, options, cryptocurrency, IRAs, and other account features. Brokerage services for U.S.-listed registered securities are offered through Open to the Public Investing, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member.\n\nAutopilot isn't a brokerage and does not hold client funds. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. You connect a supported brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and authorize Autopilot Advisers to direct eligible trades in that account. When the Portfolio changes, Autopilot sends orders and the broker decides whether and how to execute them. The current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the connect screen is authoritative.\n\nSo Public is where your money sits. Autopilot is what can run inside it.\n\n2) The performance data we publish\n\nWhen people ask about performance data, what they mean is: can I trust the numbers. So here's exactly what we publish.\n\nEvery Portfolio in our published set has a sheet on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/). Its performance figure is a live composite: the time-weighted return of Autopilot client accounts following that Portfolio, measured from its Autopilot launch. When at least ten clients follow a Portfolio, the composite uses the ten oldest follower accounts, equal-weighted; otherwise, it uses all follower accounts.\n\n- It's not a backtest. A vendor or creator page might show a hypothetical line starting years before the strategy existed on Autopilot. Ours starts at Autopilot launch and uses real accounts. We don't blend the two.\n- Gross and net are both there. Net applies a published model fee so you can see what the subscription costs you. Broker costs and taxes aren't deducted from either, and the site says so.\n- Every number has a date. The HTML, Markdown, and JSON versions of each sheet are the same record with the same date.\n\nUnder 90 days live or 30 return points, we publish null instead of a number. I'm not quoting any of those figures here. They're on the fact sheets, dated. Go look.\n\nA lot of the accounts behind those composites are Public accounts, because Public is our default partner. Public publishes its own account and product information on its side. Both are available to you in one Public account.\n\n3) Politician tracking inside a Public account\n\nOur politician trackers follow STOCK Act periodic transaction reports. Members of Congress have to file them, and they're public. A filing can lag the trade by up to 45 days. Our trades follow the filing after it posts, so your trade lags theirs. The tracker isn't the member's account and doesn't use anything nonpublic. We publish that delay as a risk on every tracker sheet.\n\nPublic has its own research and automation tools. Autopilot's politician and hedge fund trackers use different source material: STOCK Act reports for members of Congress and Form 13F filings for institutional managers. Those filings describe reported transactions or quarter-end holdings after a statutory reporting delay; they are not a real-time view of another Public user's account.\n\n4) Insider trading vs following public disclosures\n\nInsider trading, the kind that's illegal, means trading on material nonpublic information in breach of a duty. Following public disclosures means acting on filings after they're public. STOCK Act reports and 13Fs are public records. By the time you can see one, the trade already happened and the filing already posted.\n\nI'm not a lawyer and Autopilot doesn't give legal advice. I'm telling you what the filings are and when they show up.\n\n5) Can following a 13F match a hedge fund's actual returns?\n\nNo. A 13F is filed quarterly, up to 45 days after the quarter ends, so the positions can be 45 or more days old before you can act. It shows long US stock positions and leaves out shorts, most derivatives, and anything outside the US. It doesn't show when they bought or at what price. A tracker built on 13Fs follows the disclosed direction of a manager's long book, late. Our fact sheets label it that way.\n\n6) Other public disclosures you can follow\n\nBeyond 13Fs: STOCK Act periodic transaction reports for members of Congress, Form 4 filings for corporate insiders trading their own company's stock, and Forms 13D and 13G for big ownership stakes. Each has its own deadline and blind spots. Whichever you follow, the delay between the trade and the filing is the risk to understand first.\n\n7) Bonds and treasuries\n\nPublic offers bonds and Treasuries directly. Autopilot Portfolios are a separate advisory product whose eligible holdings are shown in the app and on each dated fact sheet. A Public customer should use the account and allocation controls shown during setup rather than assume that every Public asset is part of an Autopilot Portfolio.\n\n8) On security\n\nI'm not going to list incidents at other companies. That list goes stale the day it's published and it isn't fair. What you can check for any platform: is it a registered entity you can look up (we're CRD 331749 on IAPD; Public is a registered broker-dealer), does it hold your money or trade in an account a separate broker holds, can you revoke access from your brokerage's side, and what its disclosures say about data. Autopilot doesn't hold client funds. Your Public account stays at Public, under Public's agreement.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nDoes Autopilot or Public offer more transparent performance data on copied portfolios?\n\nThey serve different roles. Public is Autopilot's default brokerage partner. Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/) publishes dated gross and net live composites measured from Autopilot launch, while Public publishes its own account and product information. The current setup flow determines which Autopilot Portfolios and Public account features are available together.\n\nWhat's the difference between Autopilot's politician-tracking approach and Public's social investing features?\n\nAutopilot trackers follow public STOCK Act filings after they post, with a disclosed delay of up to 45 days. Public offers separate research and automation tools. Review each product's source data, account controls, and disclosures instead of treating them as interchangeable.\n\nAutopilot vs Public: which is better for tracking politician and hedge fund trades?\n\nYou use them together. Autopilot offers named Tracker Portfolios built on STOCK Act and 13F filings. Public is a brokerage and Autopilot's default brokerage partner. The trackers run inside your Public account.\n\nIs Public a good alternative to Autopilot if I also want to trade bonds and treasuries?\n\nThey serve different roles. Public is a brokerage that offers bonds and Treasuries. Autopilot runs eligible Portfolios through supported brokerage accounts, and Public is its default partner. Account types and asset eligibility are governed by the setup shown in Public and Autopilot.\n\nWhat is insider trading and how is it different from tracking public disclosures?\n\nInsider trading means trading on material nonpublic information in breach of a duty. Tracking public disclosures means acting on filings after they're public, like STOCK Act reports or 13Fs. The information is public and the trade already happened. Autopilot does not provide legal advice.\n\nWhich platforms have had public security incidents involving linked brokerage accounts?\n\nI'm not going to list other companies' incidents. For any platform, check whether it's a registered entity you can look up (Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749 on IAPD), whether it holds your money or trades in an account a separate broker holds, whether you can revoke access from your brokerage's side, and what its disclosures say about data. Autopilot doesn't hold client funds.\n\nCan copying a hedge fund's public filings really match their actual returns?\n\nNo. 13Fs are up to 45 days old when filed, show only long US stock positions, and leave out timing, shorts, and most derivatives. A tracker follows the disclosed direction of a long book, late.\n\nWhat other public disclosure sources besides 13Fs can inform a copy strategy?\n\nSTOCK Act periodic transaction reports for members of Congress, Form 4 for corporate insiders, and Forms 13D and 13G for large ownership stakes. Each has its own deadline and blind spots, and each has a delay between the trade and the public filing.\n\nTL;DR\n\nPublic is the account. Autopilot is what runs inside it. Connect your Public account, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer). The Public one is why the referral deal is in the second paragraph.\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nAutopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.\n\nPublic is a separate company. Its products, account eligibility, and fees can change; use Public's current disclosures. Autopilot's referral arrangement and resulting conflict of interest are described in the linked Public brokerage disclosure.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. People search &quot;Autopilot vs Public&quot; and the framing is off, so let me fix it.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Public is a brokerage, and Autopilot Advisers is an adviser that works with supported brokerage accounts. Public is named in Autopilot&#39;s current App Store listing and is Autopilot&#39;s default and preferred brokerage partner under a disclosed referral arrangement. Autopilot receives compensation when a newly referred client opens and funds a Public account, which creates a conflict of interest. Read the <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/public-brokerage\">full Public brokerage disclosure</a>.</p>\n<h2>The referral deal, first</h2>\n<p>Autopilot Holdings Corporation has a referral arrangement with Public Holdings, Inc., a registered broker-dealer. We get paid when a new client we refer opens and funds a Public account, on a tiered schedule based on deposits in the first 30 days. That&#39;s a conflict of interest. It means we have a financial reason to point you toward Public, and Public may get enhanced placement in our app because of it. You can use another supported brokerage. The full schedule is on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/public-brokerage\">our Public brokerage page</a> and in our Form ADV Part 2A, Items 12 and 14. I&#39;d rather say all that in the second paragraph than in the fine print.</p>\n<h2>1) What each one does</h2>\n<p>Public is a brokerage. Its <a href=\"https://public.com/\">current product site</a> lists stocks, ETFs, bonds, Treasuries, options, cryptocurrency, IRAs, and other account features. Brokerage services for U.S.-listed registered securities are offered through Open to the Public Investing, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member.</p>\n<p>Autopilot isn&#39;t a brokerage and does not hold client funds. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. You connect a supported brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and authorize Autopilot Advisers to direct eligible trades in that account. When the Portfolio changes, Autopilot sends orders and the broker decides whether and how to execute them. The current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the connect screen is authoritative.</p>\n<p>So Public is where your money sits. Autopilot is what can run inside it.</p>\n<h2>2) The performance data we publish</h2>\n<p>When people ask about performance data, what they mean is: can I trust the numbers. So here&#39;s exactly what we publish.</p>\n<p>Every Portfolio in our published set has a sheet on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a>. Its performance figure is a live composite: the time-weighted return of Autopilot client accounts following that Portfolio, measured from its Autopilot launch. When at least ten clients follow a Portfolio, the composite uses the ten oldest follower accounts, equal-weighted; otherwise, it uses all follower accounts.</p>\n<ul><li>It&#39;s not a backtest. A vendor or creator page might show a hypothetical line starting years before the strategy existed on Autopilot. Ours starts at Autopilot launch and uses real accounts. We don&#39;t blend the two.</li><li>Gross and net are both there. Net applies a published model fee so you can see what the subscription costs you. Broker costs and taxes aren&#39;t deducted from either, and the site says so.</li><li>Every number has a date. The HTML, Markdown, and JSON versions of each sheet are the same record with the same date.</li></ul>\n<p>Under 90 days live or 30 return points, we publish null instead of a number. I&#39;m not quoting any of those figures here. They&#39;re on the fact sheets, dated. Go look.</p>\n<p>A lot of the accounts behind those composites are Public accounts, because Public is our default partner. Public publishes its own account and product information on its side. Both are available to you in one Public account.</p>\n<h2>3) Politician tracking inside a Public account</h2>\n<p>Our politician trackers follow STOCK Act periodic transaction reports. Members of Congress have to file them, and they&#39;re public. A filing can lag the trade by up to 45 days. Our trades follow the filing after it posts, so your trade lags theirs. The tracker isn&#39;t the member&#39;s account and doesn&#39;t use anything nonpublic. We publish that delay as a risk on every tracker sheet.</p>\n<p>Public has its own research and automation tools. Autopilot&#39;s politician and hedge fund trackers use different source material: STOCK Act reports for members of Congress and Form 13F filings for institutional managers. Those filings describe reported transactions or quarter-end holdings after a statutory reporting delay; they are not a real-time view of another Public user&#39;s account.</p>\n<h2>4) Insider trading vs following public disclosures</h2>\n<p>Insider trading, the kind that&#39;s illegal, means trading on material nonpublic information in breach of a duty. Following public disclosures means acting on filings after they&#39;re public. STOCK Act reports and 13Fs are public records. By the time you can see one, the trade already happened and the filing already posted.</p>\n<p>I&#39;m not a lawyer and Autopilot doesn&#39;t give legal advice. I&#39;m telling you what the filings are and when they show up.</p>\n<h2>5) Can following a 13F match a hedge fund&#39;s actual returns?</h2>\n<p>No. A 13F is filed quarterly, up to 45 days after the quarter ends, so the positions can be 45 or more days old before you can act. It shows long US stock positions and leaves out shorts, most derivatives, and anything outside the US. It doesn&#39;t show when they bought or at what price. A tracker built on 13Fs follows the disclosed direction of a manager&#39;s long book, late. Our fact sheets label it that way.</p>\n<h2>6) Other public disclosures you can follow</h2>\n<p>Beyond 13Fs: STOCK Act periodic transaction reports for members of Congress, Form 4 filings for corporate insiders trading their own company&#39;s stock, and Forms 13D and 13G for big ownership stakes. Each has its own deadline and blind spots. Whichever you follow, the delay between the trade and the filing is the risk to understand first.</p>\n<h2>7) Bonds and treasuries</h2>\n<p>Public offers bonds and Treasuries directly. Autopilot Portfolios are a separate advisory product whose eligible holdings are shown in the app and on each dated fact sheet. A Public customer should use the account and allocation controls shown during setup rather than assume that every Public asset is part of an Autopilot Portfolio.</p>\n<h2>8) On security</h2>\n<p>I&#39;m not going to list incidents at other companies. That list goes stale the day it&#39;s published and it isn&#39;t fair. What you can check for any platform: is it a registered entity you can look up (we&#39;re CRD 331749 on IAPD; Public is a registered broker-dealer), does it hold your money or trade in an account a separate broker holds, can you revoke access from your brokerage&#39;s side, and what its disclosures say about data. Autopilot doesn&#39;t hold client funds. Your Public account stays at Public, under Public&#39;s agreement.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>Does Autopilot or Public offer more transparent performance data on copied portfolios?</h3>\n<p>They serve different roles. Public is Autopilot&#39;s default brokerage partner. <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a> publishes dated gross and net live composites measured from Autopilot launch, while Public publishes its own account and product information. The current setup flow determines which Autopilot Portfolios and Public account features are available together.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between Autopilot&#39;s politician-tracking approach and Public&#39;s social investing features?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot trackers follow public STOCK Act filings after they post, with a disclosed delay of up to 45 days. Public offers separate research and automation tools. Review each product&#39;s source data, account controls, and disclosures instead of treating them as interchangeable.</p>\n<h3>Autopilot vs Public: which is better for tracking politician and hedge fund trades?</h3>\n<p>You use them together. Autopilot offers named Tracker Portfolios built on STOCK Act and 13F filings. Public is a brokerage and Autopilot&#39;s default brokerage partner. The trackers run inside your Public account.</p>\n<h3>Is Public a good alternative to Autopilot if I also want to trade bonds and treasuries?</h3>\n<p>They serve different roles. Public is a brokerage that offers bonds and Treasuries. Autopilot runs eligible Portfolios through supported brokerage accounts, and Public is its default partner. Account types and asset eligibility are governed by the setup shown in Public and Autopilot.</p>\n<h3>What is insider trading and how is it different from tracking public disclosures?</h3>\n<p>Insider trading means trading on material nonpublic information in breach of a duty. Tracking public disclosures means acting on filings after they&#39;re public, like STOCK Act reports or 13Fs. The information is public and the trade already happened. Autopilot does not provide legal advice.</p>\n<h3>Which platforms have had public security incidents involving linked brokerage accounts?</h3>\n<p>I&#39;m not going to list other companies&#39; incidents. For any platform, check whether it&#39;s a registered entity you can look up (Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749 on IAPD), whether it holds your money or trades in an account a separate broker holds, whether you can revoke access from your brokerage&#39;s side, and what its disclosures say about data. Autopilot doesn&#39;t hold client funds.</p>\n<h3>Can copying a hedge fund&#39;s public filings really match their actual returns?</h3>\n<p>No. 13Fs are up to 45 days old when filed, show only long US stock positions, and leave out timing, shorts, and most derivatives. A tracker follows the disclosed direction of a long book, late.</p>\n<h3>What other public disclosure sources besides 13Fs can inform a copy strategy?</h3>\n<p>STOCK Act periodic transaction reports for members of Congress, Form 4 for corporate insiders, and Forms 13D and 13G for large ownership stakes. Each has its own deadline and blind spots, and each has a delay between the trade and the public filing.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>Public is the account. Autopilot is what runs inside it. Connect your Public account, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>. The Public one is why the referral deal is in the second paragraph.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Autopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.</p>\n<p>Public is a separate company. Its products, account eligibility, and fees can change; use Public&#39;s current disclosures. Autopilot&#39;s referral arrangement and resulting conflict of interest are described in the linked Public brokerage disclosure.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Product","Does Autopilot or Public offer more transparent performance data on copied portfolios?","What's the difference between Autopilot's politician-tracking approach and Public's social investing features?","Autopilot vs Public: which is better for tracking politician and hedge fund trades?","Is Public a good alternative to Autopilot if I also want to trade bonds and treasuries?","What is insider trading and how is it different from tracking public disclosures?","Which platforms have had public security incidents involving linked brokerage accounts?","Can copying a hedge fund's public filings really match their actual returns?","What other public disclosure sources besides 13Fs can inform a copy strategy?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-and-titan","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-and-titan","title":"Autopilot and Titan: two ways to get active management without picking stocks","summary":"A structural comparison of Autopilot and Titan for investors considering hands-off, actively managed strategies.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Short one, because the difference here is structural, and I'm not going to tell you one is better.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nTitan manages money in its own strategies. You open an account with Titan and invest into Titan. We're an adviser that works inside the brokerage account you already have, keeping it in line with a Portfolio you picked. Both give you active management without picking stocks. They do it from different sides of your brokerage account, and which fits depends on whether you want to keep your money where it is.\n\nThe problem both are solving\n\nYou want someone good managing your money. You also know the people who get real active management have a minimum check size you don't have, or a relationship you were never offered. Both Autopilot and Titan exist to change that. The question is how much of your setup you change to get it.\n\n1) The structure\n\nTitan Global Capital Management USA LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Titan's current legal page (https://app.titan.com/documents/legal) also identifies an affiliated registered broker-dealer, and its offering pages describe proprietary active and automated strategies. A client uses Titan's account and custody arrangements rather than linking an unrelated brokerage in the way Autopilot is designed to do.\n\nAutopilot doesn't hold your money. Autopilot Advisers, LLC (CRD 331749) is an SEC-registered investment adviser. You connect a brokerage like Robinhood, Charles Schwab, or Public, pick a Portfolio, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. The money stays put. Pilots range from our own trackers built on public filings to independent managers and creators like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Michael Sikand, Quiver Quantitative, and Unusual Whales.\n\nSo it's one firm's strategies in a new account, or a marketplace of Pilots in the account you already have.\n\n2) Side by side\n\n | Autopilot | Titan\nWhat it is | SEC-registered investment adviser (Autopilot Advisers, LLC, CRD 331749) | SEC-registered investment adviser; affiliated broker-dealer identified on Titan's legal page\nWhere your money sits | A supported brokerage account you connect | In the account and custody structure described in Titan's current program documents\nWho manages | The Portfolio you select: trackers, independent managers, or creators | Titan's investment team manages Titan strategies\nSelection | Up to 50 compliance-approved Portfolios on Autopilot Fact Sheets, from a larger catalog | Titan's current strategy and advisory offerings\nFee | Current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a cash subscription; separate Pilot and brokerage costs may apply | Titan's current offering pages publish program-specific advisory fees; review the applicable agreement\nHands-off? | Trades are automated after you choose, connect, and allocate, subject to account and system conditions | Titan describes ongoing management after an eligible account is funded\n\n3) What hands-off means on Autopilot\n\nThree steps. Choose your Portfolio, connect your brokerage, allocate money. From there, when the Pilot's Portfolio changes, your account changes with it. You don't place orders. The record for each Portfolio, a live composite of real follower accounts measured from Autopilot launch, is on the fact sheets site so you can see how it's been run.\n\nTwo things you should know going in. Tracker Portfolios built on public filings carry a delay, up to 45 days for STOCK Act reports and 45 or more for 13Fs. And results vary by whether your broker supports fractional shares, your account size, trade timing, fees, and taxes.\n\n4) Customer support\n\nI'm not going to grade another company's support. Here's how to check any platform's: can you reach a human, how fast, on what channel; is there a written help center; and, the one that matters most with automated investing, can you stop or disconnect quickly.\n\nAutopilot's App Store listing says clients can pause or switch Portfolios and lists in-app email support. Connection and authorization controls vary by brokerage, so use the current in-app instructions and the brokerage's own support process.\n\n5) Fees\n\nOur fee is a flat cash subscription, not a percentage of your assets. Per Form CRS dated February 2026, Basic Tier has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and Premium Tier is $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year. It doesn't go up with the number of Pilots you follow. Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on per Pilot. Your brokerage's costs sit on top. A flat fee is a bigger share of a small account than a big one.\n\nTitan's fees depend on the applicable service and strategy; for example, its current Flagship strategy page (https://www.titan.com/offerings/strategy/flagship) publishes a 0.40% advisory fee. Compare the current program documents and total annual cost for the service you would actually use.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhat's the difference between Autopilot and Titan for someone who wants actively managed exposure?\n\nTitan manages money in its own strategies in a Titan account. Autopilot is an SEC-registered adviser that works inside the brokerage account you already have, keeping it in line with a Portfolio you pick from a published marketplace. One is a firm's strategies. The other is your choice of managers and trackers in your own account.\n\nAutopilot vs Titan: which offers better hands-off portfolio management?\n\nBoth automate ongoing investment activity after setup. Autopilot can use an existing account only when that brokerage and account type are supported. Titan uses the account and funding process described in its own program documents.\n\nWhich platform, Autopilot or Titan, has better customer support for automated investing?\n\nI don't rank support teams. For any automated investing platform, check the published support channels and learn how to pause activity and manage account authorization before funding it. Autopilot lists email support in the app; brokerage-side controls are specific to the broker.\n\nTL;DR\n\nYou don't have to move your money to get active management. Connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nAutopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nTitan is a separate company and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Autopilot. Titan's services, strategies, account arrangements, and fees can change; review Titan's current program documents before opening or funding an account.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Short one, because the difference here is structural, and I&#39;m not going to tell you one is better.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Titan manages money in its own strategies. You open an account with Titan and invest into Titan. We&#39;re an adviser that works inside the brokerage account you already have, keeping it in line with a Portfolio you picked. Both give you active management without picking stocks. They do it from different sides of your brokerage account, and which fits depends on whether you want to keep your money where it is.</p>\n<h2>The problem both are solving</h2>\n<p>You want someone good managing your money. You also know the people who get real active management have a minimum check size you don&#39;t have, or a relationship you were never offered. Both Autopilot and Titan exist to change that. The question is how much of your setup you change to get it.</p>\n<h2>1) The structure</h2>\n<p>Titan Global Capital Management USA LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Titan&#39;s current <a href=\"https://app.titan.com/documents/legal\">legal page</a> also identifies an affiliated registered broker-dealer, and its offering pages describe proprietary active and automated strategies. A client uses Titan&#39;s account and custody arrangements rather than linking an unrelated brokerage in the way Autopilot is designed to do.</p>\n<p>Autopilot doesn&#39;t hold your money. Autopilot Advisers, LLC (CRD 331749) is an SEC-registered investment adviser. You connect a brokerage like Robinhood, Charles Schwab, or Public, pick a Portfolio, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. The money stays put. Pilots range from our own trackers built on public filings to independent managers and creators like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Michael Sikand, Quiver Quantitative, and Unusual Whales.</p>\n<p>So it&#39;s one firm&#39;s strategies in a new account, or a marketplace of Pilots in the account you already have.</p>\n<h2>2) Side by side</h2>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\"></th><th scope=\"col\">Autopilot</th><th scope=\"col\">Titan</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>What it is</td><td>SEC-registered investment adviser (Autopilot Advisers, LLC, CRD 331749)</td><td>SEC-registered investment adviser; affiliated broker-dealer identified on Titan&#39;s legal page</td></tr><tr><td>Where your money sits</td><td>A supported brokerage account you connect</td><td>In the account and custody structure described in Titan&#39;s current program documents</td></tr><tr><td>Who manages</td><td>The Portfolio you select: trackers, independent managers, or creators</td><td>Titan&#39;s investment team manages Titan strategies</td></tr><tr><td>Selection</td><td>Up to 50 compliance-approved Portfolios on Autopilot Fact Sheets, from a larger catalog</td><td>Titan&#39;s current strategy and advisory offerings</td></tr><tr><td>Fee</td><td>Current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a cash subscription; separate Pilot and brokerage costs may apply</td><td>Titan&#39;s current offering pages publish program-specific advisory fees; review the applicable agreement</td></tr><tr><td>Hands-off?</td><td>Trades are automated after you choose, connect, and allocate, subject to account and system conditions</td><td>Titan describes ongoing management after an eligible account is funded</td></tr></tbody></table>\n<h2>3) What hands-off means on Autopilot</h2>\n<p>Three steps. Choose your Portfolio, connect your brokerage, allocate money. From there, when the Pilot&#39;s Portfolio changes, your account changes with it. You don&#39;t place orders. The record for each Portfolio, a live composite of real follower accounts measured from Autopilot launch, is on the fact sheets site so you can see how it&#39;s been run.</p>\n<p>Two things you should know going in. Tracker Portfolios built on public filings carry a delay, up to 45 days for STOCK Act reports and 45 or more for 13Fs. And results vary by whether your broker supports fractional shares, your account size, trade timing, fees, and taxes.</p>\n<h2>4) Customer support</h2>\n<p>I&#39;m not going to grade another company&#39;s support. Here&#39;s how to check any platform&#39;s: can you reach a human, how fast, on what channel; is there a written help center; and, the one that matters most with automated investing, can you stop or disconnect quickly.</p>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s App Store listing says clients can pause or switch Portfolios and lists in-app email support. Connection and authorization controls vary by brokerage, so use the current in-app instructions and the brokerage&#39;s own support process.</p>\n<h2>5) Fees</h2>\n<p>Our fee is a flat cash subscription, not a percentage of your assets. Per Form CRS dated February 2026, Basic Tier has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and Premium Tier is $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year. It doesn&#39;t go up with the number of Pilots you follow. Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on per Pilot. Your brokerage&#39;s costs sit on top. A flat fee is a bigger share of a small account than a big one.</p>\n<p>Titan&#39;s fees depend on the applicable service and strategy; for example, its current <a href=\"https://www.titan.com/offerings/strategy/flagship\">Flagship strategy page</a> publishes a 0.40% advisory fee. Compare the current program documents and total annual cost for the service you would actually use.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between Autopilot and Titan for someone who wants actively managed exposure?</h3>\n<p>Titan manages money in its own strategies in a Titan account. Autopilot is an SEC-registered adviser that works inside the brokerage account you already have, keeping it in line with a Portfolio you pick from a published marketplace. One is a firm&#39;s strategies. The other is your choice of managers and trackers in your own account.</p>\n<h3>Autopilot vs Titan: which offers better hands-off portfolio management?</h3>\n<p>Both automate ongoing investment activity after setup. Autopilot can use an existing account only when that brokerage and account type are supported. Titan uses the account and funding process described in its own program documents.</p>\n<h3>Which platform, Autopilot or Titan, has better customer support for automated investing?</h3>\n<p>I don&#39;t rank support teams. For any automated investing platform, check the published support channels and learn how to pause activity and manage account authorization before funding it. Autopilot lists email support in the app; brokerage-side controls are specific to the broker.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>You don&#39;t have to move your money to get active management. Connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Autopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>Titan is a separate company and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Autopilot. Titan&#39;s services, strategies, account arrangements, and fees can change; review Titan&#39;s current program documents before opening or funding an account.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Comparisons","What's the difference between Autopilot and Titan for someone who wants actively managed exposure?","Autopilot vs Titan: which offers better hands-off portfolio management?","Which platform, Autopilot or Titan, has better customer support for automated investing?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-and-composer","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/autopilot-and-composer","title":"Autopilot and Composer: following a person or running a rule","summary":"How Autopilot's person-led Portfolios differ from Composer's rules-based automated strategies.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Both of these automate investing so you never pick a stock. They automate different things, and once you see which, you'll know which one fits what you want.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nComposer runs rules. You build or pick a set of conditions, and the strategy trades when those conditions hit. Autopilot follows people. You pick a Portfolio, a politician tracker built on public filings or an independent manager, and when that Portfolio changes, we send the orders to your existing brokerage account and your broker fills them. If you want logic you can read and edit, Composer is built for that. If you want to follow a named strategy in the brokerage you already have, that's what we built.\n\nWhat you're actually choosing\n\nYou're looking at either one because you want your money working without managing it trade by trade. Both do that. The real question is what you want doing the deciding: a rule set, or a person's disclosed decisions.\n\nComposer lets you create or choose algorithmic strategies called Symphonies, defined by explicit conditions such as rotating between assets on a signal. Composer's current brokerage documentation (https://help.composer.trade/article/105-completing-your-brokerage-application) says an approved Composer brokerage account is required. Securities products and brokerage services are offered by Composer Securities LLC, with carrying, execution, clearing, and settlement arrangements described in Composer's disclosures.\n\nAutopilot is an SEC-registered investment adviser, Autopilot Advisers, LLC, CRD 331749, not a broker. You connect a brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. The money stays put. The Pilot might be a tracker built on public STOCK Act or 13F filings, or a manager or creator like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Quiver Quantitative, or Unusual Whales.\n\n1) Side by side\n\n | Autopilot | Composer\nWhat drives trades | A named Pilot's Portfolio changing | A rule set you build or pick\nWhere your money sits | A supported brokerage account you connect; the current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, and Public | A Composer brokerage account carried under Composer's disclosed clearing arrangements\nWhat it is | SEC-registered investment adviser | Rules-based platform with brokerage services through Composer Securities LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member\nWhat you can inspect | The Pilot's published Portfolio and, for trackers, the public filings behind it | The rule set itself\nPublished record | Dated gross and net live client composite from each Portfolio's Autopilot launch | Composer provides strategy backtesting and analytics; review its methodology and assumptions before comparing results\nFee | Current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a cash subscription; separate Pilot and brokerage costs may apply | Composer publishes a fixed Trading Pass subscription plus applicable regulatory and other fees on its pricing page (https://www.composer.trade/pricing)\n\n2) Without picking stocks: both qualify, differently\n\nNeither asks you to pick a ticker. On Composer, you pick or write the rules and the rules pick the tickers. On Autopilot, you pick the Portfolio and the Pilot's picks set the holdings.\n\nThe difference is what you can look at. A Composer strategy reads as logic. An Autopilot tracker reads as a list of public filings. A Pelosi Tracker follows STOCK Act periodic transaction reports. A Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire Hathaway's 13F. You can go read the filing. What you can't do is edit the rule, because there's no rule. There's a person whose disclosed trades you're following, with a delay of up to 45 days for STOCK Act reports and 45 or more days for 13Fs.\n\n3) Your brokerage or theirs\n\nAutopilot doesn't hold client funds, execute trades, or custody anything. We have limited trading authority over an account a separate broker holds, on your broker's terms. You keep the relationship, the statements, and the protections you already have, and you can revoke our access from the brokerage side.\n\nComposer requires its own approved brokerage account to deploy strategies. That is not inherently better or worse; it is a structural tradeoff between an integrated Composer account and Autopilot's supported external-brokerage model.\n\n4) Connecting a Fidelity account\n\nAutopilot's current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, “and more.” It does not explicitly name Fidelity, so check the in-app connect screen instead of relying on an old list. Composer requires an approved Composer brokerage account; review its transfer and funding process before moving assets.\n\nOn safety, ask the same structural questions of either platform: Which entity provides advice or brokerage services? Who carries the account? What permissions are granted? How can activity be paused or authorization changed? Autopilot Advisers, LLC is listed under CRD 331749 on IAPD and does not custody client funds. Connection methods vary by brokerage, so read the authorization screen and account agreement before accepting.\n\n5) If you want rules\n\nIf what you want is a strategy you define as conditions, backtest against a rule, and change, Composer is built for exactly that and we're not. Autopilot doesn't offer user-written rule sets. Our strategies are Pilots' Portfolios, and our published record is a live composite of real follower accounts from Autopilot launch, not a backtest of a rule.\n\nThat last part matters if you compare records across platforms. A backtest of a rule and a live composite of real accounts are different objects. Averaging them, or treating one as a stand-in for the other, gives you a number that describes neither.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nIs Autopilot better than Composer for someone who wants automated strategies without picking stocks?\n\nNeither is better. They do different things. Composer automates a rule set you choose or build. Autopilot automates following a named Pilot's Portfolio in your existing brokerage. Pick Composer if you want editable logic. Pick Autopilot if you want to follow named trackers and managers without moving your money.\n\nHow does Autopilot's brokerage-linked model compare to Composer's algorithmic strategies?\n\nAutopilot works through a supported brokerage account and does not custody assets. Composer requires an approved Composer brokerage account under its disclosed carrying and clearing arrangements. One may preserve a supported existing account; the other uses Composer's integrated brokerage structure.\n\nAutopilot vs Composer: which is safer for connecting to a Fidelity brokerage account?\n\nCheck Fidelity on Autopilot's in-app connect screen; the current U.S. App Store description names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more, but not Fidelity. Composer requires its own approved brokerage account, so review its current transfer and funding instructions. For either platform, verify the registered entities, custodian or carrying broker, permissions, and account controls.\n\nIs Composer a better fit than Autopilot for algorithmic, rules-based strategies?\n\nYes. Composer is built for user-defined, rules-based strategies. Autopilot doesn't offer user-written rules; its Portfolios follow named Pilots, and its record is a live composite of real accounts rather than a backtest of a rule.\n\nTL;DR\n\nIf you'd rather follow a Portfolio than write the rules, and you'd rather not move your money to do it: connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nAutopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nComposer is a separate company and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Autopilot. Composer's products, prices, account arrangements, and disclosures can change; use its current official documentation.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Both of these automate investing so you never pick a stock. They automate different things, and once you see which, you&#39;ll know which one fits what you want.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Composer runs rules. You build or pick a set of conditions, and the strategy trades when those conditions hit. Autopilot follows people. You pick a Portfolio, a politician tracker built on public filings or an independent manager, and when that Portfolio changes, we send the orders to your existing brokerage account and your broker fills them. If you want logic you can read and edit, Composer is built for that. If you want to follow a named strategy in the brokerage you already have, that&#39;s what we built.</p>\n<h2>What you&#39;re actually choosing</h2>\n<p>You&#39;re looking at either one because you want your money working without managing it trade by trade. Both do that. The real question is what you want doing the deciding: a rule set, or a person&#39;s disclosed decisions.</p>\n<p>Composer lets you create or choose algorithmic strategies called Symphonies, defined by explicit conditions such as rotating between assets on a signal. Composer&#39;s <a href=\"https://help.composer.trade/article/105-completing-your-brokerage-application\">current brokerage documentation</a> says an approved Composer brokerage account is required. Securities products and brokerage services are offered by Composer Securities LLC, with carrying, execution, clearing, and settlement arrangements described in Composer&#39;s disclosures.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is an SEC-registered investment adviser, Autopilot Advisers, LLC, CRD 331749, not a broker. You connect a brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. The money stays put. The Pilot might be a tracker built on public STOCK Act or 13F filings, or a manager or creator like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Quiver Quantitative, or Unusual Whales.</p>\n<h2>1) Side by side</h2>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\"></th><th scope=\"col\">Autopilot</th><th scope=\"col\">Composer</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>What drives trades</td><td>A named Pilot&#39;s Portfolio changing</td><td>A rule set you build or pick</td></tr><tr><td>Where your money sits</td><td>A supported brokerage account you connect; the current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, and Public</td><td>A Composer brokerage account carried under Composer&#39;s disclosed clearing arrangements</td></tr><tr><td>What it is</td><td>SEC-registered investment adviser</td><td>Rules-based platform with brokerage services through Composer Securities LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member</td></tr><tr><td>What you can inspect</td><td>The Pilot&#39;s published Portfolio and, for trackers, the public filings behind it</td><td>The rule set itself</td></tr><tr><td>Published record</td><td>Dated gross and net live client composite from each Portfolio&#39;s Autopilot launch</td><td>Composer provides strategy backtesting and analytics; review its methodology and assumptions before comparing results</td></tr><tr><td>Fee</td><td>Current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a cash subscription; separate Pilot and brokerage costs may apply</td><td>Composer publishes a fixed Trading Pass subscription plus applicable regulatory and other fees on its <a href=\"https://www.composer.trade/pricing\">pricing page</a></td></tr></tbody></table>\n<h2>2) Without picking stocks: both qualify, differently</h2>\n<p>Neither asks you to pick a ticker. On Composer, you pick or write the rules and the rules pick the tickers. On Autopilot, you pick the Portfolio and the Pilot&#39;s picks set the holdings.</p>\n<p>The difference is what you can look at. A Composer strategy reads as logic. An Autopilot tracker reads as a list of public filings. A Pelosi Tracker follows STOCK Act periodic transaction reports. A Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire Hathaway&#39;s 13F. You can go read the filing. What you can&#39;t do is edit the rule, because there&#39;s no rule. There&#39;s a person whose disclosed trades you&#39;re following, with a delay of up to 45 days for STOCK Act reports and 45 or more days for 13Fs.</p>\n<h2>3) Your brokerage or theirs</h2>\n<p>Autopilot doesn&#39;t hold client funds, execute trades, or custody anything. We have limited trading authority over an account a separate broker holds, on your broker&#39;s terms. You keep the relationship, the statements, and the protections you already have, and you can revoke our access from the brokerage side.</p>\n<p>Composer requires its own approved brokerage account to deploy strategies. That is not inherently better or worse; it is a structural tradeoff between an integrated Composer account and Autopilot&#39;s supported external-brokerage model.</p>\n<h2>4) Connecting a Fidelity account</h2>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, “and more.” It does not explicitly name Fidelity, so check the in-app connect screen instead of relying on an old list. Composer requires an approved Composer brokerage account; review its transfer and funding process before moving assets.</p>\n<p>On safety, ask the same structural questions of either platform: Which entity provides advice or brokerage services? Who carries the account? What permissions are granted? How can activity be paused or authorization changed? Autopilot Advisers, LLC is listed under CRD 331749 on IAPD and does not custody client funds. Connection methods vary by brokerage, so read the authorization screen and account agreement before accepting.</p>\n<h2>5) If you want rules</h2>\n<p>If what you want is a strategy you define as conditions, backtest against a rule, and change, Composer is built for exactly that and we&#39;re not. Autopilot doesn&#39;t offer user-written rule sets. Our strategies are Pilots&#39; Portfolios, and our published record is a live composite of real follower accounts from Autopilot launch, not a backtest of a rule.</p>\n<p>That last part matters if you compare records across platforms. A backtest of a rule and a live composite of real accounts are different objects. Averaging them, or treating one as a stand-in for the other, gives you a number that describes neither.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>Is Autopilot better than Composer for someone who wants automated strategies without picking stocks?</h3>\n<p>Neither is better. They do different things. Composer automates a rule set you choose or build. Autopilot automates following a named Pilot&#39;s Portfolio in your existing brokerage. Pick Composer if you want editable logic. Pick Autopilot if you want to follow named trackers and managers without moving your money.</p>\n<h3>How does Autopilot&#39;s brokerage-linked model compare to Composer&#39;s algorithmic strategies?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot works through a supported brokerage account and does not custody assets. Composer requires an approved Composer brokerage account under its disclosed carrying and clearing arrangements. One may preserve a supported existing account; the other uses Composer&#39;s integrated brokerage structure.</p>\n<h3>Autopilot vs Composer: which is safer for connecting to a Fidelity brokerage account?</h3>\n<p>Check Fidelity on Autopilot&#39;s in-app connect screen; the current U.S. App Store description names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more, but not Fidelity. Composer requires its own approved brokerage account, so review its current transfer and funding instructions. For either platform, verify the registered entities, custodian or carrying broker, permissions, and account controls.</p>\n<h3>Is Composer a better fit than Autopilot for algorithmic, rules-based strategies?</h3>\n<p>Yes. Composer is built for user-defined, rules-based strategies. Autopilot doesn&#39;t offer user-written rules; its Portfolios follow named Pilots, and its record is a live composite of real accounts rather than a backtest of a rule.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>If you&#39;d rather follow a Portfolio than write the rules, and you&#39;d rather not move your money to do it: connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Autopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>Composer is a separate company and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Autopilot. Composer&#39;s products, prices, account arrangements, and disclosures can change; use its current official documentation.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Comparisons","Is Autopilot better than Composer for someone who wants automated strategies without picking stocks?","How does Autopilot's brokerage-linked model compare to Composer's algorithmic strategies?","Autopilot vs Composer: which is safer for connecting to a Fidelity brokerage account?","Is Composer a better fit than Autopilot for algorithmic, rules-based strategies?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/copy-trading-vs-robo-advisor","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/copy-trading-vs-robo-advisor","title":"Copy trading vs a robo-advisor: what's the difference, and what does each one cost you?","summary":"The practical differences between following a Portfolio and using a robo-advisor, including fees, diversification, and control.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. The way I think about this: a robo-advisor decides your allocation based on who you are. What people call copy trading lets you decide whose decisions to follow. We don't call it that, and I'll explain why in a second. That's the difference, and the fees follow from it.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nA robo-advisor puts you in a model portfolio, usually a basket of index ETFs, based on a questionnaire, and charges a percentage of your assets every year. Following a Portfolio puts you behind a specific person or strategy, and your account is kept in line with theirs. Most apps in this category, ours included, charge a flat subscription instead of a percentage. We're an adviser that keeps the brokerage account you already have in line with a Portfolio you picked, for a cash subscription, not a cut of your assets. Why we say following and not copying: you're never trading at the same time as the Pilot, and your holdings won't match theirs exactly. Timing, fractional shares, and your account size all get in the way. Copying overstates it.\n\nThe three options people actually have\n\nJust like you, I used to think index funds were enough. Then I worked in finance for a bit and saw what other people had access to.\n\nHere's the problem I see with how retail investors are set up. There are really only three options. One, you invest on your own, and you're pretty much guessing. You're reading headlines, you heard about something from a friend, you're up on a Sunday night trying to figure out if you should buy Chipotle or Sweetgreen. Two, you put it in a passive ETF, which isn't bad, but it's not going to give you much beyond the market. Three, you hand it to a financial adviser who's a stranger, who has 300 other clients, and who's hard to leave.\n\nA robo-advisor is option two with a questionnaire on the front. Following a Portfolio is the fourth option. You find someone who's better at this than you and your account does what they do.\n\n1) What a robo-advisor does\n\nYou answer questions about your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. The service typically assigns a diversified model portfolio, often using low-cost stock and bond index ETFs, and rebalances it over time. Many robo-advisors charge an annual percentage of assets, although fee models vary. Compare each provider's current advisory fee, fund expenses, cash allocation, and any account minimum.\n\n2) What following a Portfolio does\n\nYou pick a person or a strategy, and your account follows their trades. On some platforms that means following another user inside an account the platform holds. On Autopilot it means following a Portfolio in the brokerage you already have. Our Pilots include tracker Portfolios built on public filings (politicians through STOCK Act reports, institutional managers through 13Fs) and independent managers and creators like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Michael Sikand, Quiver Quantitative, and Unusual Whales.\n\nIt's a different bet from a robo-advisor. Instead of owning everything, you're choosing one approach and taking on its concentration and its risk. That's a real tradeoff, and it's why we publish a live client composite for every Portfolio on our fact sheets site, with a risk band and a maturity label, so you can see how it's behaved before you follow it. I'm not putting those numbers in here. They're on the sheet, dated. Go look.\n\n3) Side by side\n\n | Robo-advisor | Following a Portfolio (Autopilot)\nWho picks the holdings | An algorithm, from your risk profile | The Portfolio you follow\nTypical holdings | Broad index ETFs, stocks and bonds | Whatever the Pilot's Portfolio holds, often concentrated stocks\nWhere your money sits | The robo-advisor's custodian | Your own brokerage (Autopilot doesn't hold funds)\nFee | Percentage of assets, yearly | Cash subscription. No Base Advisory and Licensing Fee on Basic Tier. Premium Tier $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year (Form CRS, February 2026). Pilot subscriptions separate. Broker costs on top.\nDoes the fee grow with your balance? | Yes, proportionally | No. Flat, so it's a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one\nGood for | Set it and forget it diversification | Following a specific person or strategy you chose\n\n4) How the costs compare, without making up anyone's rates\n\nA robo-advisor fee is a percentage. Some fraction of a percent a year. The dollar cost goes up as your balance goes up and down as it goes down. Small account, small dollars. Big account, big dollars.\n\nA flat subscription is the reverse. Ours is a fixed Base Advisory and Licensing Fee, a cash subscription billed quarterly or yearly. It's not a percentage of assets, and it doesn't multiply by how many Pilots you follow. Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Your brokerage's costs, the expense ratios inside any ETFs a Portfolio holds, and taxes sit on top, same as they do under a robo-advisor's own fund costs.\n\nSo the crossover depends on your balance. A flat fee is a bigger piece of a $2,000 account than a $50,000 one. A percentage is the same piece of both. Our methodology page says it plainly: smaller accounts experience a higher effective fee percentage because a fixed dollar fee is a larger share of a smaller account. Do the math at your balance, not at a headline rate.\n\n5) Which one is for you\n\nIf you want to own the market broadly, never think about individual positions, and have your allocation shift automatically as you age, a robo-advisor is built for that.\n\nIf you want to follow a specific strategy, a politician tracker, a hedge fund's disclosed long book, an independent manager's picks, and you want it running in the brokerage you already use, that's what we built. It's more concentrated than a broad index. For filing-based trackers there's a delay, up to 45 days for STOCK Act reports and 45 or more for 13Fs. We publish both of those as risks.\n\nPlenty of people do both. An index core with a followed-Portfolio position next to it in a separate account is a common setup. Nothing here is a recommendation to do either. That decision happens inside the app.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhat's the difference between copy trading and a robo-advisor?\n\nA robo-advisor puts you in a diversified model portfolio, usually index ETFs, based on a risk questionnaire, and charges a percentage of assets. Copy trading, as people call it, follows a specific person or strategy's trades. On Autopilot that means following a Portfolio inside your own brokerage account for a flat cash subscription, not a percentage of assets.\n\nHow does the cost of a copy trading app compare to a robo-advisor's fee?\n\nRobo-advisors charge a percentage of assets, so the dollar cost scales with your balance. Autopilot charges a flat cash subscription (no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee on Basic Tier; Premium Tier $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year, per Form CRS February 2026), plus separate Pilot subscriptions if you follow more than one Pilot, plus your broker's costs. A flat fee is a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one. Compare at your own balance.\n\nTL;DR\n\nIf you'd rather follow a strategy you chose than an allocation an algorithm assigned, connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nRobo-advisor descriptions are general and reflect common industry practice as of the publish date.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. The way I think about this: a robo-advisor decides your allocation based on who you are. What people call copy trading lets you decide whose decisions to follow. We don&#39;t call it that, and I&#39;ll explain why in a second. That&#39;s the difference, and the fees follow from it.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>A robo-advisor puts you in a model portfolio, usually a basket of index ETFs, based on a questionnaire, and charges a percentage of your assets every year. Following a Portfolio puts you behind a specific person or strategy, and your account is kept in line with theirs. Most apps in this category, ours included, charge a flat subscription instead of a percentage. We&#39;re an adviser that keeps the brokerage account you already have in line with a Portfolio you picked, for a cash subscription, not a cut of your assets. Why we say following and not copying: you&#39;re never trading at the same time as the Pilot, and your holdings won&#39;t match theirs exactly. Timing, fractional shares, and your account size all get in the way. Copying overstates it.</p>\n<h2>The three options people actually have</h2>\n<p>Just like you, I used to think index funds were enough. Then I worked in finance for a bit and saw what other people had access to.</p>\n<p>Here&#39;s the problem I see with how retail investors are set up. There are really only three options. One, you invest on your own, and you&#39;re pretty much guessing. You&#39;re reading headlines, you heard about something from a friend, you&#39;re up on a Sunday night trying to figure out if you should buy Chipotle or Sweetgreen. Two, you put it in a passive ETF, which isn&#39;t bad, but it&#39;s not going to give you much beyond the market. Three, you hand it to a financial adviser who&#39;s a stranger, who has 300 other clients, and who&#39;s hard to leave.</p>\n<p>A robo-advisor is option two with a questionnaire on the front. Following a Portfolio is the fourth option. You find someone who&#39;s better at this than you and your account does what they do.</p>\n<h2>1) What a robo-advisor does</h2>\n<p>You answer questions about your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. The service typically assigns a diversified model portfolio, often using low-cost stock and bond index ETFs, and rebalances it over time. Many robo-advisors charge an annual percentage of assets, although fee models vary. Compare each provider&#39;s current advisory fee, fund expenses, cash allocation, and any account minimum.</p>\n<h2>2) What following a Portfolio does</h2>\n<p>You pick a person or a strategy, and your account follows their trades. On some platforms that means following another user inside an account the platform holds. On Autopilot it means following a Portfolio in the brokerage you already have. Our Pilots include tracker Portfolios built on public filings (politicians through STOCK Act reports, institutional managers through 13Fs) and independent managers and creators like InTheMoney, Peter Wolff, Michael Sikand, Quiver Quantitative, and Unusual Whales.</p>\n<p>It&#39;s a different bet from a robo-advisor. Instead of owning everything, you&#39;re choosing one approach and taking on its concentration and its risk. That&#39;s a real tradeoff, and it&#39;s why we publish a live client composite for every Portfolio on our fact sheets site, with a risk band and a maturity label, so you can see how it&#39;s behaved before you follow it. I&#39;m not putting those numbers in here. They&#39;re on the sheet, dated. Go look.</p>\n<h2>3) Side by side</h2>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\"></th><th scope=\"col\">Robo-advisor</th><th scope=\"col\">Following a Portfolio (Autopilot)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Who picks the holdings</td><td>An algorithm, from your risk profile</td><td>The Portfolio you follow</td></tr><tr><td>Typical holdings</td><td>Broad index ETFs, stocks and bonds</td><td>Whatever the Pilot&#39;s Portfolio holds, often concentrated stocks</td></tr><tr><td>Where your money sits</td><td>The robo-advisor&#39;s custodian</td><td>Your own brokerage (Autopilot doesn&#39;t hold funds)</td></tr><tr><td>Fee</td><td>Percentage of assets, yearly</td><td>Cash subscription. No Base Advisory and Licensing Fee on Basic Tier. Premium Tier $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year (Form CRS, February 2026). Pilot subscriptions separate. Broker costs on top.</td></tr><tr><td>Does the fee grow with your balance?</td><td>Yes, proportionally</td><td>No. Flat, so it&#39;s a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one</td></tr><tr><td>Good for</td><td>Set it and forget it diversification</td><td>Following a specific person or strategy you chose</td></tr></tbody></table>\n<h2>4) How the costs compare, without making up anyone&#39;s rates</h2>\n<p>A robo-advisor fee is a percentage. Some fraction of a percent a year. The dollar cost goes up as your balance goes up and down as it goes down. Small account, small dollars. Big account, big dollars.</p>\n<p>A flat subscription is the reverse. Ours is a fixed Base Advisory and Licensing Fee, a cash subscription billed quarterly or yearly. It&#39;s not a percentage of assets, and it doesn&#39;t multiply by how many Pilots you follow. Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Your brokerage&#39;s costs, the expense ratios inside any ETFs a Portfolio holds, and taxes sit on top, same as they do under a robo-advisor&#39;s own fund costs.</p>\n<p>So the crossover depends on your balance. A flat fee is a bigger piece of a $2,000 account than a $50,000 one. A percentage is the same piece of both. Our methodology page says it plainly: smaller accounts experience a higher effective fee percentage because a fixed dollar fee is a larger share of a smaller account. Do the math at your balance, not at a headline rate.</p>\n<h2>5) Which one is for you</h2>\n<p>If you want to own the market broadly, never think about individual positions, and have your allocation shift automatically as you age, a robo-advisor is built for that.</p>\n<p>If you want to follow a specific strategy, a politician tracker, a hedge fund&#39;s disclosed long book, an independent manager&#39;s picks, and you want it running in the brokerage you already use, that&#39;s what we built. It&#39;s more concentrated than a broad index. For filing-based trackers there&#39;s a delay, up to 45 days for STOCK Act reports and 45 or more for 13Fs. We publish both of those as risks.</p>\n<p>Plenty of people do both. An index core with a followed-Portfolio position next to it in a separate account is a common setup. Nothing here is a recommendation to do either. That decision happens inside the app.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between copy trading and a robo-advisor?</h3>\n<p>A robo-advisor puts you in a diversified model portfolio, usually index ETFs, based on a risk questionnaire, and charges a percentage of assets. Copy trading, as people call it, follows a specific person or strategy&#39;s trades. On Autopilot that means following a Portfolio inside your own brokerage account for a flat cash subscription, not a percentage of assets.</p>\n<h3>How does the cost of a copy trading app compare to a robo-advisor&#39;s fee?</h3>\n<p>Robo-advisors charge a percentage of assets, so the dollar cost scales with your balance. Autopilot charges a flat cash subscription (no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee on Basic Tier; Premium Tier $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year, per Form CRS February 2026), plus separate Pilot subscriptions if you follow more than one Pilot, plus your broker&#39;s costs. A flat fee is a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one. Compare at your own balance.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>If you&#39;d rather follow a strategy you chose than an allocation an algorithm assigned, connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>Robo-advisor descriptions are general and reflect common industry practice as of the publish date.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Education","What's the difference between copy trading and a robo-advisor?","How does the cost of a copy trading app compare to a robo-advisor's fee?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/two-ways-to-act-on-pelosi-trades","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/two-ways-to-act-on-pelosi-trades","title":"Why people track Nancy Pelosi's trades, and the two ways to act on it: an ETF or a tracker","summary":"Why congressional trades draw attention and how politician trackers differ from party-based exchange-traded funds.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. We run the Pelosi Tracker, so I've been answering the first question since 2021. Let me explain how it started, and then the part people actually need: there are two ways to act on this data without doing it by hand, they come from people who work together, and they're different products.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nWhy this became a thing\n\nMembers of Congress have to report their stock trades under the STOCK Act. Those reports are public. For a long time nobody read them.\n\nAccounts such as Unusual Whales helped make congressional disclosures easier to notice and discuss around 2020. Unusual Whales is also a Pilot on Autopilot, and its name appears on the NANC and GOP exchange-traded funds, so that relationship matters when comparing the products.\n\nPublic attention grew because elected officials and covered family members can report securities transactions after the trade has already occurred. Individual reports have prompted scrutiny across parties, but a filing alone is not evidence of insider trading or wrongdoing. The useful question for an investor is narrower: what does the public record actually show, and how delayed is it?\n\nI'm not a political guy. I was a snowboard instructor. But I posted about it on TikTok and it went insane, because nobody knew. So we said, screw it. If they're going to keep trading, why not build a way to get in on the action? What better way to highlight the hypocrisy than to just copy them. That's how the Pelosi Tracker turned into Autopilot, and it's why Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post all ended up writing about a company whose slogan is \"invest like a politician.\" That coverage is reporting, not an endorsement, and it's not part of any performance record.\n\nThe delay comes first\n\nA STOCK Act report is generally due by the earlier of 30 days after the filer learns of the transaction or 45 days after the transaction. Any product built on those filings acts only after public disclosure, so its trades can lag the reported transaction substantially. Neither product is the official's account, and neither provides real-time access to the official's activity. Autopilot states this delay on tracker fact sheets; the current NANC and GOP fund pages (https://subversiveetfs.com/) provide the ETFs' prospectuses and disclosures.\n\nIf you're not okay with that lag, nothing in this category is for you. I'd rather you know that now.\n\n1) Two ways to act on the same public data\n\n | Autopilot politician Tracker Portfolios | NANC and GOP\nWhat it is | An advisory service from Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 331749) | Exchange-traded funds: Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (NANC) and Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF (GOP), offered through the issuer structure described in their prospectuses\nWhere the stocks sit | Your own brokerage | Inside the fund. You own fund shares.\nHow you get in | Connect a brokerage and follow a Portfolio in the app | Buy the ticker in any brokerage\nWhat it follows | STOCK Act reports for a specific member or a group | STOCK Act filings by members of one party\nDelay | Up to 45 days | Same delay, per the January 28, 2026 prospectuses\nFee | Cash Advisory Fee, not a percentage of assets. Pilot subscriptions add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Broker costs on top. See Form CRS. | Each fund charges an expense ratio, in its prospectus\nGranularity | One member (Pelosi Tracker+, Crenshaw Tracker, Mullin Tracker) or a basket | A party-wide basket\n\nThat's a structural comparison, not a ranking or recommendation. An ETF share and an advisory Portfolio are different things. Unusual Whales is associated with the named ETFs and is also a Pilot on Autopilot; readers should account for that relationship and compare the current disclosures for each product.\n\n2) Following Pelosi's disclosed trades\n\nOur Pelosi Tracker+ follows the STOCK Act filings under Nancy Pelosi's name after they post, and when the Portfolio changes, we send the orders to your connected brokerage and your broker fills them. It has a public fact sheet with a live client composite measured from Autopilot launch, gross and net, with a date on it. The NANC ETF follows Democratic members as a group, and you buy it like any ticker. Which fits depends on whether you want one member or a party basket, and whether you want positions in your own account or fund shares. Both are legitimate ways to do this.\n\n3) What it costs\n\nOn Autopilot the Advisory Fee is a cash subscription, not a percentage of your assets. Per Form CRS dated February 2026, Basic Tier has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and Premium Tier is $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year. Pelosi Tracker+ is under Autopilot Premium, listed at $29.99 quarterly or $99.99 annually in the September 3, 2026 Autopilot Fact Sheets pricing snapshot. Pilot subscriptions are separate from the Advisory Fee and add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Your broker's costs sit on top. Because it's a flat fee, it's a bigger share of a small account than a big one.\n\nNANC and GOP each charge an expense ratio that comes out of fund assets. The two fee types don't compare at a glance. Compare the total for a year at your balance.\n\n4) Beginner: tracker or index fund?\n\nThat's a suitability question and suitability gets assessed inside the app, not in an article. What I can tell you generally: a broad index fund is diversified across the whole market. A politician tracker, or a politician ETF, is concentrated in whatever one person or one group bought, and it has the delay. Those are very different risk profiles. A lot of people who use one hold it next to a diversified core, not instead of one. Our fact sheets label every Portfolio with a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) and a maturity label. Those are filters, not advice.\n\n5) Why most active funds trail an index fund\n\nCosts and competition both matter. Active strategies can trade more and cost more than broad indexing, so they must overcome those frictions before adding value. S&P Dow Jones Indices' SPIVA scorecards show that underperformance rates vary by fund category and period, but most U.S. active large-cap funds have trailed the S&P 500 over long measurement windows. That is not a claim about an Autopilot Portfolio or either ETF. It is a reason to inspect dated net returns, drawdown, volatility, and concentration instead of looking only at a headline return.\n\n6) Your data\n\nAutopilot does not hold client funds or act as the broker-dealer. Trades occur through the connected brokerage under that broker's terms. Review Autopilot's privacy policy (https://www.joinautopilot.com/privacy-policy) for its published data-security practices and read our brokerage-connection safety guide (/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage) for a practical checklist. Authorization and revocation steps vary by brokerage.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhy do people track Nancy Pelosi's stock trades?\n\nBecause the STOCK Act requires members of Congress to publicly report their trades within 45 days, and those reports became widely followed once accounts on X and TikTok started posting them around 2020. Autopilot's founders built the Pelosi Tracker, which drew coverage from Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post.\n\nBest app to follow Nancy Pelosi's stock trades automatically?\n\nAutopilot's Pelosi Tracker+ follows Nancy Pelosi's STOCK Act filings after they post, sending the orders to your own connected brokerage, with a public fact sheet. The NANC ETF from Unusual Whales, who is also a Pilot on Autopilot, follows Democratic members as a group. Choose based on one member or a party basket, and positions in your account or fund shares.\n\nHow much does it cost to follow a Nancy Pelosi-style portfolio automatically?\n\nOn Autopilot, the Advisory Fee is a cash subscription: no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee on Basic Tier, Premium Tier $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year (Form CRS, February 2026). Pelosi Tracker+ is under Autopilot Premium at $29.99 quarterly or $99.99 annually in the September 3, 2026 pricing snapshot. Broker costs on top. NANC charges an expense ratio per its prospectus.\n\nShould beginners start with a politician tracker or a more traditional index fund?\n\nThat's a suitability decision made inside the Autopilot app, not here. An index fund is diversified. A politician tracker is concentrated and has a disclosure delay. Many people hold a tracker next to a diversified core rather than instead of one.\n\nWhy do most actively managed funds underperform a simple index fund?\n\nHigher fees and turnover create a hurdle, and markets are difficult to beat consistently. S&P's SPIVA scorecards report results by category and period; over long windows, most U.S. active large-cap funds have trailed the S&P 500.\n\nHow is my personal and financial data protected by investing apps?\n\nCheck whether the app holds your funds or trades in an account a separate broker holds, whether you can revoke its access from the brokerage side, and what its privacy policy says. Autopilot does not hold client funds. Your brokerage stays the custodian.\n\nTL;DR\n\nA politician Tracker and a party-based ETF are two different structures built from delayed public filings. Compare the account structure, scope, fees, holdings, and dated performance record before choosing either. Public disclosure makes oversight possible; it does not make a strategy suitable for everyone.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nNamed public officials are not affiliated with Autopilot and have not endorsed it. A public disclosure is not an allegation or proof of wrongdoing. NANC and GOP are separate exchange-traded funds; consult their current issuer prospectuses for objectives, holdings, fees, and risks. Unusual Whales is a Pilot on the Autopilot platform and its name appears on those funds. Independent press coverage is reporting, not endorsement, and is not part of any performance record.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. We run the Pelosi Tracker, so I&#39;ve been answering the first question since 2021. Let me explain how it started, and then the part people actually need: there are two ways to act on this data without doing it by hand, they come from people who work together, and they&#39;re different products.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<h2>Why this became a thing</h2>\n<p>Members of Congress have to report their stock trades under the STOCK Act. Those reports are public. For a long time nobody read them.</p>\n<p>Accounts such as Unusual Whales helped make congressional disclosures easier to notice and discuss around 2020. Unusual Whales is also a Pilot on Autopilot, and its name appears on the NANC and GOP exchange-traded funds, so that relationship matters when comparing the products.</p>\n<p>Public attention grew because elected officials and covered family members can report securities transactions after the trade has already occurred. Individual reports have prompted scrutiny across parties, but a filing alone is not evidence of insider trading or wrongdoing. The useful question for an investor is narrower: what does the public record actually show, and how delayed is it?</p>\n<p>I&#39;m not a political guy. I was a snowboard instructor. But I posted about it on TikTok and it went insane, because nobody knew. So we said, screw it. If they&#39;re going to keep trading, why not build a way to get in on the action? What better way to highlight the hypocrisy than to just copy them. That&#39;s how the Pelosi Tracker turned into Autopilot, and it&#39;s why Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post all ended up writing about a company whose slogan is &quot;invest like a politician.&quot; That coverage is reporting, not an endorsement, and it&#39;s not part of any performance record.</p>\n<h2>The delay comes first</h2>\n<p>A STOCK Act report is generally due by the earlier of 30 days after the filer learns of the transaction or 45 days after the transaction. Any product built on those filings acts only after public disclosure, so its trades can lag the reported transaction substantially. Neither product is the official&#39;s account, and neither provides real-time access to the official&#39;s activity. Autopilot states this delay on tracker fact sheets; the current <a href=\"https://subversiveetfs.com/\">NANC and GOP fund pages</a> provide the ETFs&#39; prospectuses and disclosures.</p>\n<p>If you&#39;re not okay with that lag, nothing in this category is for you. I&#39;d rather you know that now.</p>\n<h2>1) Two ways to act on the same public data</h2>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\"></th><th scope=\"col\">Autopilot politician Tracker Portfolios</th><th scope=\"col\">NANC and GOP</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>What it is</td><td>An advisory service from Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 331749)</td><td>Exchange-traded funds: Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (NANC) and Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF (GOP), offered through the issuer structure described in their prospectuses</td></tr><tr><td>Where the stocks sit</td><td>Your own brokerage</td><td>Inside the fund. You own fund shares.</td></tr><tr><td>How you get in</td><td>Connect a brokerage and follow a Portfolio in the app</td><td>Buy the ticker in any brokerage</td></tr><tr><td>What it follows</td><td>STOCK Act reports for a specific member or a group</td><td>STOCK Act filings by members of one party</td></tr><tr><td>Delay</td><td>Up to 45 days</td><td>Same delay, per the January 28, 2026 prospectuses</td></tr><tr><td>Fee</td><td>Cash Advisory Fee, not a percentage of assets. Pilot subscriptions add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Broker costs on top. See Form CRS.</td><td>Each fund charges an expense ratio, in its prospectus</td></tr><tr><td>Granularity</td><td>One member (Pelosi Tracker+, Crenshaw Tracker, Mullin Tracker) or a basket</td><td>A party-wide basket</td></tr></tbody></table>\n<p>That&#39;s a structural comparison, not a ranking or recommendation. An ETF share and an advisory Portfolio are different things. Unusual Whales is associated with the named ETFs and is also a Pilot on Autopilot; readers should account for that relationship and compare the current disclosures for each product.</p>\n<h2>2) Following Pelosi&#39;s disclosed trades</h2>\n<p>Our Pelosi Tracker+ follows the STOCK Act filings under Nancy Pelosi&#39;s name after they post, and when the Portfolio changes, we send the orders to your connected brokerage and your broker fills them. It has a public fact sheet with a live client composite measured from Autopilot launch, gross and net, with a date on it. The NANC ETF follows Democratic members as a group, and you buy it like any ticker. Which fits depends on whether you want one member or a party basket, and whether you want positions in your own account or fund shares. Both are legitimate ways to do this.</p>\n<h2>3) What it costs</h2>\n<p>On Autopilot the Advisory Fee is a cash subscription, not a percentage of your assets. Per Form CRS dated February 2026, Basic Tier has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and Premium Tier is $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year. Pelosi Tracker+ is under Autopilot Premium, listed at $29.99 quarterly or $99.99 annually in the September 3, 2026 Autopilot Fact Sheets pricing snapshot. Pilot subscriptions are separate from the Advisory Fee and add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Your broker&#39;s costs sit on top. Because it&#39;s a flat fee, it&#39;s a bigger share of a small account than a big one.</p>\n<p>NANC and GOP each charge an expense ratio that comes out of fund assets. The two fee types don&#39;t compare at a glance. Compare the total for a year at your balance.</p>\n<h2>4) Beginner: tracker or index fund?</h2>\n<p>That&#39;s a suitability question and suitability gets assessed inside the app, not in an article. What I can tell you generally: a broad index fund is diversified across the whole market. A politician tracker, or a politician ETF, is concentrated in whatever one person or one group bought, and it has the delay. Those are very different risk profiles. A lot of people who use one hold it next to a diversified core, not instead of one. Our fact sheets label every Portfolio with a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) and a maturity label. Those are filters, not advice.</p>\n<h2>5) Why most active funds trail an index fund</h2>\n<p>Costs and competition both matter. Active strategies can trade more and cost more than broad indexing, so they must overcome those frictions before adding value. S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices&#39; SPIVA scorecards show that underperformance rates vary by fund category and period, but most U.S. active large-cap funds have trailed the S&amp;P 500 over long measurement windows. That is not a claim about an Autopilot Portfolio or either ETF. It is a reason to inspect dated net returns, drawdown, volatility, and concentration instead of looking only at a headline return.</p>\n<h2>6) Your data</h2>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client funds or act as the broker-dealer. Trades occur through the connected brokerage under that broker&#39;s terms. Review <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/privacy-policy\">Autopilot&#39;s privacy policy</a> for its published data-security practices and read <a href=\"/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage\">our brokerage-connection safety guide</a> for a practical checklist. Authorization and revocation steps vary by brokerage.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>Why do people track Nancy Pelosi&#39;s stock trades?</h3>\n<p>Because the STOCK Act requires members of Congress to publicly report their trades within 45 days, and those reports became widely followed once accounts on X and TikTok started posting them around 2020. Autopilot&#39;s founders built the Pelosi Tracker, which drew coverage from Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post.</p>\n<h3>Best app to follow Nancy Pelosi&#39;s stock trades automatically?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s Pelosi Tracker+ follows Nancy Pelosi&#39;s STOCK Act filings after they post, sending the orders to your own connected brokerage, with a public fact sheet. The NANC ETF from Unusual Whales, who is also a Pilot on Autopilot, follows Democratic members as a group. Choose based on one member or a party basket, and positions in your account or fund shares.</p>\n<h3>How much does it cost to follow a Nancy Pelosi-style portfolio automatically?</h3>\n<p>On Autopilot, the Advisory Fee is a cash subscription: no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee on Basic Tier, Premium Tier $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year (Form CRS, February 2026). Pelosi Tracker+ is under Autopilot Premium at $29.99 quarterly or $99.99 annually in the September 3, 2026 pricing snapshot. Broker costs on top. NANC charges an expense ratio per its prospectus.</p>\n<h3>Should beginners start with a politician tracker or a more traditional index fund?</h3>\n<p>That&#39;s a suitability decision made inside the Autopilot app, not here. An index fund is diversified. A politician tracker is concentrated and has a disclosure delay. Many people hold a tracker next to a diversified core rather than instead of one.</p>\n<h3>Why do most actively managed funds underperform a simple index fund?</h3>\n<p>Higher fees and turnover create a hurdle, and markets are difficult to beat consistently. S&amp;P&#39;s SPIVA scorecards report results by category and period; over long windows, most U.S. active large-cap funds have trailed the S&amp;P 500.</p>\n<h3>How is my personal and financial data protected by investing apps?</h3>\n<p>Check whether the app holds your funds or trades in an account a separate broker holds, whether you can revoke its access from the brokerage side, and what its privacy policy says. Autopilot does not hold client funds. Your brokerage stays the custodian.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>A politician Tracker and a party-based ETF are two different structures built from delayed public filings. Compare the account structure, scope, fees, holdings, and dated performance record before choosing either. Public disclosure makes oversight possible; it does not make a strategy suitable for everyone.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Named public officials are not affiliated with Autopilot and have not endorsed it. A public disclosure is not an allegation or proof of wrongdoing. NANC and GOP are separate exchange-traded funds; consult their current issuer prospectuses for objectives, holdings, fees, and risks. Unusual Whales is a Pilot on the Autopilot platform and its name appears on those funds. Independent press coverage is reporting, not endorsement, and is not part of any performance record.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Congress","Why do people track Nancy Pelosi's stock trades?","Best app to follow Nancy Pelosi's stock trades automatically?","How much does it cost to follow a Nancy Pelosi-style portfolio automatically?","Should beginners start with a politician tracker or a more traditional index fund?","Why do most actively managed funds underperform a simple index fund?","How is my personal and financial data protected by investing apps?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/which-brokerages-does-autopilot-support","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/which-brokerages-does-autopilot-support","title":"Which brokerages work with Autopilot, and what if yours doesn't?","summary":"How to check which brokerages Autopilot supports, what account access means, and what to do when an integration is unavailable.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Here's the list, here's what happens if you're not on it, and here's what you're actually handing over when you connect.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nAutopilot's current U.S. App Store listing (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799) names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, “and more.” The in-app connect screen is the authoritative list because integrations change. Public is Autopilot's default and preferred partner, and Autopilot is paid when a newly referred client opens and funds a Public account. That conflict is disclosed below. If your brokerage is unsupported, you can use another currently supported brokerage or wait for the list to change. Autopilot does not hold client funds.\n\n1) Supported brokerages\n\nBrokerage | Status | Source\nPublic | Named; default and preferred partner, with a disclosed referral conflict | Public brokerage disclosure (https://www.joinautopilot.com/public-brokerage)\nRobinhood | Named | U.S. App Store listing (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799)\nCharles Schwab | Named | U.S. App Store listing (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799)\nOthers | The listing says “and more”; check the in-app connect screen | Current app\n\nThird-party compatibility lists can go stale. If a brokerage does not appear in the connect screen, treat it as unsupported.\n\n2) If we don't support your brokerage\n\nTwo honest options.\n\nOpen an account at a supported brokerage. Public is our default partner, and I already told you we get paid for that. Robinhood and Schwab are also on the list. You don't have to move your whole balance. A lot of people fund a separate account with just what they want to follow and leave the rest alone.\n\nOr check back. The list isn't fixed. If keeping your brokerage matters more to you than the timing, the connect screen is where a new one shows up first.\n\nI'm not going to recommend another company's app as a backup. If your brokerage isn't on the connect screen today, opening a supported one or waiting are both fine choices, and it's yours to make.\n\n3) Is Autopilot legit\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. Look it up on IAPD. Autopilot Holdings Corporation runs the app and isn't an adviser. We're not a broker-dealer. We don't execute trades, hold client funds, or custody anything. Trades happen at your brokerage on your broker's terms. And we have nothing to do with Tesla Autopilot, Microsoft Windows Autopilot, or autopilothq.com, which matters when you search.\n\nWe take the registered adviser part seriously. It's people's money. They have to trust that we're doing all the right things, and being registered with the SEC is how they can check.\n\n4) How an app works inside your account without touching your money\n\nThe general setup: a registered investment adviser is authorized to direct trades in an account that a separate broker holds. The broker keeps custody, executes the orders, and sends you the statements. The adviser decides what to buy and sell, within what you authorized. That's how we work. Your brokerage holds the account. You give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders, and when the Portfolio you picked changes, we send them and your broker fills them.\n\nThe money remains at the connected brokerage; Autopilot does not custody it. The authorization method is not identical across brokers and can change. Read the connection screen carefully, confirm which entity receives any credentials or tokens, and grant only the permissions described in the current brokerage and Autopilot agreements.\n\n5) The questions to ask any app, including us\n\n1. Does it hold my money, or trade in an account a separate broker holds? We do the second.\n2. Is the entity registered, and can I look it up myself? CRD 331749 on IAPD.\n3. How do I revoke access? Stop or pause activity using the controls shown in Autopilot, then follow your brokerage's current instructions for managing third-party authorization. The path is broker-specific; do not assume one universal menu.\n4. What happens when the connection breaks? Below.\n5. What conflicts does it disclose? We disclose the Public referral deal and that Quiver Quantitative gets paid for promotional content about us.\n\n6) Does which brokerage you connect change the risk?\n\nBoth the app and brokerage matter. Evaluate the adviser's permissions and technology, then verify the broker's registration, account protections, fractional-share support, execution policies, and third-party authorization controls. Those differences can affect results and operational risk. Autopilot's public U.S. listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the connect screen controls current availability.\n\n7) When the connection breaks\n\nOur methodology page says it directly: our services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity, and outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing. In plain terms, if the link to your brokerage goes down, a trade that would've happened might be delayed. Your money isn't affected because we never had it. Your positions sit at your brokerage whether the connection is up or not.\n\n8) If you see a trade you didn't authorize\n\nContact your brokerage promptly using a verified support channel, document the order and timestamps, secure the account, and ask how to restrict further activity. Then contact Autopilot through its official support channel. Follow the brokerage's investigation or dispute process and any security instructions it provides.\n\n9) Disconnecting\n\nAutopilot's App Store listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. To end a connection, use the current controls in Autopilot and follow the brokerage's instructions for third-party authorization. Stopping automation does not itself liquidate or transfer positions unless the displayed workflow and your instructions say so.\n\n10) Following 13Fs in your own brokerage\n\nOur hedge fund trackers follow quarterly 13F filings from institutional managers, Buffett Tracker (Berkshire Hathaway), Burry Tracker, Ackman Tracker, Citadel Tracker, Point 72, Dalio Tracker, and Jim Simons Tracker, and after each filing posts, the orders go to your connected brokerage and your broker fills them. 13Fs can be 45 or more days old when filed, show only long US stock positions, and leave out shorts, most derivatives, and timing. We publish that delay on every tracker fact sheet.\n\n11) One dashboard for all your brokerages\n\nAutopilot is presented publicly as a Portfolio-following service, not as a general-purpose account aggregator. Its public materials do not document a universal dashboard for unrelated brokerages. Check the current app for connected-account capabilities. For each published Autopilot Portfolio, the fact-sheet site provides a dated live client composite.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhich app should I switch to if Autopilot doesn't support my brokerage?\n\nYou don't necessarily need to switch apps. You can open an account at a supported brokerage (Public is Autopilot's default partner, with a disclosed referral conflict; Robinhood and Charles Schwab are also named) and fund only what you want to follow, or check the in-app connect screen as the list grows.\n\nIs Autopilot a legitimate and regulated way to automate my brokerage trades?\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749, verifiable on IAPD. Autopilot is not a broker-dealer and doesn't hold client funds. Trades execute at your connected brokerage.\n\nDoes Autopilot require me to hand over my brokerage login credentials directly?\n\nAutopilot does not hold or custody client funds. Connection methods vary, so rely on the authorization screen and current agreements; do not enter brokerage credentials through an unverified link.\n\nHow does an app place trades automatically in my own brokerage account?\n\nA registered investment adviser is authorized to direct trades in an account a separate broker holds. The broker keeps custody and executes. The adviser decides, within what you authorized. That's Autopilot's structure.\n\nWhat's the difference in risk between linking Robinhood versus a traditional brokerage like Fidelity?\n\nEvaluate both sides: the app's permissions and the brokerage's registration, account protections, fractional-share support, execution, and authorization controls. Fidelity is not named in Autopilot's current U.S. App Store description, so use the in-app connect screen to determine availability.\n\nWhich copy trading app is easiest to set up with an existing brokerage account?\n\nAutopilot's public flow is to choose a Portfolio, connect a supported brokerage, and allocate. It can use an existing account only when the brokerage and account type are supported; otherwise a different account may be required.\n\nWhich copy trading app has the easiest process to disconnect my brokerage account?\n\nAutopilot's public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. For complete disconnection, follow the current Autopilot flow and your brokerage's broker-specific third-party authorization instructions.\n\nWhich app should I use to copy hedge fund 13F filings into my own brokerage?\n\nAutopilot offers hedge fund Tracker Portfolios (Buffett, Burry, Ackman, Citadel, Point 72, Dalio, Jim Simons) that follow 13F filings after they post, sending the orders to your connected brokerage, with a disclosed delay of 45 or more days.\n\nWhat's the risk if a copy trading app's API integration with my brokerage breaks?\n\nTrades may be delayed. Autopilot discloses that outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may affect service availability or execution timing. Your money and positions stay at your brokerage regardless.\n\nWhat should I do if I notice an unauthorized trade in my linked brokerage account?\n\nContact your brokerage first, revoke the app's access from the brokerage side, document the trade, then contact the app. The brokerage's dispute process applies because it administers the account.\n\nIs it safe to connect my brokerage account to a third-party investing app?\n\nAsk whether the app holds your money (Autopilot doesn't), whether it's a registered entity you can look up (CRD 331749), whether you can revoke access from the brokerage side, and how it handles connection failures.\n\nWhat permissions does a copy trading app actually need from my brokerage?\n\nOnly the authority described in the current authorization and advisory agreement. Read each permission rather than inferring it from a product label, and contact the brokerage or adviser if a requested permission is unclear.\n\nWhat questions should I ask before letting an app trade in my brokerage account?\n\nDoes it hold my funds? Is it registered? Can I revoke from the brokerage side? What happens when the connection breaks? What conflicts does it disclose?\n\nCan I revoke a copy trading app's access to my brokerage at any time?\n\nUse Autopilot's current pause or stop controls, then follow your brokerage's instructions for managing third-party authorization. Ask the brokerage for help if the authorization is not visible.\n\nHow do investing apps access my brokerage account without holding my money?\n\nThrough an adviser authorization at the brokerage: the broker keeps custody and executes, the adviser directs trades. Autopilot is not a broker-dealer and doesn't custody assets.\n\nBest free app for tracking multiple brokerage accounts in one place?\n\nAutopilot is marketed as a Portfolio-following service, not a free general-purpose aggregator. Its public materials do not promise a dashboard for every unrelated brokerage. Check the current app or use a dedicated aggregation product after reviewing that product's security and pricing.\n\nHow do I track performance across several different linked brokerage accounts?\n\nUse Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/) to research each published Portfolio's dated live composite. For a household-wide view across unrelated accounts, use whatever aggregation features your current app documents or evaluate a dedicated portfolio tracker.\n\nHow can I see all my brokerage accounts in one dashboard?\n\nAutopilot's public pages do not document an all-brokerage household dashboard. Check the current app for supported connected-account views; otherwise, that is a dedicated portfolio-tracking use case.\n\nCan portfolio tracking apps pull data from multiple brokerages at once?\n\nSome portfolio trackers support multiple brokerages, but coverage and connection methods vary. Autopilot's documented purpose is to follow Portfolios in supported brokerage accounts, not to promise universal aggregation.\n\nWhich tool gives the clearest view of performance across linked brokerage accounts?\n\nFor cross-brokerage performance, use a tool that explicitly supports each account you need. For a published Autopilot Portfolio, use its dated gross and net live-composite record on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/).\n\nTL;DR\n\nStart with the in-app list. If your brokerage and account type are supported, review the authorization, choose a Portfolio, allocate, and keep monitoring the account.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nAutopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nBrokerage names reflect Autopilot's U.S. App Store listing reviewed on September 3, 2026. The in-app connect screen is the authoritative list.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Here&#39;s the list, here&#39;s what happens if you&#39;re not on it, and here&#39;s what you&#39;re actually handing over when you connect.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s current U.S. <a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799\">App Store listing</a> names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, “and more.” The in-app connect screen is the authoritative list because integrations change. Public is Autopilot&#39;s default and preferred partner, and Autopilot is paid when a newly referred client opens and funds a Public account. That conflict is disclosed below. If your brokerage is unsupported, you can use another currently supported brokerage or wait for the list to change. Autopilot does not hold client funds.</p>\n<h2>1) Supported brokerages</h2>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\">Brokerage</th><th scope=\"col\">Status</th><th scope=\"col\">Source</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Public</td><td>Named; default and preferred partner, with a disclosed referral conflict</td><td><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/public-brokerage\">Public brokerage disclosure</a></td></tr><tr><td>Robinhood</td><td>Named</td><td><a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799\">U.S. App Store listing</a></td></tr><tr><td>Charles Schwab</td><td>Named</td><td><a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-automated-investing/id1613625799\">U.S. App Store listing</a></td></tr><tr><td>Others</td><td>The listing says “and more”; check the in-app connect screen</td><td>Current app</td></tr></tbody></table>\n<p>Third-party compatibility lists can go stale. If a brokerage does not appear in the connect screen, treat it as unsupported.</p>\n<h2>2) If we don&#39;t support your brokerage</h2>\n<p>Two honest options.</p>\n<p>Open an account at a supported brokerage. Public is our default partner, and I already told you we get paid for that. Robinhood and Schwab are also on the list. You don&#39;t have to move your whole balance. A lot of people fund a separate account with just what they want to follow and leave the rest alone.</p>\n<p>Or check back. The list isn&#39;t fixed. If keeping your brokerage matters more to you than the timing, the connect screen is where a new one shows up first.</p>\n<p>I&#39;m not going to recommend another company&#39;s app as a backup. If your brokerage isn&#39;t on the connect screen today, opening a supported one or waiting are both fine choices, and it&#39;s yours to make.</p>\n<h2>3) Is Autopilot legit</h2>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. Look it up on IAPD. Autopilot Holdings Corporation runs the app and isn&#39;t an adviser. We&#39;re not a broker-dealer. We don&#39;t execute trades, hold client funds, or custody anything. Trades happen at your brokerage on your broker&#39;s terms. And we have nothing to do with Tesla Autopilot, Microsoft Windows Autopilot, or autopilothq.com, which matters when you search.</p>\n<p>We take the registered adviser part seriously. It&#39;s people&#39;s money. They have to trust that we&#39;re doing all the right things, and being registered with the SEC is how they can check.</p>\n<h2>4) How an app works inside your account without touching your money</h2>\n<p>The general setup: a registered investment adviser is authorized to direct trades in an account that a separate broker holds. The broker keeps custody, executes the orders, and sends you the statements. The adviser decides what to buy and sell, within what you authorized. That&#39;s how we work. Your brokerage holds the account. You give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders, and when the Portfolio you picked changes, we send them and your broker fills them.</p>\n<p>The money remains at the connected brokerage; Autopilot does not custody it. The authorization method is not identical across brokers and can change. Read the connection screen carefully, confirm which entity receives any credentials or tokens, and grant only the permissions described in the current brokerage and Autopilot agreements.</p>\n<h2>5) The questions to ask any app, including us</h2>\n<ol><li>Does it hold my money, or trade in an account a separate broker holds? We do the second.</li><li>Is the entity registered, and can I look it up myself? CRD 331749 on IAPD.</li><li>How do I revoke access? Stop or pause activity using the controls shown in Autopilot, then follow your brokerage&#39;s current instructions for managing third-party authorization. The path is broker-specific; do not assume one universal menu.</li><li>What happens when the connection breaks? Below.</li><li>What conflicts does it disclose? We disclose the Public referral deal and that Quiver Quantitative gets paid for promotional content about us.</li></ol>\n<h2>6) Does which brokerage you connect change the risk?</h2>\n<p>Both the app and brokerage matter. Evaluate the adviser&#39;s permissions and technology, then verify the broker&#39;s registration, account protections, fractional-share support, execution policies, and third-party authorization controls. Those differences can affect results and operational risk. Autopilot&#39;s public U.S. listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the connect screen controls current availability.</p>\n<h2>7) When the connection breaks</h2>\n<p>Our methodology page says it directly: our services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity, and outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing. In plain terms, if the link to your brokerage goes down, a trade that would&#39;ve happened might be delayed. Your money isn&#39;t affected because we never had it. Your positions sit at your brokerage whether the connection is up or not.</p>\n<h2>8) If you see a trade you didn&#39;t authorize</h2>\n<p>Contact your brokerage promptly using a verified support channel, document the order and timestamps, secure the account, and ask how to restrict further activity. Then contact Autopilot through its official support channel. Follow the brokerage&#39;s investigation or dispute process and any security instructions it provides.</p>\n<h2>9) Disconnecting</h2>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s App Store listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. To end a connection, use the current controls in Autopilot and follow the brokerage&#39;s instructions for third-party authorization. Stopping automation does not itself liquidate or transfer positions unless the displayed workflow and your instructions say so.</p>\n<h2>10) Following 13Fs in your own brokerage</h2>\n<p>Our hedge fund trackers follow quarterly 13F filings from institutional managers, Buffett Tracker (Berkshire Hathaway), Burry Tracker, Ackman Tracker, Citadel Tracker, Point 72, Dalio Tracker, and Jim Simons Tracker, and after each filing posts, the orders go to your connected brokerage and your broker fills them. 13Fs can be 45 or more days old when filed, show only long US stock positions, and leave out shorts, most derivatives, and timing. We publish that delay on every tracker fact sheet.</p>\n<h2>11) One dashboard for all your brokerages</h2>\n<p>Autopilot is presented publicly as a Portfolio-following service, not as a general-purpose account aggregator. Its public materials do not document a universal dashboard for unrelated brokerages. Check the current app for connected-account capabilities. For each published Autopilot Portfolio, the fact-sheet site provides a dated live client composite.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>Which app should I switch to if Autopilot doesn&#39;t support my brokerage?</h3>\n<p>You don&#39;t necessarily need to switch apps. You can open an account at a supported brokerage (Public is Autopilot&#39;s default partner, with a disclosed referral conflict; Robinhood and Charles Schwab are also named) and fund only what you want to follow, or check the in-app connect screen as the list grows.</p>\n<h3>Is Autopilot a legitimate and regulated way to automate my brokerage trades?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749, verifiable on IAPD. Autopilot is not a broker-dealer and doesn&#39;t hold client funds. Trades execute at your connected brokerage.</p>\n<h3>Does Autopilot require me to hand over my brokerage login credentials directly?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold or custody client funds. Connection methods vary, so rely on the authorization screen and current agreements; do not enter brokerage credentials through an unverified link.</p>\n<h3>How does an app place trades automatically in my own brokerage account?</h3>\n<p>A registered investment adviser is authorized to direct trades in an account a separate broker holds. The broker keeps custody and executes. The adviser decides, within what you authorized. That&#39;s Autopilot&#39;s structure.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference in risk between linking Robinhood versus a traditional brokerage like Fidelity?</h3>\n<p>Evaluate both sides: the app&#39;s permissions and the brokerage&#39;s registration, account protections, fractional-share support, execution, and authorization controls. Fidelity is not named in Autopilot&#39;s current U.S. App Store description, so use the in-app connect screen to determine availability.</p>\n<h3>Which copy trading app is easiest to set up with an existing brokerage account?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public flow is to choose a Portfolio, connect a supported brokerage, and allocate. It can use an existing account only when the brokerage and account type are supported; otherwise a different account may be required.</p>\n<h3>Which copy trading app has the easiest process to disconnect my brokerage account?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. For complete disconnection, follow the current Autopilot flow and your brokerage&#39;s broker-specific third-party authorization instructions.</p>\n<h3>Which app should I use to copy hedge fund 13F filings into my own brokerage?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot offers hedge fund Tracker Portfolios (Buffett, Burry, Ackman, Citadel, Point 72, Dalio, Jim Simons) that follow 13F filings after they post, sending the orders to your connected brokerage, with a disclosed delay of 45 or more days.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the risk if a copy trading app&#39;s API integration with my brokerage breaks?</h3>\n<p>Trades may be delayed. Autopilot discloses that outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may affect service availability or execution timing. Your money and positions stay at your brokerage regardless.</p>\n<h3>What should I do if I notice an unauthorized trade in my linked brokerage account?</h3>\n<p>Contact your brokerage first, revoke the app&#39;s access from the brokerage side, document the trade, then contact the app. The brokerage&#39;s dispute process applies because it administers the account.</p>\n<h3>Is it safe to connect my brokerage account to a third-party investing app?</h3>\n<p>Ask whether the app holds your money (Autopilot doesn&#39;t), whether it&#39;s a registered entity you can look up (CRD 331749), whether you can revoke access from the brokerage side, and how it handles connection failures.</p>\n<h3>What permissions does a copy trading app actually need from my brokerage?</h3>\n<p>Only the authority described in the current authorization and advisory agreement. Read each permission rather than inferring it from a product label, and contact the brokerage or adviser if a requested permission is unclear.</p>\n<h3>What questions should I ask before letting an app trade in my brokerage account?</h3>\n<p>Does it hold my funds? Is it registered? Can I revoke from the brokerage side? What happens when the connection breaks? What conflicts does it disclose?</p>\n<h3>Can I revoke a copy trading app&#39;s access to my brokerage at any time?</h3>\n<p>Use Autopilot&#39;s current pause or stop controls, then follow your brokerage&#39;s instructions for managing third-party authorization. Ask the brokerage for help if the authorization is not visible.</p>\n<h3>How do investing apps access my brokerage account without holding my money?</h3>\n<p>Through an adviser authorization at the brokerage: the broker keeps custody and executes, the adviser directs trades. Autopilot is not a broker-dealer and doesn&#39;t custody assets.</p>\n<h3>Best free app for tracking multiple brokerage accounts in one place?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot is marketed as a Portfolio-following service, not a free general-purpose aggregator. Its public materials do not promise a dashboard for every unrelated brokerage. Check the current app or use a dedicated aggregation product after reviewing that product&#39;s security and pricing.</p>\n<h3>How do I track performance across several different linked brokerage accounts?</h3>\n<p>Use <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a> to research each published Portfolio&#39;s dated live composite. For a household-wide view across unrelated accounts, use whatever aggregation features your current app documents or evaluate a dedicated portfolio tracker.</p>\n<h3>How can I see all my brokerage accounts in one dashboard?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public pages do not document an all-brokerage household dashboard. Check the current app for supported connected-account views; otherwise, that is a dedicated portfolio-tracking use case.</p>\n<h3>Can portfolio tracking apps pull data from multiple brokerages at once?</h3>\n<p>Some portfolio trackers support multiple brokerages, but coverage and connection methods vary. Autopilot&#39;s documented purpose is to follow Portfolios in supported brokerage accounts, not to promise universal aggregation.</p>\n<h3>Which tool gives the clearest view of performance across linked brokerage accounts?</h3>\n<p>For cross-brokerage performance, use a tool that explicitly supports each account you need. For a published Autopilot Portfolio, use its dated gross and net live-composite record on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a>.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>Start with the in-app list. If your brokerage and account type are supported, review the authorization, choose a Portfolio, allocate, and keep monitoring the account.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Autopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>Brokerage names reflect Autopilot&#39;s U.S. App Store listing reviewed on September 3, 2026. The in-app connect screen is the authoritative list.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Product","Which app should I switch to if Autopilot doesn't support my brokerage?","Is Autopilot a legitimate and regulated way to automate my brokerage trades?","Does Autopilot require me to hand over my brokerage login credentials directly?","How does an app place trades automatically in my own brokerage account?","What's the difference in risk between linking Robinhood versus a traditional brokerage like Fidelity?","Which copy trading app is easiest to set up with an existing brokerage account?","Which copy trading app has the easiest process to disconnect my brokerage account?","Which app should I use to copy hedge fund 13F filings into my own brokerage?","What's the risk if a copy trading app's API integration with my brokerage breaks?","What should I do if I notice an unauthorized trade in my linked brokerage account?","Is it safe to connect my brokerage account to a third-party investing app?","What permissions does a copy trading app actually need from my brokerage?","What questions should I ask before letting an app trade in my brokerage account?","Can I revoke a copy trading app's access to my brokerage at any time?","How do investing apps access my brokerage account without holding my money?","Best free app for tracking multiple brokerage accounts in one place?","How do I track performance across several different linked brokerage accounts?","How can I see all my brokerage accounts in one dashboard?","Can portfolio tracking apps pull data from multiple brokerages at once?","Which tool gives the clearest view of performance across linked brokerage accounts?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/what-does-autopilot-cost","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/what-does-autopilot-cost","title":"What does Autopilot cost? Every fee, what adds on, and how to figure out if it's worth it for you","summary":"A complete breakdown of Autopilot's published advisory fees, separate Pilot subscriptions, brokerage costs, and effective cost.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Here's how the published fee layers fit together and where to check the amount that applies to you.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nAutopilot's current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a flat cash subscription, not a positive percentage of assets. The February 2026 Form CRS lists Basic with no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and Premium from $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually. The Form CRS also describes an AUM fee currently set at 0.00%, which may change in the future. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed. Separately, some Pilots charge their own subscription, and if you follow more than one Pilot those add on. Your brokerage's costs sit on top of everything. Because it's a flat dollar amount, it's a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one. I'd rather you hear that from me.\n\nThe three layers\n\nMost of the confusion comes from mixing these up, so here they are separately.\n\n1) Autopilot's Advisory Fee. This is what Autopilot Advisers, LLC charges. Cash subscription, billed in advance, quarterly or yearly.\n\nPlan | Quarterly | Annual\nBasic Tier | $0 | $0\nPremium Tier (Base Advisory and Licensing Fee) | $29.99 to $199.99 | $99.99 to $699.99\n\nSource: Form CRS, February 2026 (https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_331749.pdf). The published Base Advisory and Licensing Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed. Your Investment Advisory Agreement controls your exact fee and service terms.\n\n2) Pilot subscriptions. Some Pilots charge for access to their Portfolios. That's separate from our Advisory Fee. If you subscribe to more than one Pilot, those amounts add on. In the September 3, 2026 Autopilot Fact Sheets pricing snapshot (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/pricing):\n\nPortfolio | Pilot product | Quarterly | Yearly\nPelosi Tracker+ | Autopilot Premium | $29.99 | $99.99\nBuffett Tracker | Autopilot Premium | $29.99 | $99.99\nInverse Cramer | Autopilot Premium | $29.99 | $99.99\nActively Managed | InTheMoney Full Access | $79.99 | $199.99\nWolff's Flagship Fund | Peter Wolff | $49.99 | $149.99\nCongress Buys | Quiver Quant Full Access | $95.00 | $295.00\n\nOne Pilot subscription covers the Portfolios published under that Pilot. These prices are a daily snapshot and can change. Review the full current table (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/pricing) and the purchase screen.\n\n3) Your brokerage's costs. Transaction fees, wire fees, margin, and the expense ratios inside any ETFs a Portfolio holds. Your broker and the funds charge those, not us, and they're on top of anything we charge.\n\nWhat a full year costs you\n\nTake your Advisory Fee for the year. Add the subscription for each distinct Pilot you pay for. Then add brokerage transaction, transfer, margin, and other account costs, plus any fund expense ratios. The published Autopilot advisory schedule does not list a per-trade advisory charge, but broker and regulatory charges can still apply. Your current agreements control.\n\nThen divide by your balance. That percentage is your real fee. It's the number to compare against anything else.\n\nWhy a flat fee works differently from a percentage\n\nA percentage-of-assets fee, which is what most advisers and robo-advisors charge, grows with your balance. Same percentage, more dollars as you grow. A flat fee is the opposite. Same dollars, smaller percentage as you grow.\n\nOur methodology page says it without softening it: smaller accounts experience a higher effective fee percentage than larger accounts because a fixed dollar fee is a larger share of a smaller account. For the net figures on our fact sheets, we model a $99.99 annual fee on a $10,000 balance. That's a model for the math, not an advertised price, and it uses the lowest disclosed figure, so a higher actual fee would lower net further.\n\nSo \"is a flat fee cheaper\" depends entirely on your balance. Below some point it costs more than a typical percentage. Above it, less. Do the division.\n\nVersus a financial adviser\n\nMany human advisers charge a percentage of assets, while others use retainers, hourly fees, or fixed plans. At a larger balance, a percentage fee can cost more in dollars than a flat subscription; at a smaller balance, the flat fee can produce a higher effective rate. The services also differ: comprehensive planning and an ongoing adviser relationship are not the same product as automated Portfolio following. Compare both cost and scope.\n\nBasic Tier\n\nBasic has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee in the February 2026 Form CRS. Features, eligibility, and any promotional access are displayed in the current app and governed by the agreement presented at enrollment.\n\nIf you stop paying\n\nA subscription lapse does not move securities out of the brokerage that holds them. Its effect on Portfolio access, automation, billing, and authorization is governed by the current Investment Advisory Agreement, subscription terms, and in-app notices. Follow the brokerage's instructions if you also want to change third-party authorization.\n\nHidden fees\n\nOur methodology page lists what is and isn't taken out of the published returns, which is the clearest way to see every cost. The model Advisory Fee is deducted in the net figure. Broker transaction costs, fund expense ratios, and taxes are not deducted from gross or net. Pilot subscriptions are not deducted from net. If a cost isn't on that list, ask. The ones people miss are fund expense ratios inside ETF holdings and taxes on trades, and no app controls either.\n\nIs it worth it\n\nNot by looking at a return number first. I'm not going to quote one here anyway. Do this instead:\n\n1. Compute your effective fee at your balance. All three layers.\n2. Read the fact sheet for the Portfolio you're looking at on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/). It's a live composite of real follower accounts from Autopilot launch, gross and net, with volatility, drawdown, a risk band, and a maturity label. Compare net to gross. That's what the fee costs on that Portfolio.\n3. Check the delay. For politician and hedge fund trackers, trades follow public filings that can be 45 or more days old. Decide if you're fine with that.\n4. Compare against what you'd otherwise do. For most people that's an index fund or a robo-advisor, at your balance, with their costs.\n\nIf it's still a yes after those four, it's a real yes.\n\nWhat Premium Tier buys\n\nPremium features and the applicable price are shown in the current app and your Investment Advisory Agreement. Review them before purchase. Pilot subscriptions are a separate decision: each paid Pilot adds that Pilot's subscription, while Portfolios under the same Pilot share it.\n\nFollowing more than one Portfolio\n\nOur Advisory Fee doesn't go up with the number of Portfolios you follow. What can go up is Pilot subscriptions. Each new Pilot adds that Pilot's amount. Several Portfolios under the same Pilot don't add a second subscription.\n\nFees and a politician-following strategy\n\nFees lower net returns on any strategy, and a flat fee lowers them more on a small balance. On top of the fee, a filing-based tracker has the delay, which is a separate drag. That's why our fact sheets show net and gross side by side. Look at the gap.\n\nA note on dollar-cost averaging\n\nDollar-cost averaging means investing a fixed amount on a schedule regardless of price. It spreads entry points over time and reduces ad hoc timing decisions, but it does not assure a profit or protect against loss. If a balance grows while a flat fee stays unchanged, that fee becomes a smaller effective percentage.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhat does Autopilot cost per month and what do you get at each tier?\n\nAutopilot's February 2026 Form CRS lists quarterly or annual billing: Basic has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee, while Premium ranges from $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually. Pilot subscriptions are separate. The current app and agreement show the features and exact price offered to you.\n\nWhat's the total cost of using Autopilot for a full year including subscription and any per-trade costs?\n\nAdd the annual Advisory Fee, each distinct paid Pilot subscription, brokerage and regulatory charges, and fund expense ratios. The published advisory schedule does not list a per-trade Autopilot charge. Divide the total dollar cost by your balance to estimate an effective rate.\n\nIs Autopilot worth the subscription price compared to other copy trading apps?\n\nCompute your effective fee at your balance, read the Portfolio's fact sheet net against gross, weigh the disclosure delay for trackers, and compare to what you'd otherwise do. Don't decide on a headline return.\n\nDoes Autopilot have a free trial or free tier before I commit to a subscription?\n\nBasic has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee in the February 2026 Form CRS. Any trial or promotion is shown in the current app and its offer terms; this article does not promise one.\n\nIs it worth paying a monthly subscription for a copy trading app?\n\nOnly if the effective percentage at your balance is acceptable against what you'd otherwise do. Flat fees favor bigger balances.\n\nWhat's the difference between a flat subscription fee and a percentage-of-assets fee?\n\nA percentage grows with your balance in dollars. A flat fee stays fixed in dollars and shrinks as a percentage when your balance grows. Autopilot charges the flat kind.\n\nHow do subscription fees for copy trading apps compare to a traditional advisor's fee?\n\nMany advisers charge a percentage of assets; others use fixed, hourly, or retainer fees. A flat fee produces a lower effective percentage as the balance grows, but the services may differ substantially.\n\nAre there usually hidden fees with automated investing apps?\n\nThe ones people miss are fund expense ratios inside ETF holdings and taxes on trades. Autopilot's methodology page lists exactly what is and isn't deducted from published returns.\n\nWhat happens to my linked account access if I stop paying for a subscription?\n\nThe current agreement and in-app notice control what automation or access changes after a lapse. Securities remain in the brokerage account that holds them unless you direct a transaction or transfer.\n\nHow do I calculate whether a copy trading app's fees are justified by its performance?\n\nCompare the fact sheet's modeled net and gross figures, then calculate your own fee at your balance and include costs the model omits. Past performance does not guarantee future results, so cost is only one part of the decision.\n\nWhat's included in a premium copy trading membership tier and is it worth the extra cost?\n\nThe current app and agreement list Premium features and the price offered to you. Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on per distinct paid Pilot.\n\nDo copy trading apps charge extra for following more than one portfolio?\n\nAutopilot's Advisory Fee doesn't. Following an additional Pilot adds that Pilot's subscription. Multiple Portfolios under one Pilot share one subscription.\n\nHow do fees affect the real returns of a politician-copying strategy?\n\nThey lower net returns, more so on small balances. The disclosure delay is a separate drag. Autopilot shows net and gross side by side on each fact sheet.\n\nWhat role does dollar-cost averaging play in long-term investing?\n\nIt spreads purchases across dates and reduces ad hoc timing decisions, without guaranteeing a better price or return. A growing balance can reduce the effective percentage of an unchanged flat fee.\n\ninvesting app subscription cost\n\nAutopilot's is a flat cash subscription, not a percentage of assets. Basic Tier has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee. Premium Tier is $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year (Form CRS, February 2026). Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Your broker's costs sit on top. Because it's flat, it's a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one.\n\nTL;DR\n\nKnow the number before you start. Compute your effective fee, read the fact sheet, and decide with everything in front of you. If it works at your balance: connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nFrequent trading in your account may result in short-term capital gains, which are generally taxed at higher ordinary income tax rates. High portfolio turnover can lead to adverse tax consequences. Consult a tax professional regarding your specific situation.\n\nFee figures are from Autopilot's Form CRS dated February 2026 and the September 3, 2026 pricing snapshot on Autopilot Fact Sheets. Pilot subscription amounts are a daily snapshot and can change. Pricing is subject to change; see Form CRS and Form ADV Part 2A for the current schedule. Specific fees are set out in your Investment Advisory Agreement.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Here&#39;s how the published fee layers fit together and where to check the amount that applies to you.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a flat cash subscription, not a positive percentage of assets. The February 2026 Form CRS lists Basic with no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee and Premium from $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually. The Form CRS also describes an AUM fee currently set at 0.00%, which may change in the future. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed. Separately, some Pilots charge their own subscription, and if you follow more than one Pilot those add on. Your brokerage&#39;s costs sit on top of everything. Because it&#39;s a flat dollar amount, it&#39;s a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one. I&#39;d rather you hear that from me.</p>\n<h2>The three layers</h2>\n<p>Most of the confusion comes from mixing these up, so here they are separately.</p>\n<p><strong>1) Autopilot&#39;s Advisory Fee.</strong> This is what Autopilot Advisers, LLC charges. Cash subscription, billed in advance, quarterly or yearly.</p>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\">Plan</th><th scope=\"col\">Quarterly</th><th scope=\"col\">Annual</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Basic Tier</td><td>$0</td><td>$0</td></tr><tr><td>Premium Tier (Base Advisory and Licensing Fee)</td><td>$29.99 to $199.99</td><td>$99.99 to $699.99</td></tr></tbody></table>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_331749.pdf\">Form CRS, February 2026</a>. The published Base Advisory and Licensing Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed. Your Investment Advisory Agreement controls your exact fee and service terms.</p>\n<p><strong>2) Pilot subscriptions.</strong> Some Pilots charge for access to their Portfolios. That&#39;s separate from our Advisory Fee. If you subscribe to more than one Pilot, those amounts add on. In the September 3, 2026 <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/pricing\">Autopilot Fact Sheets pricing snapshot</a>:</p>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\">Portfolio</th><th scope=\"col\">Pilot product</th><th scope=\"col\">Quarterly</th><th scope=\"col\">Yearly</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Pelosi Tracker+</td><td>Autopilot Premium</td><td>$29.99</td><td>$99.99</td></tr><tr><td>Buffett Tracker</td><td>Autopilot Premium</td><td>$29.99</td><td>$99.99</td></tr><tr><td>Inverse Cramer</td><td>Autopilot Premium</td><td>$29.99</td><td>$99.99</td></tr><tr><td>Actively Managed</td><td>InTheMoney Full Access</td><td>$79.99</td><td>$199.99</td></tr><tr><td>Wolff&#39;s Flagship Fund</td><td>Peter Wolff</td><td>$49.99</td><td>$149.99</td></tr><tr><td>Congress Buys</td><td>Quiver Quant Full Access</td><td>$95.00</td><td>$295.00</td></tr></tbody></table>\n<p>One Pilot subscription covers the Portfolios published under that Pilot. These prices are a daily snapshot and can change. Review the <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/pricing\">full current table</a> and the purchase screen.</p>\n<p><strong>3) Your brokerage&#39;s costs.</strong> Transaction fees, wire fees, margin, and the expense ratios inside any ETFs a Portfolio holds. Your broker and the funds charge those, not us, and they&#39;re on top of anything we charge.</p>\n<h2>What a full year costs you</h2>\n<p>Take your Advisory Fee for the year. Add the subscription for each distinct Pilot you pay for. Then add brokerage transaction, transfer, margin, and other account costs, plus any fund expense ratios. The published Autopilot advisory schedule does not list a per-trade advisory charge, but broker and regulatory charges can still apply. Your current agreements control.</p>\n<p>Then divide by your balance. That percentage is your real fee. It&#39;s the number to compare against anything else.</p>\n<h2>Why a flat fee works differently from a percentage</h2>\n<p>A percentage-of-assets fee, which is what most advisers and robo-advisors charge, grows with your balance. Same percentage, more dollars as you grow. A flat fee is the opposite. Same dollars, smaller percentage as you grow.</p>\n<p>Our methodology page says it without softening it: smaller accounts experience a higher effective fee percentage than larger accounts because a fixed dollar fee is a larger share of a smaller account. For the net figures on our fact sheets, we model a $99.99 annual fee on a $10,000 balance. That&#39;s a model for the math, not an advertised price, and it uses the lowest disclosed figure, so a higher actual fee would lower net further.</p>\n<p>So &quot;is a flat fee cheaper&quot; depends entirely on your balance. Below some point it costs more than a typical percentage. Above it, less. Do the division.</p>\n<h2>Versus a financial adviser</h2>\n<p>Many human advisers charge a percentage of assets, while others use retainers, hourly fees, or fixed plans. At a larger balance, a percentage fee can cost more in dollars than a flat subscription; at a smaller balance, the flat fee can produce a higher effective rate. The services also differ: comprehensive planning and an ongoing adviser relationship are not the same product as automated Portfolio following. Compare both cost and scope.</p>\n<h2>Basic Tier</h2>\n<p>Basic has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee in the February 2026 Form CRS. Features, eligibility, and any promotional access are displayed in the current app and governed by the agreement presented at enrollment.</p>\n<h2>If you stop paying</h2>\n<p>A subscription lapse does not move securities out of the brokerage that holds them. Its effect on Portfolio access, automation, billing, and authorization is governed by the current Investment Advisory Agreement, subscription terms, and in-app notices. Follow the brokerage&#39;s instructions if you also want to change third-party authorization.</p>\n<h2>Hidden fees</h2>\n<p>Our methodology page lists what is and isn&#39;t taken out of the published returns, which is the clearest way to see every cost. The model Advisory Fee is deducted in the net figure. Broker transaction costs, fund expense ratios, and taxes are not deducted from gross or net. Pilot subscriptions are not deducted from net. If a cost isn&#39;t on that list, ask. The ones people miss are fund expense ratios inside ETF holdings and taxes on trades, and no app controls either.</p>\n<h2>Is it worth it</h2>\n<p>Not by looking at a return number first. I&#39;m not going to quote one here anyway. Do this instead:</p>\n<ol><li>Compute your effective fee at your balance. All three layers.</li><li>Read the fact sheet for the Portfolio you&#39;re looking at on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a>. It&#39;s a live composite of real follower accounts from Autopilot launch, gross and net, with volatility, drawdown, a risk band, and a maturity label. Compare net to gross. That&#39;s what the fee costs on that Portfolio.</li><li>Check the delay. For politician and hedge fund trackers, trades follow public filings that can be 45 or more days old. Decide if you&#39;re fine with that.</li><li>Compare against what you&#39;d otherwise do. For most people that&#39;s an index fund or a robo-advisor, at your balance, with their costs.</li></ol>\n<p>If it&#39;s still a yes after those four, it&#39;s a real yes.</p>\n<h2>What Premium Tier buys</h2>\n<p>Premium features and the applicable price are shown in the current app and your Investment Advisory Agreement. Review them before purchase. Pilot subscriptions are a separate decision: each paid Pilot adds that Pilot&#39;s subscription, while Portfolios under the same Pilot share it.</p>\n<h2>Following more than one Portfolio</h2>\n<p>Our Advisory Fee doesn&#39;t go up with the number of Portfolios you follow. What can go up is Pilot subscriptions. Each new Pilot adds that Pilot&#39;s amount. Several Portfolios under the same Pilot don&#39;t add a second subscription.</p>\n<h2>Fees and a politician-following strategy</h2>\n<p>Fees lower net returns on any strategy, and a flat fee lowers them more on a small balance. On top of the fee, a filing-based tracker has the delay, which is a separate drag. That&#39;s why our fact sheets show net and gross side by side. Look at the gap.</p>\n<h2>A note on dollar-cost averaging</h2>\n<p>Dollar-cost averaging means investing a fixed amount on a schedule regardless of price. It spreads entry points over time and reduces ad hoc timing decisions, but it does not assure a profit or protect against loss. If a balance grows while a flat fee stays unchanged, that fee becomes a smaller effective percentage.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>What does Autopilot cost per month and what do you get at each tier?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s February 2026 Form CRS lists quarterly or annual billing: Basic has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee, while Premium ranges from $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually. Pilot subscriptions are separate. The current app and agreement show the features and exact price offered to you.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the total cost of using Autopilot for a full year including subscription and any per-trade costs?</h3>\n<p>Add the annual Advisory Fee, each distinct paid Pilot subscription, brokerage and regulatory charges, and fund expense ratios. The published advisory schedule does not list a per-trade Autopilot charge. Divide the total dollar cost by your balance to estimate an effective rate.</p>\n<h3>Is Autopilot worth the subscription price compared to other copy trading apps?</h3>\n<p>Compute your effective fee at your balance, read the Portfolio&#39;s fact sheet net against gross, weigh the disclosure delay for trackers, and compare to what you&#39;d otherwise do. Don&#39;t decide on a headline return.</p>\n<h3>Does Autopilot have a free trial or free tier before I commit to a subscription?</h3>\n<p>Basic has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee in the February 2026 Form CRS. Any trial or promotion is shown in the current app and its offer terms; this article does not promise one.</p>\n<h3>Is it worth paying a monthly subscription for a copy trading app?</h3>\n<p>Only if the effective percentage at your balance is acceptable against what you&#39;d otherwise do. Flat fees favor bigger balances.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between a flat subscription fee and a percentage-of-assets fee?</h3>\n<p>A percentage grows with your balance in dollars. A flat fee stays fixed in dollars and shrinks as a percentage when your balance grows. Autopilot charges the flat kind.</p>\n<h3>How do subscription fees for copy trading apps compare to a traditional advisor&#39;s fee?</h3>\n<p>Many advisers charge a percentage of assets; others use fixed, hourly, or retainer fees. A flat fee produces a lower effective percentage as the balance grows, but the services may differ substantially.</p>\n<h3>Are there usually hidden fees with automated investing apps?</h3>\n<p>The ones people miss are fund expense ratios inside ETF holdings and taxes on trades. Autopilot&#39;s methodology page lists exactly what is and isn&#39;t deducted from published returns.</p>\n<h3>What happens to my linked account access if I stop paying for a subscription?</h3>\n<p>The current agreement and in-app notice control what automation or access changes after a lapse. Securities remain in the brokerage account that holds them unless you direct a transaction or transfer.</p>\n<h3>How do I calculate whether a copy trading app&#39;s fees are justified by its performance?</h3>\n<p>Compare the fact sheet&#39;s modeled net and gross figures, then calculate your own fee at your balance and include costs the model omits. Past performance does not guarantee future results, so cost is only one part of the decision.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s included in a premium copy trading membership tier and is it worth the extra cost?</h3>\n<p>The current app and agreement list Premium features and the price offered to you. Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on per distinct paid Pilot.</p>\n<h3>Do copy trading apps charge extra for following more than one portfolio?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s Advisory Fee doesn&#39;t. Following an additional Pilot adds that Pilot&#39;s subscription. Multiple Portfolios under one Pilot share one subscription.</p>\n<h3>How do fees affect the real returns of a politician-copying strategy?</h3>\n<p>They lower net returns, more so on small balances. The disclosure delay is a separate drag. Autopilot shows net and gross side by side on each fact sheet.</p>\n<h3>What role does dollar-cost averaging play in long-term investing?</h3>\n<p>It spreads purchases across dates and reduces ad hoc timing decisions, without guaranteeing a better price or return. A growing balance can reduce the effective percentage of an unchanged flat fee.</p>\n<h3>investing app subscription cost</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s is a flat cash subscription, not a percentage of assets. Basic Tier has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee. Premium Tier is $29.99 to $199.99 a quarter or $99.99 to $699.99 a year (Form CRS, February 2026). Pilot subscriptions are separate and add on if you follow more than one Pilot. Your broker&#39;s costs sit on top. Because it&#39;s flat, it&#39;s a bigger share of a small account and a smaller share of a big one.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>Know the number before you start. Compute your effective fee, read the fact sheet, and decide with everything in front of you. If it works at your balance: connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and let it run.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>Frequent trading in your account may result in short-term capital gains, which are generally taxed at higher ordinary income tax rates. High portfolio turnover can lead to adverse tax consequences. Consult a tax professional regarding your specific situation.</p>\n<p>Fee figures are from Autopilot&#39;s Form CRS dated February 2026 and the September 3, 2026 pricing snapshot on Autopilot Fact Sheets. Pilot subscription amounts are a daily snapshot and can change. Pricing is subject to change; see Form CRS and Form ADV Part 2A for the current schedule. Specific fees are set out in your Investment Advisory Agreement.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Pricing","What does Autopilot cost per month and what do you get at each tier?","What's the total cost of using Autopilot for a full year including subscription and any per-trade costs?","Is Autopilot worth the subscription price compared to other copy trading apps?","Does Autopilot have a free trial or free tier before I commit to a subscription?","investing app subscription cost","Is it worth paying a monthly subscription for a copy trading app?","What's the difference between a flat subscription fee and a percentage-of-assets fee?","How do subscription fees for copy trading apps compare to a traditional advisor's fee?","Are there usually hidden fees with automated investing apps?","What happens to my linked account access if I stop paying for a subscription?","How do I calculate whether a copy trading app's fees are justified by its performance?","What's included in a premium copy trading membership tier and is it worth the extra cost?","Do copy trading apps charge extra for following more than one portfolio?","How do fees affect the real returns of a politician-copying strategy?","What role does dollar-cost averaging play in long-term investing?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage","title":"Is it safe to connect your brokerage to an investing app? Five checks, and how we answer them","summary":"Five practical checks for evaluating the structure, registration, permissions, technology risks, and disclosures of an investing app.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. If you're the kind of person who does their own research before trusting anything, I respect that. So let me show you how to actually check, and then I'll run Autopilot through the same checks in front of you.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nConnecting a brokerage to an app introduces operational, privacy, and authorization risk; no checklist makes it risk-free. You can evaluate that structure in five checks. Does it hold your money or trade in an account a separate broker holds? Is the company registered, and can you look it up yourself? Can you cut off its access from your brokerage's side? What happens when its connection fails? What conflicts does it disclose? Our answers: we don't hold client funds or custody anything, Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 331749), trades happen at your brokerage on your broker's terms, and we put our technology risk and our Public referral deal in writing.\n\nWhy \"which app is safest\" is the wrong question\n\nYou're asking it because you've got real money at Robinhood or Fidelity or Schwab and you don't want to hand it to something you can't see inside. Good. That's the right instinct. But nobody can honestly rank \"safest,\" because safety here isn't a ranking. It's a handful of facts you can verify yourself in ten minutes. Do that instead of trusting a list, including mine.\n\nThe five checks\n\n1) Does the app hold your money, or trade in an account someone else holds?\n\nBiggest one. An app that holds your funds is a custodian, and you're trusting its balance sheet and its controls. An app that works inside an account a separate, registered broker holds never touches the money. The broker keeps custody, executes, and sends the statements.\n\nAutopilot is the second kind. It is not a broker-dealer and does not execute trades, hold client funds, or provide custody. Its current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the connect screen is the authoritative list. Assets remain at the connected brokerage.\n\n2) Is the company registered, and can you look it up yourself?\n\nAny firm giving investment advice for money in the US generally has to register as an investment adviser with the SEC or a state. Registration means public filings you can read.\n\nHow to check any adviser in five minutes:\n\n1. Go to the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site, adviserinfo.sec.gov.\n2. Search the firm name or CRD number.\n3. Open the record and read Form ADV. Part 2A is the plain-English brochure: services, fees, conflicts. Form CRS is the short version.\n4. Check the disciplinary history on the same page.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749. Autopilot Holdings Corporation runs the app and isn't an adviser. And we have nothing to do with Tesla Autopilot, Microsoft Windows Autopilot, or autopilothq.com, which matters when you search.\n\nFor a broker-dealer, the same thing is FINRA BrokerCheck. Your brokerage should be there.\n\n3) Can you cut off access from your brokerage's side, not just inside the app?\n\nIf the only off switch is inside an app, you depend on that app working. Autopilot's public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. To change third-party authorization, follow the current instructions from the brokerage that holds the account; menu names and available controls vary by broker.\n\n4) What happens when the connection breaks?\n\nEvery app that links to a brokerage depends on APIs and connectivity. The honest ones say so. Our methodology page states that our services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity, and that outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing. What that means: a trade that would've happened might be delayed. Your money isn't affected because we never had it.\n\n5) What conflicts does it disclose?\n\nAn app with no disclosed conflicts either has none or isn't telling you. We disclose two. Autopilot Holdings Corporation gets paid when a new client opens and funds a Public brokerage account, which is a conflict of interest. And Quiver Quantitative, a Pilot on our platform, is paid by us for promotional content. You can weigh both because they're written down.\n\nCertifications\n\nRegulatory registration and security assurance answer different questions. Registration is public and legally significant, but it is not a cybersecurity certification. Third-party reports such as SOC 2 can be useful, although they are not regulatory approval. Autopilot's privacy policy (https://www.joinautopilot.com/privacy-policy) describes encryption, access controls, security assessments, and backups; this article does not claim a specific third-party security attestation. Ask for the report behind any certification badge and check its scope and date.\n\nTwo-factor authentication\n\nTwo-factor authentication protects a login by requiring something you have (a code on your phone) in addition to something you know (a password). For linked investment accounts it matters twice: on your brokerage login, which controls the money, and on the app login, which controls what the app does in your account. Turn it on at your brokerage no matter what app you use.\n\nAutopilot's public policies reviewed for this article do not state that the consumer app offers account-level two-factor authentication, so this article does not claim that it does. Use every login safeguard currently offered in the app, and enable multi-factor authentication at the brokerage as well.\n\nEstablished vs newer apps\n\nAge is a weak signal. An older firm has a longer public record to read, which is useful. A newer firm might have cleaner architecture. What lowers your risk is structure: not holding your money, being registered, being revocable from the brokerage side. Check those, then read the public record on IAPD or BrokerCheck for however long it runs. Autopilot's App Store history dates to 2023, and Autopilot Advisers is registered. Read the current regulatory record rather than treating age as proof of safety.\n\nHow often to review permissions\n\nEvery quarter, and right after any change to your accounts. At each review: log into your brokerage, look at authorized third-party connections, confirm each one is something you still use, and remove anything you don't recognize. Then check the app itself for what it's authorized to do. Fifteen minutes, four times a year.\n\nThe five checks, run on us\n\nCheck | Autopilot's answer | Verified how\nHolds your money? | No. Not a broker-dealer. Doesn't execute, hold funds, or custody. Trades happen at your connected brokerage. | Autopilot methodology (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/methodology)\nRegistered and lookable? | Autopilot Advisers, LLC, SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749 | IAPD, adviserinfo.sec.gov\nRevocation and pause controls? | Autopilot publicly describes pause and switch controls; brokerage authorization steps are broker-specific | Current app and brokerage instructions\nConnection failure disclosed? | Yes. Outages or API disruptions may affect availability or execution timing. | Methodology page\nConflicts disclosed? | Public referral compensation. Quiver Quantitative promotional compensation. | Form ADV, site disclosures\n2FA on Autopilot login? | Not stated in the public policies reviewed for this article | Check the current app without assuming support\nSecurity attestations? | No specific third-party attestation claimed in this article; the privacy policy describes internal controls | Privacy policy; request any attestation directly\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhat's the safest copy trading app for connecting to Robinhood or Fidelity?\n\nThere is no objective “safest” ranking. Check custody, registration, permissions, pause and revocation controls, outage disclosures, privacy practices, and conflicts. Autopilot Advisers is CRD 331749 on IAPD and Autopilot does not hold client funds. Fidelity is not named in the current U.S. App Store description, so check the in-app connect screen for availability.\n\nHow often should I review the permissions I've granted to a connected trading app?\n\nQuarterly, and after any account change. Review authorized connections at your brokerage, remove anything unrecognized, then check the app's own permissions.\n\nHow do I verify that an investing app is registered with the SEC or a regulator?\n\nSearch adviserinfo.sec.gov by firm name or CRD number, read Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS, and check disciplinary history. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749. For brokerages, use FINRA BrokerCheck.\n\nIs it safer to use a well-funded, established automated investing app or a newer one?\n\nAge is a weak signal. Structure is the strong one: not holding funds, registered, revocable from the brokerage side. Then read the public record for however long it runs.\n\nBest automated trading app with the strongest security track record?\n\nCheck the public disciplinary record on IAPD or BrokerCheck for any firm, and ask for its security attestations rather than trusting badges. Autopilot's record is at CRD 331749.\n\nWhat security certifications should a legitimate investing app have?\n\nVerify any required regulatory registration in the appropriate public database. Ask for third-party security reports such as SOC 2 and inspect their scope and date. Autopilot's privacy policy describes internal safeguards, but this article does not claim a specific third-party attestation.\n\nDoes Autopilot support two-factor authentication for account access?\n\nAutopilot's public policies reviewed here do not state that the consumer app supports account-level two-factor authentication. Use the current safeguards shown in the app and enable multi-factor authentication at your brokerage.\n\nHow does two-factor authentication protect my linked investment accounts?\n\nIt requires a second factor, usually a phone code, at login, so a stolen password alone doesn't get in. Enable it at your brokerage and at any app connected to your account.\n\nautomated trading app safety\n\nFive checks. Does it hold your money or trade in an account a separate broker holds? Is it registered, and can you look it up on IAPD or BrokerCheck? Can you revoke access from your brokerage's side? What happens when its connection fails? What conflicts does it disclose? Autopilot doesn't hold client funds, Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749, and both the technology risk and the Public referral deal are disclosed in writing.\n\nTL;DR\n\nStart with IAPD or BrokerCheck, the current authorization screen, the privacy policy, and your brokerage's security controls. If the structure and risks are acceptable to you, keep monitoring the account after connection.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nAutopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nThis article does not claim that Autopilot has a specific third-party security attestation or consumer-app two-factor authentication. Its encryption and internal-control descriptions come from the current privacy policy. Verify other firms in IAPD or FINRA BrokerCheck. Brokerage names reflect the U.S. App Store listing reviewed September 3, 2026; the in-app connect screen is authoritative.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. If you&#39;re the kind of person who does their own research before trusting anything, I respect that. So let me show you how to actually check, and then I&#39;ll run Autopilot through the same checks in front of you.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Connecting a brokerage to an app introduces operational, privacy, and authorization risk; no checklist makes it risk-free. You can evaluate that structure in five checks. Does it hold your money or trade in an account a separate broker holds? Is the company registered, and can you look it up yourself? Can you cut off its access from your brokerage&#39;s side? What happens when its connection fails? What conflicts does it disclose? Our answers: we don&#39;t hold client funds or custody anything, Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 331749), trades happen at your brokerage on your broker&#39;s terms, and we put our technology risk and our Public referral deal in writing.</p>\n<h2>Why &quot;which app is safest&quot; is the wrong question</h2>\n<p>You&#39;re asking it because you&#39;ve got real money at Robinhood or Fidelity or Schwab and you don&#39;t want to hand it to something you can&#39;t see inside. Good. That&#39;s the right instinct. But nobody can honestly rank &quot;safest,&quot; because safety here isn&#39;t a ranking. It&#39;s a handful of facts you can verify yourself in ten minutes. Do that instead of trusting a list, including mine.</p>\n<h2>The five checks</h2>\n<h3>1) Does the app hold your money, or trade in an account someone else holds?</h3>\n<p>Biggest one. An app that holds your funds is a custodian, and you&#39;re trusting its balance sheet and its controls. An app that works inside an account a separate, registered broker holds never touches the money. The broker keeps custody, executes, and sends the statements.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is the second kind. It is not a broker-dealer and does not execute trades, hold client funds, or provide custody. Its current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the connect screen is the authoritative list. Assets remain at the connected brokerage.</p>\n<h3>2) Is the company registered, and can you look it up yourself?</h3>\n<p>Any firm giving investment advice for money in the US generally has to register as an investment adviser with the SEC or a state. Registration means public filings you can read.</p>\n<p>How to check any adviser in five minutes:</p>\n<ol><li>Go to the SEC&#39;s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site, adviserinfo.sec.gov.</li><li>Search the firm name or CRD number.</li><li>Open the record and read Form ADV. Part 2A is the plain-English brochure: services, fees, conflicts. Form CRS is the short version.</li><li>Check the disciplinary history on the same page.</li></ol>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749. Autopilot Holdings Corporation runs the app and isn&#39;t an adviser. And we have nothing to do with Tesla Autopilot, Microsoft Windows Autopilot, or autopilothq.com, which matters when you search.</p>\n<p>For a broker-dealer, the same thing is FINRA BrokerCheck. Your brokerage should be there.</p>\n<h3>3) Can you cut off access from your brokerage&#39;s side, not just inside the app?</h3>\n<p>If the only off switch is inside an app, you depend on that app working. Autopilot&#39;s public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. To change third-party authorization, follow the current instructions from the brokerage that holds the account; menu names and available controls vary by broker.</p>\n<h3>4) What happens when the connection breaks?</h3>\n<p>Every app that links to a brokerage depends on APIs and connectivity. The honest ones say so. Our methodology page states that our services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity, and that outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing. What that means: a trade that would&#39;ve happened might be delayed. Your money isn&#39;t affected because we never had it.</p>\n<h3>5) What conflicts does it disclose?</h3>\n<p>An app with no disclosed conflicts either has none or isn&#39;t telling you. We disclose two. Autopilot Holdings Corporation gets paid when a new client opens and funds a Public brokerage account, which is a conflict of interest. And Quiver Quantitative, a Pilot on our platform, is paid by us for promotional content. You can weigh both because they&#39;re written down.</p>\n<h2>Certifications</h2>\n<p>Regulatory registration and security assurance answer different questions. Registration is public and legally significant, but it is not a cybersecurity certification. Third-party reports such as SOC 2 can be useful, although they are not regulatory approval. <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/privacy-policy\">Autopilot&#39;s privacy policy</a> describes encryption, access controls, security assessments, and backups; this article does not claim a specific third-party security attestation. Ask for the report behind any certification badge and check its scope and date.</p>\n<h2>Two-factor authentication</h2>\n<p>Two-factor authentication protects a login by requiring something you have (a code on your phone) in addition to something you know (a password). For linked investment accounts it matters twice: on your brokerage login, which controls the money, and on the app login, which controls what the app does in your account. Turn it on at your brokerage no matter what app you use.</p>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public policies reviewed for this article do not state that the consumer app offers account-level two-factor authentication, so this article does not claim that it does. Use every login safeguard currently offered in the app, and enable multi-factor authentication at the brokerage as well.</p>\n<h2>Established vs newer apps</h2>\n<p>Age is a weak signal. An older firm has a longer public record to read, which is useful. A newer firm might have cleaner architecture. What lowers your risk is structure: not holding your money, being registered, being revocable from the brokerage side. Check those, then read the public record on IAPD or BrokerCheck for however long it runs. Autopilot&#39;s App Store history dates to 2023, and Autopilot Advisers is registered. Read the current regulatory record rather than treating age as proof of safety.</p>\n<h2>How often to review permissions</h2>\n<p>Every quarter, and right after any change to your accounts. At each review: log into your brokerage, look at authorized third-party connections, confirm each one is something you still use, and remove anything you don&#39;t recognize. Then check the app itself for what it&#39;s authorized to do. Fifteen minutes, four times a year.</p>\n<h2>The five checks, run on us</h2>\n<table><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\">Check</th><th scope=\"col\">Autopilot&#39;s answer</th><th scope=\"col\">Verified how</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Holds your money?</td><td>No. Not a broker-dealer. Doesn&#39;t execute, hold funds, or custody. Trades happen at your connected brokerage.</td><td><a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/methodology\">Autopilot methodology</a></td></tr><tr><td>Registered and lookable?</td><td>Autopilot Advisers, LLC, SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749</td><td>IAPD, adviserinfo.sec.gov</td></tr><tr><td>Revocation and pause controls?</td><td>Autopilot publicly describes pause and switch controls; brokerage authorization steps are broker-specific</td><td>Current app and brokerage instructions</td></tr><tr><td>Connection failure disclosed?</td><td>Yes. Outages or API disruptions may affect availability or execution timing.</td><td>Methodology page</td></tr><tr><td>Conflicts disclosed?</td><td>Public referral compensation. Quiver Quantitative promotional compensation.</td><td>Form ADV, site disclosures</td></tr><tr><td>2FA on Autopilot login?</td><td>Not stated in the public policies reviewed for this article</td><td>Check the current app without assuming support</td></tr><tr><td>Security attestations?</td><td>No specific third-party attestation claimed in this article; the privacy policy describes internal controls</td><td>Privacy policy; request any attestation directly</td></tr></tbody></table>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>What&#39;s the safest copy trading app for connecting to Robinhood or Fidelity?</h3>\n<p>There is no objective “safest” ranking. Check custody, registration, permissions, pause and revocation controls, outage disclosures, privacy practices, and conflicts. Autopilot Advisers is CRD 331749 on IAPD and Autopilot does not hold client funds. Fidelity is not named in the current U.S. App Store description, so check the in-app connect screen for availability.</p>\n<h3>How often should I review the permissions I&#39;ve granted to a connected trading app?</h3>\n<p>Quarterly, and after any account change. Review authorized connections at your brokerage, remove anything unrecognized, then check the app&#39;s own permissions.</p>\n<h3>How do I verify that an investing app is registered with the SEC or a regulator?</h3>\n<p>Search adviserinfo.sec.gov by firm name or CRD number, read Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS, and check disciplinary history. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749. For brokerages, use FINRA BrokerCheck.</p>\n<h3>Is it safer to use a well-funded, established automated investing app or a newer one?</h3>\n<p>Age is a weak signal. Structure is the strong one: not holding funds, registered, revocable from the brokerage side. Then read the public record for however long it runs.</p>\n<h3>Best automated trading app with the strongest security track record?</h3>\n<p>Check the public disciplinary record on IAPD or BrokerCheck for any firm, and ask for its security attestations rather than trusting badges. Autopilot&#39;s record is at CRD 331749.</p>\n<h3>What security certifications should a legitimate investing app have?</h3>\n<p>Verify any required regulatory registration in the appropriate public database. Ask for third-party security reports such as SOC 2 and inspect their scope and date. Autopilot&#39;s privacy policy describes internal safeguards, but this article does not claim a specific third-party attestation.</p>\n<h3>Does Autopilot support two-factor authentication for account access?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public policies reviewed here do not state that the consumer app supports account-level two-factor authentication. Use the current safeguards shown in the app and enable multi-factor authentication at your brokerage.</p>\n<h3>How does two-factor authentication protect my linked investment accounts?</h3>\n<p>It requires a second factor, usually a phone code, at login, so a stolen password alone doesn&#39;t get in. Enable it at your brokerage and at any app connected to your account.</p>\n<h3>automated trading app safety</h3>\n<p>Five checks. Does it hold your money or trade in an account a separate broker holds? Is it registered, and can you look it up on IAPD or BrokerCheck? Can you revoke access from your brokerage&#39;s side? What happens when its connection fails? What conflicts does it disclose? Autopilot doesn&#39;t hold client funds, Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749, and both the technology risk and the Public referral deal are disclosed in writing.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>Start with IAPD or BrokerCheck, the current authorization screen, the privacy policy, and your brokerage&#39;s security controls. If the structure and risks are acceptable to you, keep monitoring the account after connection.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Autopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>This article does not claim that Autopilot has a specific third-party security attestation or consumer-app two-factor authentication. Its encryption and internal-control descriptions come from the current privacy policy. Verify other firms in IAPD or FINRA BrokerCheck. Brokerage names reflect the U.S. App Store listing reviewed September 3, 2026; the in-app connect screen is authoritative.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Security","What's the safest copy trading app for connecting to Robinhood or Fidelity?","How often should I review the permissions I've granted to a connected trading app?","How do I verify that an investing app is registered with the SEC or a regulator?","Is it safer to use a well-funded, established automated investing app or a newer one?","Best automated trading app with the strongest security track record?","What security certifications should a legitimate investing app have?","Does Autopilot support two-factor authentication for account access?","How does two-factor authentication protect my linked investment accounts?","automated trading app safety"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/what-are-13f-filings","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/what-are-13f-filings","title":"What's a 13F, and can you actually see what Warren Buffett bought last quarter?","summary":"What Form 13F reveals about institutional holdings, what it omits, and why its reporting delay matters.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Yes, you can. Here's how, and here's what the filing doesn't tell you, which matters just as much.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nBerkshire Hathaway files Form 13F with the SEC. Under the SEC's current Form 13F guidance (https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/staff-guidance/division-investment-management-frequently-asked-questions/frequently-asked-questions-about-form-13f), institutional investment managers that meet the $100 million threshold report covered holdings quarterly, generally within 45 days after quarter-end. A filing lists reportable long positions as of the quarter's last day. Comparing filings shows net holding changes, not the precise trades, dates, or prices that produced them. Our Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire's 13Fs after they post, sending the orders to your own brokerage, with that delay disclosed as a risk.\n\nWhy this matters to you\n\nThe people with the best information and the most resources have always invested in ways you couldn't see. The 13F rule changed that, partly. Four times a year, every big manager has to show their long US stock book. That's the closest thing an everyday investor has to looking over a hedge fund's shoulder. And it's free.\n\n1) What a 13F is\n\nForm 13F comes from Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Institutional investment managers with $100 million or more in what the SEC calls 13(f) securities have to file it every quarter. The SEC publishes the official list of 13(f) securities. It's mostly US exchange-traded stocks, plus certain ETFs, options, and convertibles.\n\nThe filing shows, as of the last day of the quarter: each 13(f) security held, how many shares, the market value, and the type of voting authority. That's it.\n\n2) What a 13F leaves out\n\nThis is the part most articles skip, and it decides whether following one makes sense.\n\n- Timing. The filing shows holdings on one day, the quarter's last day. It doesn't show when a position was built or sold during the quarter, or at what price. 13Fs don't have a purchase date. They only have the ending date.\n- Delay. Managers generally have 45 days after quarter-end to file. A March 31 snapshot can therefore appear as late as mid-May, and the position may have changed before publication.\n- Shorts. Not reported. A manager can be long a stock on the 13F and net short it through instruments you can't see.\n- Most derivatives. Only certain listed options are reportable. Swaps and a lot of other derivatives are not.\n- Non-US securities and cash. Not reported.\n- Confidential treatment. Managers can ask to delay disclosing specific positions while they're building them, so a filing can be incomplete even when it posts.\n\nPut it together and a 13F is a delayed, partial, long-only snapshot. That's still useful. It's not a copy of the fund.\n\n3) Why a fund's 13F might not match its real positions\n\nEverything above. The position might've been sold in the 45 days between quarter end and filing. It might be hedged with a short you can't see. It might be a small piece of a much bigger derivative position. Or it might be held for a reason that has nothing to do with a view on the stock, like a merger arbitrage where the manager is long the target and short the buyer, and only the long shows up. Reading a 13F as \"this manager is bullish on X\" is a guess, not a fact.\n\n4) How often hedge funds disclose\n\nQuarterly, within 45 days after the end of March, June, September, and December. Some managers also file a 13D or 13G when they cross 5 percent ownership of a company, and those have shorter deadlines. Beyond that, most hedge fund positions are never disclosed at all.\n\n5) The risks of following a 45-day-old filing\n\nThree specific ones.\n\nYou buy after the move. If a stock went up because a famous manager bought it, some of that happened before you could see the filing.\n\nThe position might already be gone. You can be buying something they already sold.\n\nYou copy half a trade. A long that's paired with an undisclosed short isn't the same bet as the long alone.\n\nNone of that makes 13F following worthless. It makes it a different thing from the fund, with a different risk profile, and that's exactly how we label it. Every hedge fund tracker fact sheet on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/) publishes the filing delay as a risk, and the live composite reflects follower accounts from the Portfolio's Autopilot launch rather than a backtest of the manager's own results.\n\n6) Should you worry about the lag?\n\nTreat the lag as part of the source. Regulation sets the filing deadline, although a manager may file earlier; an app cannot publish a filing before the SEC receives it. The practical question is whether stale holdings matter more for a fast-trading manager than for one with a longer holding period.\n\n7) Following 13Fs vs following individual traders\n\nFollowing a 13F means following a disclosed, delayed, long-only book of an institution that isn't on any platform and doesn't know you exist. Following an individual trader on a social trading app usually means tracking that person's live trades inside the app's own account, with no regulatory delay but also no regulatory disclosure beyond what the platform shows you. One is slow and public. The other is fast and depends on the platform. We do the first kind, in your own brokerage.\n\n8) Why people follow \"smart money\"\n\nLarge institutions often have research resources and longer time horizons that individual investors do not, and Form 13F offers a limited public window into their covered long holdings. The thesis is that those delayed holdings may still carry information. Whether that works is an empirical question for each manager and period, not a reason to assume outperformance.\n\n9) Following Berkshire's disclosed moves\n\nOur Buffett Tracker is a published Portfolio that follows Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filings after they post, and the orders go to your connected brokerage and your broker fills them. It's not Berkshire's account. It lags each filing by 45 or more days and sees only what the 13F reports. It has a public fact sheet with a live client composite, gross and net, with a date on it. We also publish trackers built on other managers' 13Fs: Burry Tracker, Ackman Tracker, Citadel Tracker, Point 72, Dalio Tracker, Jim Simons Tracker, and Goldman Tracker.\n\n10) Alerts\n\nAutopilot's public materials reviewed for this article do not promise a filing-notification feature. Form 13F filings are searchable on SEC EDGAR (https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/), while House and Senate sites publish congressional financial disclosures. EDGAR also offers public filing feeds and email tools; third-party alert services have their own coverage and terms.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nCan I see which stocks Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought last quarter?\n\nYes. Berkshire files Form 13F within 45 days after each quarter end, listing its long US stock positions as of quarter end, publicly on SEC EDGAR. Compare consecutive filings to see buys and sells. You won't see timing, prices, shorts, or non-13F holdings. Autopilot's Buffett Tracker follows those filings in your own brokerage, with the orders going to your broker after each filing posts.\n\nWhat are 13F filings and why do they matter to retail investors?\n\nForm 13F is a quarterly SEC filing required of institutional managers with at least $100 million in 13(f) securities, listing their long US-listed positions as of quarter end. It matters because it's the only regular public window into what big funds hold.\n\nWhy might a hedge fund's 13F not reflect their current real positions?\n\nPositions can change in the 45 days before filing, shorts and most derivatives aren't reported, and a disclosed long might be one leg of a hedged trade. The filing is a delayed, partial, long-only snapshot with no purchase date.\n\nHow often do hedge funds have to disclose their holdings publicly?\n\nQuarterly via 13F, within 45 days of quarter end. Crossing 5 percent ownership of a company triggers a 13D or 13G with shorter deadlines. Most other positions are never disclosed.\n\nWhat are the risks of following a 13F filing that's already 45 days old?\n\nBuying after the move, buying a position already sold, and following one leg of a hedged trade. Autopilot discloses the delay as a risk on every hedge fund tracker fact sheet.\n\nShould I be concerned about lag time when following institutional filings?\n\nPrice it in. Regulation permits filing up to 45 days after quarter-end, although managers can file earlier. No app can use the public filing before it appears. Staleness generally matters more for a fast-trading manager than for a long-holding one.\n\nHow does following hedge fund 13F filings compare to following individual traders?\n\n13F following is slow, public, and long-only, tracking institutions not on any platform. Following individual traders is faster but depends on the platform. Autopilot does the former in your own brokerage.\n\nWhy do some investors follow \"smart money\" like hedge funds and billionaires?\n\nThe 13F is the one window into the disclosed direction of managers with research and information advantages. Whether that carries value 45 days late is measured, not assumed. Autopilot publishes a live composite per tracker.\n\nWhich apps support automatically mirroring Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway portfolio moves?\n\nAutopilot's Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire's 13F filings after they post, sending the orders to your connected brokerage, with the delay disclosed and a public fact sheet.\n\nCan I get alerts when a specific politician or hedge fund makes a new trade?\n\nAutopilot's public materials reviewed here do not promise filing alerts. Use SEC EDGAR for Form 13F filings and the official House and Senate disclosure portals for congressional reports; evaluate any third-party alert service separately.\n\nhedge fund stock picks\n\nThe public record of a hedge fund's picks is its quarterly 13F: long US stock positions as of quarter end, filed within 45 days, on SEC EDGAR. It leaves out shorts, most derivatives, non-US holdings, and timing. Autopilot's hedge fund trackers (Buffett, Burry, Ackman, Citadel, Point 72, Dalio, Jim Simons, Goldman) follow those filings after they post, sending the orders to your own brokerage, with the delay disclosed.\n\nTL;DR\n\nThe filings are public, partial, and delayed. If you use a Tracker Portfolio, understand the source limits, review its dated fact sheet and fees, and monitor the connected brokerage account.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nNamed managers and firms are not affiliated with Autopilot and have not endorsed it. Regulatory descriptions are based on Section 13(f), the Form 13F instructions, and the SEC guidance linked above. Tracker holdings may differ materially from a manager's actual portfolio because Form 13F is delayed and incomplete.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Yes, you can. Here&#39;s how, and here&#39;s what the filing doesn&#39;t tell you, which matters just as much.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Berkshire Hathaway files Form 13F with the SEC. Under the SEC&#39;s <a href=\"https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/staff-guidance/division-investment-management-frequently-asked-questions/frequently-asked-questions-about-form-13f\">current Form 13F guidance</a>, institutional investment managers that meet the $100 million threshold report covered holdings quarterly, generally within 45 days after quarter-end. A filing lists reportable long positions as of the quarter&#39;s last day. Comparing filings shows net holding changes, not the precise trades, dates, or prices that produced them. Our Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire&#39;s 13Fs after they post, sending the orders to your own brokerage, with that delay disclosed as a risk.</p>\n<h2>Why this matters to you</h2>\n<p>The people with the best information and the most resources have always invested in ways you couldn&#39;t see. The 13F rule changed that, partly. Four times a year, every big manager has to show their long US stock book. That&#39;s the closest thing an everyday investor has to looking over a hedge fund&#39;s shoulder. And it&#39;s free.</p>\n<h2>1) What a 13F is</h2>\n<p>Form 13F comes from Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Institutional investment managers with $100 million or more in what the SEC calls 13(f) securities have to file it every quarter. The SEC publishes the official list of 13(f) securities. It&#39;s mostly US exchange-traded stocks, plus certain ETFs, options, and convertibles.</p>\n<p>The filing shows, as of the last day of the quarter: each 13(f) security held, how many shares, the market value, and the type of voting authority. That&#39;s it.</p>\n<h2>2) What a 13F leaves out</h2>\n<p>This is the part most articles skip, and it decides whether following one makes sense.</p>\n<ul><li>Timing. The filing shows holdings on one day, the quarter&#39;s last day. It doesn&#39;t show when a position was built or sold during the quarter, or at what price. 13Fs don&#39;t have a purchase date. They only have the ending date.</li><li>Delay. Managers generally have 45 days after quarter-end to file. A March 31 snapshot can therefore appear as late as mid-May, and the position may have changed before publication.</li><li>Shorts. Not reported. A manager can be long a stock on the 13F and net short it through instruments you can&#39;t see.</li><li>Most derivatives. Only certain listed options are reportable. Swaps and a lot of other derivatives are not.</li><li>Non-US securities and cash. Not reported.</li><li>Confidential treatment. Managers can ask to delay disclosing specific positions while they&#39;re building them, so a filing can be incomplete even when it posts.</li></ul>\n<p>Put it together and a 13F is a delayed, partial, long-only snapshot. That&#39;s still useful. It&#39;s not a copy of the fund.</p>\n<h2>3) Why a fund&#39;s 13F might not match its real positions</h2>\n<p>Everything above. The position might&#39;ve been sold in the 45 days between quarter end and filing. It might be hedged with a short you can&#39;t see. It might be a small piece of a much bigger derivative position. Or it might be held for a reason that has nothing to do with a view on the stock, like a merger arbitrage where the manager is long the target and short the buyer, and only the long shows up. Reading a 13F as &quot;this manager is bullish on X&quot; is a guess, not a fact.</p>\n<h2>4) How often hedge funds disclose</h2>\n<p>Quarterly, within 45 days after the end of March, June, September, and December. Some managers also file a 13D or 13G when they cross 5 percent ownership of a company, and those have shorter deadlines. Beyond that, most hedge fund positions are never disclosed at all.</p>\n<h2>5) The risks of following a 45-day-old filing</h2>\n<p>Three specific ones.</p>\n<p>You buy after the move. If a stock went up because a famous manager bought it, some of that happened before you could see the filing.</p>\n<p>The position might already be gone. You can be buying something they already sold.</p>\n<p>You copy half a trade. A long that&#39;s paired with an undisclosed short isn&#39;t the same bet as the long alone.</p>\n<p>None of that makes 13F following worthless. It makes it a different thing from the fund, with a different risk profile, and that&#39;s exactly how we label it. Every hedge fund tracker fact sheet on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a> publishes the filing delay as a risk, and the live composite reflects follower accounts from the Portfolio&#39;s Autopilot launch rather than a backtest of the manager&#39;s own results.</p>\n<h2>6) Should you worry about the lag?</h2>\n<p>Treat the lag as part of the source. Regulation sets the filing deadline, although a manager may file earlier; an app cannot publish a filing before the SEC receives it. The practical question is whether stale holdings matter more for a fast-trading manager than for one with a longer holding period.</p>\n<h2>7) Following 13Fs vs following individual traders</h2>\n<p>Following a 13F means following a disclosed, delayed, long-only book of an institution that isn&#39;t on any platform and doesn&#39;t know you exist. Following an individual trader on a social trading app usually means tracking that person&#39;s live trades inside the app&#39;s own account, with no regulatory delay but also no regulatory disclosure beyond what the platform shows you. One is slow and public. The other is fast and depends on the platform. We do the first kind, in your own brokerage.</p>\n<h2>8) Why people follow &quot;smart money&quot;</h2>\n<p>Large institutions often have research resources and longer time horizons that individual investors do not, and Form 13F offers a limited public window into their covered long holdings. The thesis is that those delayed holdings may still carry information. Whether that works is an empirical question for each manager and period, not a reason to assume outperformance.</p>\n<h2>9) Following Berkshire&#39;s disclosed moves</h2>\n<p>Our Buffett Tracker is a published Portfolio that follows Berkshire Hathaway&#39;s 13F filings after they post, and the orders go to your connected brokerage and your broker fills them. It&#39;s not Berkshire&#39;s account. It lags each filing by 45 or more days and sees only what the 13F reports. It has a public fact sheet with a live client composite, gross and net, with a date on it. We also publish trackers built on other managers&#39; 13Fs: Burry Tracker, Ackman Tracker, Citadel Tracker, Point 72, Dalio Tracker, Jim Simons Tracker, and Goldman Tracker.</p>\n<h2>10) Alerts</h2>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed for this article do not promise a filing-notification feature. Form 13F filings are searchable on <a href=\"https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/\">SEC EDGAR</a>, while House and Senate sites publish congressional financial disclosures. EDGAR also offers public filing feeds and email tools; third-party alert services have their own coverage and terms.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>Can I see which stocks Warren Buffett&#39;s Berkshire Hathaway bought last quarter?</h3>\n<p>Yes. Berkshire files Form 13F within 45 days after each quarter end, listing its long US stock positions as of quarter end, publicly on SEC EDGAR. Compare consecutive filings to see buys and sells. You won&#39;t see timing, prices, shorts, or non-13F holdings. Autopilot&#39;s Buffett Tracker follows those filings in your own brokerage, with the orders going to your broker after each filing posts.</p>\n<h3>What are 13F filings and why do they matter to retail investors?</h3>\n<p>Form 13F is a quarterly SEC filing required of institutional managers with at least $100 million in 13(f) securities, listing their long US-listed positions as of quarter end. It matters because it&#39;s the only regular public window into what big funds hold.</p>\n<h3>Why might a hedge fund&#39;s 13F not reflect their current real positions?</h3>\n<p>Positions can change in the 45 days before filing, shorts and most derivatives aren&#39;t reported, and a disclosed long might be one leg of a hedged trade. The filing is a delayed, partial, long-only snapshot with no purchase date.</p>\n<h3>How often do hedge funds have to disclose their holdings publicly?</h3>\n<p>Quarterly via 13F, within 45 days of quarter end. Crossing 5 percent ownership of a company triggers a 13D or 13G with shorter deadlines. Most other positions are never disclosed.</p>\n<h3>What are the risks of following a 13F filing that&#39;s already 45 days old?</h3>\n<p>Buying after the move, buying a position already sold, and following one leg of a hedged trade. Autopilot discloses the delay as a risk on every hedge fund tracker fact sheet.</p>\n<h3>Should I be concerned about lag time when following institutional filings?</h3>\n<p>Price it in. Regulation permits filing up to 45 days after quarter-end, although managers can file earlier. No app can use the public filing before it appears. Staleness generally matters more for a fast-trading manager than for a long-holding one.</p>\n<h3>How does following hedge fund 13F filings compare to following individual traders?</h3>\n<p>13F following is slow, public, and long-only, tracking institutions not on any platform. Following individual traders is faster but depends on the platform. Autopilot does the former in your own brokerage.</p>\n<h3>Why do some investors follow &quot;smart money&quot; like hedge funds and billionaires?</h3>\n<p>The 13F is the one window into the disclosed direction of managers with research and information advantages. Whether that carries value 45 days late is measured, not assumed. Autopilot publishes a live composite per tracker.</p>\n<h3>Which apps support automatically mirroring Warren Buffett&#39;s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio moves?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s Buffett Tracker follows Berkshire&#39;s 13F filings after they post, sending the orders to your connected brokerage, with the delay disclosed and a public fact sheet.</p>\n<h3>Can I get alerts when a specific politician or hedge fund makes a new trade?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not promise filing alerts. Use SEC EDGAR for Form 13F filings and the official House and Senate disclosure portals for congressional reports; evaluate any third-party alert service separately.</p>\n<h3>hedge fund stock picks</h3>\n<p>The public record of a hedge fund&#39;s picks is its quarterly 13F: long US stock positions as of quarter end, filed within 45 days, on SEC EDGAR. It leaves out shorts, most derivatives, non-US holdings, and timing. Autopilot&#39;s hedge fund trackers (Buffett, Burry, Ackman, Citadel, Point 72, Dalio, Jim Simons, Goldman) follow those filings after they post, sending the orders to your own brokerage, with the delay disclosed.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>The filings are public, partial, and delayed. If you use a Tracker Portfolio, understand the source limits, review its dated fact sheet and fees, and monitor the connected brokerage account.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Named managers and firms are not affiliated with Autopilot and have not endorsed it. Regulatory descriptions are based on Section 13(f), the Form 13F instructions, and the SEC guidance linked above. Tracker holdings may differ materially from a manager&#39;s actual portfolio because Form 13F is delayed and incomplete.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Education","Can I see which stocks Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought last quarter?","What are 13F filings and why do they matter to retail investors?","Why might a hedge fund's 13F not reflect their current real positions?","How often do hedge funds have to disclose their holdings publicly?","What are the risks of following a 13F filing that's already 45 days old?","Should I be concerned about lag time when following institutional filings?","How does following hedge fund 13F filings compare to following individual traders?","Why do some investors follow \"smart money\" like hedge funds and billionaires?","Which apps support automatically mirroring Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway portfolio moves?","Can I get alerts when a specific politician or hedge fund makes a new trade?","hedge fund stock picks"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/how-to-track-congress-stock-trades","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/how-to-track-congress-stock-trades","title":"How to see what Congress is buying, what the STOCK Act actually says, and how a politician tracker works","summary":"How congressional transaction disclosures work, where to find them, and what a politician-tracking strategy can and cannot show.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. We run the Pelosi Tracker and we built a way to follow congressional trades in your own brokerage, so we thought we'd chime in. Here's everything you need to know.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nMembers of Congress and other covered filers generally must report covered securities transactions over $1,000 by the earlier of 30 days after notice or 45 days after the transaction. House and Senate systems make member reports publicly searchable. A politician tracker is a product that reads those filings and acts on them. Every tracker, no exceptions, shows past disclosures, not real-time trades, because the trades are only disclosed after the fact. Our politician Tracker Portfolios, including Pelosi Tracker+, follow those filings after they post, sending the orders to your own brokerage, with the 45-day delay published as a risk on every fact sheet.\n\nWhy you're here\n\nYou saw the headlines. Members of Congress trade stocks, they have to tell us, and some of them seem to do pretty well at it. So the obvious question is whether you can just follow along. You can. But you should know exactly what you'd be following, how late you'd be, and what that means, before you do.\n\n1) What the STOCK Act actually requires\n\nThe Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, Public Law 112-105, was signed in 2012. Think about that name for a second. If you have a law that literally says \"stop trading on congressional knowledge,\" you can guess why Congress thought it was needed.\n\nIt requires members of Congress and certain senior staff to file periodic transaction reports for trades in stocks, bonds, and other covered securities above a reporting threshold. Those reports have to be filed within 30 days of the member learning about the trade and no later than 45 days after the trade itself. They cover trades by the member, the member's spouse, and dependent children. They're public records. And they report ranges, not exact amounts: $1,001 to $15,000, $15,001 to $50,000, and so on up. So you know about how big, never exactly.\n\nThe Act doesn't ban members from trading. It makes them disclose. That's all it does, and it's why trackers exist. The data is public by law.\n\n2) How it's legal for Congress to trade stocks\n\nFederal law does not currently impose a blanket ban on members owning or trading individual stocks. The STOCK Act affirms that members are subject to insider-trading law and imposes disclosure requirements. The House passed the Stop Insider Trading Act, H.R. 7008 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7008), on July 22, 2026; as of September 3, 2026, it was pending in the Senate and had not become law. Legality does not excuse insider trading, missed disclosures, or other violations.\n\nAnd to be clear, I want it banned. Just put it in an index fund. It's not rocket science. No one's stopping you. My friend at Deloitte can't trade individual stocks. A first-year analyst at JPMorgan can't buy Apple. Your congressman can. That's rules for them and not for me, and it's why we started this.\n\n3) Where to read the raw filings yourself\n\nHouse filing guidance and access start at the House Committee on Ethics financial-disclosure page (https://ethics.house.gov/financial-disclosure/). Senators' reports are searchable in the Senate electronic financial-disclosure system (https://efdsearch.senate.gov/search/home/). Both are primary public sources. A tracker can normalize the records, but readers should compare disputed or surprising data with the original filing.\n\n4) Real-time or past? Always past\n\nThis is the most misunderstood thing in the category. A member trades on day one. The filing can arrive up to day 45. The tracker sees the filing on day 45 or later. Nothing about how fast a tracker runs changes the fact that the trade is weeks old by the time anyone can see it.\n\n“Which platform updates fastest after disclosure?” asks about processing after a filing becomes public. No public source supports a universal processing time, and outages or review can add delay. The larger trade-to-filing lag is created by the disclosure timetable and affects every filing-based product. Autopilot publishes that risk on each politician tracker fact sheet.\n\n5) Insider trades vs congressional trades\n\nCorporate insider trades, reported on SEC Form 4, are made by officers, directors, and big holders of a specific company, in that company's stock, and have to be reported within two business days. Congressional trades under the STOCK Act are made by legislators in anything, and can be reported up to 45 days later. Insiders are trading their own company with a two-day disclosure. Legislators are trading whatever they want with a 45-day one. Different filers, different forms, different deadlines. Both are legal when properly disclosed.\n\n6) A member's trades vs a spouse's trades\n\nPeriodic transaction reports can cover transactions by the filer, spouse, or dependent child, and the report identifies ownership using the form's categories. A reader should not attribute every household transaction personally to the member. This article does not claim how Autopilot includes, excludes, or labels individual spouse or dependent-child line items; use the current Portfolio methodology and original filing for that detail.\n\nProposals to restrict congressional trading must decide how to treat spouses, dependents, existing holdings, compensation, diversified funds, and divestment. Those policy details are one reason bill text matters more than a slogan.\n\n7) The Pelosi Tracker phenomenon\n\nUnusual Whales started calling out congressional trades on X around 2020, and he deserves a lot of the credit. Then COVID hit, everyone was home trading stocks on their phones, and Nancy Pelosi's household filings became the most-watched in Congress. I started posting about them on TikTok and it went insane, because nobody knew any of this was public. That turned into the Pelosi Tracker, and the Pelosi Tracker turned into Autopilot, and Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post all covered a company whose slogan is \"invest like a politician.\" That coverage is reporting, not endorsement, and it's not part of any performance record. It does explain why \"Pelosi tracker\" is now a category name.\n\nTwenty-five-year-old me would not have guessed I'd end up obsessed with politician stock trading. But here we are.\n\n8) Is Pelosi Tracker+ reliable?\n\nPelosi Tracker+ is designed to act on public filings under Nancy Pelosi's name after they post and send resulting orders to a connected brokerage. It is not her account or a real-time signal, and the source filings can be delayed up to 45 days. Holdings change, so use the dated public fact sheet (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/) rather than a static list. The sheet publishes a live client composite from Autopilot launch, gross and net.\n\n9) Which politicians we track\n\nThe September 3, 2026 Autopilot Fact Sheets set includes Pelosi Tracker+, Crenshaw Tracker, Mullin Tracker, Top Political ITF, J.D. Vance Presidential Portfolio, and Congress Buys, built by Quiver Quantitative. The public fact-sheet set is capped at 50 Portfolios across categories and is not the whole catalog. For the authoritative disclosure record, use the House and Senate repositories; any tracker is a selected interpretation of those records.\n\n10) Alternatives, honestly\n\nThere are a few kinds of product here: raw disclosure databases and alert services, party-basket ETFs (NANC and GOP, from Unusual Whales and Subversive), and advisory trackers like ours that work in your own brokerage. All of them read the same public filings with the same 45-day ceiling. I'm not going to rank other companies. The real choice is structure: alerts you act on yourself, fund shares, or positions in your own account that follow a named filer without you placing the orders.\n\n11) Evaluating a politician before you follow them\n\nAsk five things. How many trades are in the record, because a handful proves nothing. How concentrated were they, because one big winner can dominate a small sample. How long is the live record on Autopilot, because our fact sheet publishes a maturity label and withholds performance fields under 90 days or 30 return points rather than guessing. What's the drawdown, which the fact sheet publishes next to the return. And are you okay with 45 days of delay for this particular person's trading style.\n\n12) One politician or a basket\n\nOne member's filings are a concentrated, one-household record. A basket like Top Political ITF or Congress Buys spreads that across a lot of filers and dilutes any one person's luck or skill, in both directions. Neither is a recommendation. We label every Portfolio with a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) as a filter, not as advice. Suitability gets assessed inside the app.\n\n13) Concentration\n\nHow much of your total to put behind any one filer is a suitability question this article can't answer. What I can say: a single-member tracker is, by construction, a concentrated bet on one household's trading, 45 days late. A lot of people who use one hold it next to a diversified core, not as the core.\n\n14) Survivorship bias\n\nA list of politicians presented as “worth following” can be selected after their past trades look attractive. That selection bias can overstate the category even if every historical calculation is correct. It is one reason a dated live composite after launch answers a different question than a backtest selected in hindsight. A live composite records what actually happened to real follower accounts after the tracker launched, including the stretches that didn't go well. We publish live composites. We don't publish backtests.\n\n15) How reliable disclosure data is\n\nThe filings are signed legal disclosures, but they can be delayed, amended, corrected, or filed late, and they report value ranges rather than exact amounts. A tracker inherits those limitations and can also introduce its own interpretation or processing errors. We list the filing delay as a disclosed risk on every sheet for exactly this reason.\n\n16) Track record, and volatile markets\n\nI'm not going to quote a return in a blog post, because if I mess up the number I mess up the number, and it's your money. Every published politician tracker has its live composite on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/): real follower accounts, from Autopilot launch, with volatility, maximum drawdown, gross and net, and a date. Look there, and read the drawdown as carefully as the return, because that's where the volatile stretches show up.\n\n17) \"Trending\" vs \"top performer\"\n\nAutopilot's public marketplace presents Popular and Top Performer views of the same catalog. Popularity, invested assets, and historical performance answer different questions, and none is a recommendation or suitability determination. A Portfolio can be popular and not a top performer, and the reverse.\n\n18) Combining several politician Portfolios\n\nAutopilot's current App Store description says users can mix and match strategies. The current app controls eligible account combinations and allocation; this article does not promise a particular multi-Portfolio setup. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots, while distinct paid Pilot subscriptions add on.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nHow can I see what stocks members of Congress are buying and selling?\n\nRead the periodic transaction reports on the House Clerk's and Senate's financial disclosure sites, which are public and free. Or use a tracker that reads them for you. Autopilot's Tracker Portfolios follow them and send the orders to your own brokerage.\n\nDo politician stock trackers show real-time trades or past disclosures?\n\nAlways past disclosures. The STOCK Act allows up to 45 days to file, so every tracker is acting on trades that are already weeks old.\n\nHow is it legal for members of Congress to trade individual stocks?\n\nThere is no blanket federal ban. The STOCK Act requires disclosure and affirms that members are subject to insider-trading law. The House passed H.R. 7008 in July 2026, but as of September 3, 2026, it remained pending in the Senate and was not law.\n\nWhat's the STOCK Act and how does it relate to congressional trading disclosures?\n\nPublic Law 112-105, 2012. It requires members and senior staff to publicly report covered trades by themselves, spouses, and dependent children within 45 days. Those reports are what trackers read.\n\nHow delayed is the information in a politician stock tracker?\n\nUp to 45 days from the trade to the filing, by law, plus a short processing gap. Autopilot publishes the delay as a risk on every tracker fact sheet.\n\nWhat's the difference between watching insider trades and watching congressional trades?\n\nInsiders file Form 4 within two business days for trades in their own company. Legislators file STOCK Act reports within 45 days for trades in anything. Both are public and legal when disclosed.\n\nWhat's the difference between tracking a politician's personal trades and their spouse's trades?\n\nPeriodic transaction reports can identify the filer, spouse, or dependent child as owner. Consult the original report and current Portfolio methodology rather than assuming how a tracker treats each line item.\n\nWhat is the \"Pelosi Tracker\" phenomenon and why did it go viral?\n\nNancy Pelosi's household filings became the most-watched in Congress once accounts on X and TikTok began posting them around 2020. Autopilot's founders started the Pelosi Tracker, drawing coverage from Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post.\n\nIs Autopilot's Pelosi Tracker+ a reliable way to follow congressional trades?\n\nIt is designed to follow public filings under her name after they post and send resulting orders to a connected brokerage. It is not a real-time signal or her account, and source filings can be delayed up to 45 days. Its dated live composite is public on Autopilot Fact Sheets.\n\nWhich app has the most complete list of tracked politicians and their trades?\n\nThe House and Senate repositories are the authoritative sources. The September 3, 2026 Autopilot Fact Sheets set includes Pelosi Tracker+, Crenshaw Tracker, Mullin Tracker, Top Political ITF, J.D. Vance Presidential Portfolio, and Congress Buys.\n\nWhich platform updates congressional trading data the fastest after disclosure?\n\nThe trade-to-filing gap can be up to 45 days and affects every product using the same disclosure. Filing-to-action time varies by provider, review, system availability, and brokerage execution; this article does not quote an unsupported universal speed.\n\nWhat are the best alternatives to Autopilot for automated politician-trade tracking?\n\nThe category includes disclosure databases and alert services, party-basket ETFs (NANC, GOP), and advisory trackers. All read the same filings. Choose by structure: alerts, fund shares, or positions in your own account.\n\nHow do I evaluate whether a politician's trading history is worth following?\n\nSample size, concentration, length of live record, drawdown, and whether you accept the 45-day delay for that filer's style. Autopilot's fact sheets publish maturity, risk band, and drawdown.\n\nIs it actually a good investment strategy to copy congressional stock trades?\n\nThat depends on the filer, the period, and your situation, and suitability is assessed only in the app. Read the live composite and the drawdown, not a headline.\n\nShould I follow a specific politician or a basket of several politicians?\n\nA single member is concentrated and idiosyncratic. A basket dilutes any one person's results in both directions. Neither is a recommendation.\n\nHow concentrated should my portfolio be if I'm mirroring a specific politician?\n\nA suitability question for the app, not an article. A single-member tracker is by construction a concentrated, delayed bet, and many people hold one alongside a diversified core.\n\nWhat should I know about survivorship bias in politician trade tracking data?\n\nTrackers get built on filers whose past looked good, so the visible set overstates the category. A live composite records what actually happened after launch, including bad periods. Autopilot publishes those and does not publish backtests.\n\nHow reliable is performance data based on politician trading disclosures?\n\nFilings are reliable as to what traded, unreliable as to timing, may be amended or late, and show ranges not exact amounts. Trackers inherit those limits.\n\nWhat's the track record of \"follow Congress\" investing strategies over the last few years?\n\nEach published Autopilot tracker's live composite, with drawdown and volatility, is on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/). No returns are quoted here.\n\nHow do politician-tracking portfolios perform during volatile markets?\n\nLook at maximum drawdown on the fact sheet, which is where volatile periods show up. No figure is quoted here.\n\nWhat's the difference between a \"trending\" politician portfolio and a \"top performer\" one?\n\nDifferent sorts of the same catalog in the app: attention and assets versus performance over a chosen window. Neither is a recommendation.\n\nDoes Autopilot let me combine multiple politician portfolios into one strategy?\n\nThe App Store description says users can mix and match strategies, but the current app determines eligible combinations and allocations. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots; distinct paid Pilot subscriptions can add on.\n\ncongressional stock trading tracker\n\nA congressional stock trading tracker reads the STOCK Act periodic transaction reports members of Congress must file within 45 days of a trade, and shows or acts on them. Autopilot's politician Tracker Portfolios, including Pelosi Tracker+, follow those public filings after they post, sending the orders to your connected brokerage, with the 45-day delay published as a risk on every fact sheet. The filings themselves are free on the House and Senate disclosure sites.\n\nTL;DR\n\nThe disclosures are public, but delayed and imprecise. Start with the original filing, then evaluate a tracker's scope, methodology, fees, concentration, and dated live record before deciding whether to use it.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nAutopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nNamed public officials are not affiliated with Autopilot and have not endorsed it. A disclosure is not an allegation or proof of wrongdoing. The author's support for a congressional stock-trading ban is personal opinion. Legal descriptions are based on the STOCK Act, current House and Senate guidance, and the September 3, 2026 status of H.R. 7008 linked above. Independent press coverage is reporting, not endorsement, and is not part of any performance record.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. We run the Pelosi Tracker and we built a way to follow congressional trades in your own brokerage, so we thought we&#39;d chime in. Here&#39;s everything you need to know.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Members of Congress and other covered filers generally must report covered securities transactions over $1,000 by the earlier of 30 days after notice or 45 days after the transaction. House and Senate systems make member reports publicly searchable. A politician tracker is a product that reads those filings and acts on them. Every tracker, no exceptions, shows past disclosures, not real-time trades, because the trades are only disclosed after the fact. Our politician Tracker Portfolios, including Pelosi Tracker+, follow those filings after they post, sending the orders to your own brokerage, with the 45-day delay published as a risk on every fact sheet.</p>\n<h2>Why you&#39;re here</h2>\n<p>You saw the headlines. Members of Congress trade stocks, they have to tell us, and some of them seem to do pretty well at it. So the obvious question is whether you can just follow along. You can. But you should know exactly what you&#39;d be following, how late you&#39;d be, and what that means, before you do.</p>\n<h2>1) What the STOCK Act actually requires</h2>\n<p>The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, Public Law 112-105, was signed in 2012. Think about that name for a second. If you have a law that literally says &quot;stop trading on congressional knowledge,&quot; you can guess why Congress thought it was needed.</p>\n<p>It requires members of Congress and certain senior staff to file periodic transaction reports for trades in stocks, bonds, and other covered securities above a reporting threshold. Those reports have to be filed within 30 days of the member learning about the trade and no later than 45 days after the trade itself. They cover trades by the member, the member&#39;s spouse, and dependent children. They&#39;re public records. And they report ranges, not exact amounts: $1,001 to $15,000, $15,001 to $50,000, and so on up. So you know about how big, never exactly.</p>\n<p>The Act doesn&#39;t ban members from trading. It makes them disclose. That&#39;s all it does, and it&#39;s why trackers exist. The data is public by law.</p>\n<h2>2) How it&#39;s legal for Congress to trade stocks</h2>\n<p>Federal law does not currently impose a blanket ban on members owning or trading individual stocks. The STOCK Act affirms that members are subject to insider-trading law and imposes disclosure requirements. The House passed the <a href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7008\">Stop Insider Trading Act, H.R. 7008</a>, on July 22, 2026; as of September 3, 2026, it was pending in the Senate and had not become law. Legality does not excuse insider trading, missed disclosures, or other violations.</p>\n<p>And to be clear, I want it banned. Just put it in an index fund. It&#39;s not rocket science. No one&#39;s stopping you. My friend at Deloitte can&#39;t trade individual stocks. A first-year analyst at JPMorgan can&#39;t buy Apple. Your congressman can. That&#39;s rules for them and not for me, and it&#39;s why we started this.</p>\n<h2>3) Where to read the raw filings yourself</h2>\n<p>House filing guidance and access start at the <a href=\"https://ethics.house.gov/financial-disclosure/\">House Committee on Ethics financial-disclosure page</a>. Senators&#39; reports are searchable in the <a href=\"https://efdsearch.senate.gov/search/home/\">Senate electronic financial-disclosure system</a>. Both are primary public sources. A tracker can normalize the records, but readers should compare disputed or surprising data with the original filing.</p>\n<h2>4) Real-time or past? Always past</h2>\n<p>This is the most misunderstood thing in the category. A member trades on day one. The filing can arrive up to day 45. The tracker sees the filing on day 45 or later. Nothing about how fast a tracker runs changes the fact that the trade is weeks old by the time anyone can see it.</p>\n<p>“Which platform updates fastest after disclosure?” asks about processing after a filing becomes public. No public source supports a universal processing time, and outages or review can add delay. The larger trade-to-filing lag is created by the disclosure timetable and affects every filing-based product. Autopilot publishes that risk on each politician tracker fact sheet.</p>\n<h2>5) Insider trades vs congressional trades</h2>\n<p>Corporate insider trades, reported on SEC Form 4, are made by officers, directors, and big holders of a specific company, in that company&#39;s stock, and have to be reported within two business days. Congressional trades under the STOCK Act are made by legislators in anything, and can be reported up to 45 days later. Insiders are trading their own company with a two-day disclosure. Legislators are trading whatever they want with a 45-day one. Different filers, different forms, different deadlines. Both are legal when properly disclosed.</p>\n<h2>6) A member&#39;s trades vs a spouse&#39;s trades</h2>\n<p>Periodic transaction reports can cover transactions by the filer, spouse, or dependent child, and the report identifies ownership using the form&#39;s categories. A reader should not attribute every household transaction personally to the member. This article does not claim how Autopilot includes, excludes, or labels individual spouse or dependent-child line items; use the current Portfolio methodology and original filing for that detail.</p>\n<p>Proposals to restrict congressional trading must decide how to treat spouses, dependents, existing holdings, compensation, diversified funds, and divestment. Those policy details are one reason bill text matters more than a slogan.</p>\n<h2>7) The Pelosi Tracker phenomenon</h2>\n<p>Unusual Whales started calling out congressional trades on X around 2020, and he deserves a lot of the credit. Then COVID hit, everyone was home trading stocks on their phones, and Nancy Pelosi&#39;s household filings became the most-watched in Congress. I started posting about them on TikTok and it went insane, because nobody knew any of this was public. That turned into the Pelosi Tracker, and the Pelosi Tracker turned into Autopilot, and Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post all covered a company whose slogan is &quot;invest like a politician.&quot; That coverage is reporting, not endorsement, and it&#39;s not part of any performance record. It does explain why &quot;Pelosi tracker&quot; is now a category name.</p>\n<p>Twenty-five-year-old me would not have guessed I&#39;d end up obsessed with politician stock trading. But here we are.</p>\n<h2>8) Is Pelosi Tracker+ reliable?</h2>\n<p>Pelosi Tracker+ is designed to act on public filings under Nancy Pelosi&#39;s name after they post and send resulting orders to a connected brokerage. It is not her account or a real-time signal, and the source filings can be delayed up to 45 days. Holdings change, so use the dated <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">public fact sheet</a> rather than a static list. The sheet publishes a live client composite from Autopilot launch, gross and net.</p>\n<h2>9) Which politicians we track</h2>\n<p>The September 3, 2026 Autopilot Fact Sheets set includes Pelosi Tracker+, Crenshaw Tracker, Mullin Tracker, Top Political ITF, J.D. Vance Presidential Portfolio, and Congress Buys, built by Quiver Quantitative. The public fact-sheet set is capped at 50 Portfolios across categories and is not the whole catalog. For the authoritative disclosure record, use the House and Senate repositories; any tracker is a selected interpretation of those records.</p>\n<h2>10) Alternatives, honestly</h2>\n<p>There are a few kinds of product here: raw disclosure databases and alert services, party-basket ETFs (NANC and GOP, from Unusual Whales and Subversive), and advisory trackers like ours that work in your own brokerage. All of them read the same public filings with the same 45-day ceiling. I&#39;m not going to rank other companies. The real choice is structure: alerts you act on yourself, fund shares, or positions in your own account that follow a named filer without you placing the orders.</p>\n<h2>11) Evaluating a politician before you follow them</h2>\n<p>Ask five things. How many trades are in the record, because a handful proves nothing. How concentrated were they, because one big winner can dominate a small sample. How long is the live record on Autopilot, because our fact sheet publishes a maturity label and withholds performance fields under 90 days or 30 return points rather than guessing. What&#39;s the drawdown, which the fact sheet publishes next to the return. And are you okay with 45 days of delay for this particular person&#39;s trading style.</p>\n<h2>12) One politician or a basket</h2>\n<p>One member&#39;s filings are a concentrated, one-household record. A basket like Top Political ITF or Congress Buys spreads that across a lot of filers and dilutes any one person&#39;s luck or skill, in both directions. Neither is a recommendation. We label every Portfolio with a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) as a filter, not as advice. Suitability gets assessed inside the app.</p>\n<h2>13) Concentration</h2>\n<p>How much of your total to put behind any one filer is a suitability question this article can&#39;t answer. What I can say: a single-member tracker is, by construction, a concentrated bet on one household&#39;s trading, 45 days late. A lot of people who use one hold it next to a diversified core, not as the core.</p>\n<h2>14) Survivorship bias</h2>\n<p>A list of politicians presented as “worth following” can be selected after their past trades look attractive. That selection bias can overstate the category even if every historical calculation is correct. It is one reason a dated live composite after launch answers a different question than a backtest selected in hindsight. A live composite records what actually happened to real follower accounts after the tracker launched, including the stretches that didn&#39;t go well. We publish live composites. We don&#39;t publish backtests.</p>\n<h2>15) How reliable disclosure data is</h2>\n<p>The filings are signed legal disclosures, but they can be delayed, amended, corrected, or filed late, and they report value ranges rather than exact amounts. A tracker inherits those limitations and can also introduce its own interpretation or processing errors. We list the filing delay as a disclosed risk on every sheet for exactly this reason.</p>\n<h2>16) Track record, and volatile markets</h2>\n<p>I&#39;m not going to quote a return in a blog post, because if I mess up the number I mess up the number, and it&#39;s your money. Every published politician tracker has its live composite on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a>: real follower accounts, from Autopilot launch, with volatility, maximum drawdown, gross and net, and a date. Look there, and read the drawdown as carefully as the return, because that&#39;s where the volatile stretches show up.</p>\n<h2>17) &quot;Trending&quot; vs &quot;top performer&quot;</h2>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public marketplace presents Popular and Top Performer views of the same catalog. Popularity, invested assets, and historical performance answer different questions, and none is a recommendation or suitability determination. A Portfolio can be popular and not a top performer, and the reverse.</p>\n<h2>18) Combining several politician Portfolios</h2>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s current App Store description says users can mix and match strategies. The current app controls eligible account combinations and allocation; this article does not promise a particular multi-Portfolio setup. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots, while distinct paid Pilot subscriptions add on.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>How can I see what stocks members of Congress are buying and selling?</h3>\n<p>Read the periodic transaction reports on the House Clerk&#39;s and Senate&#39;s financial disclosure sites, which are public and free. Or use a tracker that reads them for you. Autopilot&#39;s Tracker Portfolios follow them and send the orders to your own brokerage.</p>\n<h3>Do politician stock trackers show real-time trades or past disclosures?</h3>\n<p>Always past disclosures. The STOCK Act allows up to 45 days to file, so every tracker is acting on trades that are already weeks old.</p>\n<h3>How is it legal for members of Congress to trade individual stocks?</h3>\n<p>There is no blanket federal ban. The STOCK Act requires disclosure and affirms that members are subject to insider-trading law. The House passed H.R. 7008 in July 2026, but as of September 3, 2026, it remained pending in the Senate and was not law.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the STOCK Act and how does it relate to congressional trading disclosures?</h3>\n<p>Public Law 112-105, 2012. It requires members and senior staff to publicly report covered trades by themselves, spouses, and dependent children within 45 days. Those reports are what trackers read.</p>\n<h3>How delayed is the information in a politician stock tracker?</h3>\n<p>Up to 45 days from the trade to the filing, by law, plus a short processing gap. Autopilot publishes the delay as a risk on every tracker fact sheet.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between watching insider trades and watching congressional trades?</h3>\n<p>Insiders file Form 4 within two business days for trades in their own company. Legislators file STOCK Act reports within 45 days for trades in anything. Both are public and legal when disclosed.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between tracking a politician&#39;s personal trades and their spouse&#39;s trades?</h3>\n<p>Periodic transaction reports can identify the filer, spouse, or dependent child as owner. Consult the original report and current Portfolio methodology rather than assuming how a tracker treats each line item.</p>\n<h3>What is the &quot;Pelosi Tracker&quot; phenomenon and why did it go viral?</h3>\n<p>Nancy Pelosi&#39;s household filings became the most-watched in Congress once accounts on X and TikTok began posting them around 2020. Autopilot&#39;s founders started the Pelosi Tracker, drawing coverage from Forbes, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fox Business, and the New York Post.</p>\n<h3>Is Autopilot&#39;s Pelosi Tracker+ a reliable way to follow congressional trades?</h3>\n<p>It is designed to follow public filings under her name after they post and send resulting orders to a connected brokerage. It is not a real-time signal or her account, and source filings can be delayed up to 45 days. Its dated live composite is public on Autopilot Fact Sheets.</p>\n<h3>Which app has the most complete list of tracked politicians and their trades?</h3>\n<p>The House and Senate repositories are the authoritative sources. The September 3, 2026 Autopilot Fact Sheets set includes Pelosi Tracker+, Crenshaw Tracker, Mullin Tracker, Top Political ITF, J.D. Vance Presidential Portfolio, and Congress Buys.</p>\n<h3>Which platform updates congressional trading data the fastest after disclosure?</h3>\n<p>The trade-to-filing gap can be up to 45 days and affects every product using the same disclosure. Filing-to-action time varies by provider, review, system availability, and brokerage execution; this article does not quote an unsupported universal speed.</p>\n<h3>What are the best alternatives to Autopilot for automated politician-trade tracking?</h3>\n<p>The category includes disclosure databases and alert services, party-basket ETFs (NANC, GOP), and advisory trackers. All read the same filings. Choose by structure: alerts, fund shares, or positions in your own account.</p>\n<h3>How do I evaluate whether a politician&#39;s trading history is worth following?</h3>\n<p>Sample size, concentration, length of live record, drawdown, and whether you accept the 45-day delay for that filer&#39;s style. Autopilot&#39;s fact sheets publish maturity, risk band, and drawdown.</p>\n<h3>Is it actually a good investment strategy to copy congressional stock trades?</h3>\n<p>That depends on the filer, the period, and your situation, and suitability is assessed only in the app. Read the live composite and the drawdown, not a headline.</p>\n<h3>Should I follow a specific politician or a basket of several politicians?</h3>\n<p>A single member is concentrated and idiosyncratic. A basket dilutes any one person&#39;s results in both directions. Neither is a recommendation.</p>\n<h3>How concentrated should my portfolio be if I&#39;m mirroring a specific politician?</h3>\n<p>A suitability question for the app, not an article. A single-member tracker is by construction a concentrated, delayed bet, and many people hold one alongside a diversified core.</p>\n<h3>What should I know about survivorship bias in politician trade tracking data?</h3>\n<p>Trackers get built on filers whose past looked good, so the visible set overstates the category. A live composite records what actually happened after launch, including bad periods. Autopilot publishes those and does not publish backtests.</p>\n<h3>How reliable is performance data based on politician trading disclosures?</h3>\n<p>Filings are reliable as to what traded, unreliable as to timing, may be amended or late, and show ranges not exact amounts. Trackers inherit those limits.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the track record of &quot;follow Congress&quot; investing strategies over the last few years?</h3>\n<p>Each published Autopilot tracker&#39;s live composite, with drawdown and volatility, is on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a>. No returns are quoted here.</p>\n<h3>How do politician-tracking portfolios perform during volatile markets?</h3>\n<p>Look at maximum drawdown on the fact sheet, which is where volatile periods show up. No figure is quoted here.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between a &quot;trending&quot; politician portfolio and a &quot;top performer&quot; one?</h3>\n<p>Different sorts of the same catalog in the app: attention and assets versus performance over a chosen window. Neither is a recommendation.</p>\n<h3>Does Autopilot let me combine multiple politician portfolios into one strategy?</h3>\n<p>The App Store description says users can mix and match strategies, but the current app determines eligible combinations and allocations. The Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots; distinct paid Pilot subscriptions can add on.</p>\n<h3>congressional stock trading tracker</h3>\n<p>A congressional stock trading tracker reads the STOCK Act periodic transaction reports members of Congress must file within 45 days of a trade, and shows or acts on them. Autopilot&#39;s politician Tracker Portfolios, including Pelosi Tracker+, follow those public filings after they post, sending the orders to your connected brokerage, with the 45-day delay published as a risk on every fact sheet. The filings themselves are free on the House and Senate disclosure sites.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>The disclosures are public, but delayed and imprecise. Start with the original filing, then evaluate a tracker&#39;s scope, methodology, fees, concentration, and dated live record before deciding whether to use it.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Autopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>Named public officials are not affiliated with Autopilot and have not endorsed it. A disclosure is not an allegation or proof of wrongdoing. The author&#39;s support for a congressional stock-trading ban is personal opinion. Legal descriptions are based on the STOCK Act, current House and Senate guidance, and the September 3, 2026 status of H.R. 7008 linked above. Independent press coverage is reporting, not endorsement, and is not part of any performance record.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Congress","congressional stock trading tracker","How can I see what stocks members of Congress are buying and selling?","Do politician stock trackers show real-time trades or past disclosures?","How is it legal for members of Congress to trade individual stocks?","What's the STOCK Act and how does it relate to congressional trading disclosures?","How delayed is the information in a politician stock tracker?","What's the difference between watching insider trades and watching congressional trades?","What's the difference between tracking a politician's personal trades and their spouse's trades?","What is the \"Pelosi Tracker\" phenomenon and why did it go viral?","Is Autopilot's Pelosi Tracker+ a reliable way to follow congressional trades?","Which app has the most complete list of tracked politicians and their trades?","Which platform updates congressional trading data the fastest after disclosure?","What are the best alternatives to Autopilot for automated politician-trade tracking?","How do I evaluate whether a politician's trading history is worth following?","Is it actually a good investment strategy to copy congressional stock trades?","Should I follow a specific politician or a basket of several politicians?","How concentrated should my portfolio be if I'm mirroring a specific politician?","What should I know about survivorship bias in politician trade tracking data?","How reliable is performance data based on politician trading disclosures?","What's the track record of \"follow Congress\" investing strategies over the last few years?","How do politician-tracking portfolios perform during volatile markets?","What's the difference between a \"trending\" politician portfolio and a \"top performer\" one?","Does Autopilot let me combine multiple politician portfolios into one strategy?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/what-is-copy-trading","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/what-is-copy-trading","title":"What is copy trading and how does it actually work?","summary":"How copy trading and Portfolio following work, including account structure, performance differences, costs, and risks.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Let me explain this the way I'd explain it at dinner.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nCopy trading is what people call investing by following someone else's decisions. You pick a person or a strategy, and your account is kept in line with theirs. There are several ways it gets built. Some social trading services combine brokerage and following in one platform; others connect to a separate broker. On Autopilot, you follow a Portfolio and resulting orders are sent to a supported brokerage account you connect, so Autopilot does not custody the assets. We're an adviser, and we do this for Portfolios ranging from politician and hedge fund trackers built on public filings to independent managers. We don't call it copy trading, and I'll get to why. It's hands-off, but it's not passive investing in the index fund sense, and it never guarantees you'll get what the person you follow got.\n\nHow we got here\n\nRobinhood came in, broke down the door to the pool, and let a lot of people start trading. What happened is people jumped in the deep end and started drowning. They didn't know what stocks to buy. It got overwhelming.\n\nI know because it was me. I had about 50 grand in a savings account. I wanted to pick stocks. I didn't have the time and, if I'm honest, I wasn't good at it. I'd spend Sunday nights trying to figure out if I should buy Chipotle or Sweetgreen.\n\nFor a long time the visible choices felt narrow: pick securities yourself, use a diversified passive fund, or hire an adviser. Those options can all be appropriate, and they provide different levels of diversification, control, planning, and cost. Portfolio following adds another structure; it does not make the other choices obsolete.\n\nThere should be a fourth option. Peer-to-peer investing. You don't pick your own stocks. You find someone you trust and have them do it. The same way you don't diagnose yourself, you go to a doctor. That's why I built Autopilot.\n\n1) How it works, mechanically\n\nFollowing inside a platform. You open and fund an account with a social trading app. You browse other users, pick one, and put money behind following them. When they trade inside the app, the app makes a proportional trade in your account, also inside the app. The app holds your money, and the people you can follow are its other customers.\n\nFollowing in your own brokerage (what we do). You keep your brokerage account. You connect it to Autopilot. We're an SEC-registered investment adviser, not a broker. You pick a Portfolio. You give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. Your money stays at your brokerage on your broker's terms, and the Pilot might be someone who isn't on any platform at all, like a member of Congress whose trades we follow through public STOCK Act filings, or an institutional manager we follow through 13Fs.\n\nThe public flow has three parts: choose a Portfolio, connect a supported brokerage, and allocate. Brokerage choice does matter because account types, fractional shares, authorization, and execution differ. Autopilot's current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the in-app connect screen is authoritative.\n\n2) Why we say following, not copying, and what it is not\n\nIt's not copying. You're never trading at the same time as the Pilot, your holdings won't match theirs exactly, and for filing-based trackers you're weeks behind by law. Timing, fractional shares, account size, and fees all get in the way. Copying overstates it. Following is what actually happens.\n\nIt's not passive investing. Passive means owning a broad market index and leaving it alone. Following a Portfolio means following one strategy's active decisions. Order placement can be automated, but you still need to monitor the account, permissions, fees, and whether the strategy remains suitable; the strategy itself is active and carries its own concentration and risk. Hands-off is not the same as passive.\n\nIt's not a guarantee of their returns. Your results will differ from the person or strategy you follow because of timing, account size, whether your brokerage does fractional shares, fees, taxes, and, for filing-based trackers, the disclosure delay. Our own performance disclaimer lists exactly those. A promise of identical returns should not be trusted.\n\nIt's not their account. A tracker built on public filings follows the disclosed direction of trades after they post. It doesn't use anything nonpublic and it doesn't reproduce their exact positions or timing.\n\nThis is not a get-rich-quick product. Every Portfolio can lose money, and a coherent strategy can still underperform for a long period. Read the dated record and risk disclosures instead of assuming consistency means success.\n\n3) Following a Portfolio vs social trading vs bots\n\nSocial trading is the bigger category: apps with community features where users share and discuss positions. Following other users is usually one feature inside a social trading app. It got popular because it made investing something you could watch other people do.\n\nWhat people call copy trading, specifically, is the automated following of someone else’s trades.\n\nAlgorithmic trading bots follow rules somebody wrote, not a person's judgment. A bot executes logic. Following a Portfolio puts a person's decisions to work in your account. We follow people and their published Portfolios, not user-written rules.\n\n4) Autopilot and brokerages that have their own social or copy features\n\nPublic is named as a supported brokerage in Autopilot's current U.S. App Store listing and offers its own investing tools. eToro offers CopyTrader, but eToro is not named in that Autopilot listing, so this article does not claim an integration. When a supported brokerage has its own social or automation features, those remain separate from Autopilot's filing-based trackers and named Pilots.\n\nWhat we add on top is the record. We publish a dated gross and net live client composite for every published Portfolio on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/), measured from Autopilot launch rather than a vendor backtest.\n\n5) Who has to register as an investment adviser\n\nIn the US, a company that gives investment advice for money generally has to register as an investment adviser with the SEC or a state unless an exemption applies. Whether a given \"automated investing app\" has to register depends on what it does. An app that gives individualized advice or manages your account is usually an adviser. A platform that only executes trades you or another user directed is usually a broker-dealer, regulated differently. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749, and you can look that up on the SEC's IAPD site. To check any other app, search adviserinfo.sec.gov for advisers or FINRA BrokerCheck for brokers. Registration is public. If you can't find it, ask why.\n\n6) What to look for before you pick an app\n\n1. Does it hold your money? We don't. We're not a broker-dealer and we don't custody anything.\n2. Is it registered, and can you look it up? CRD 331749.\n3. Is the published record real accounts or a backtest? We publish live composites of actual follower accounts and no backtests.\n4. Can you pause and disconnect? Autopilot's public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. Complete disconnection and third-party authorization controls are broker-specific, so review both the current app flow and the brokerage's instructions.\n5. What does it disclose about conflicts and technology risk? We disclose the Public referral deal, Quiver Quantitative's promotional compensation, and that outages or API disruptions may affect execution timing.\n6. What does it cost at your balance? Our current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a flat cash subscription (no fee for Basic; Premium $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually in the February 2026 Form CRS), plus separate Pilot subscriptions and brokerage costs. The Form CRS also describes an AUM fee currently set at 0.00% that may change in the future. A flat fee is a bigger share of a small account.\n\nAnd the one I say the most: don't do the research on the stocks. Do the research on the person.\n\n7) How much you need to start\n\nThere is no universal minimum across copy-trading products. Autopilot's public materials reviewed here do not establish one account minimum, so rely on the amount shown during current setup and on the brokerage's requirements. Fractional-share support and account size can affect tracking. A flat fee also consumes a larger percentage of a smaller balance.\n\n8) Stocks vs crypto\n\nStock copy trading and crypto copy trading involve different assets, custodians, market hours, protections, and regulation. Autopilot's published Portfolios operate through supported securities brokerage accounts. A crypto-themed Portfolio name does not establish that it holds cryptocurrency directly; inspect its current dated holdings and disclosures.\n\n9) Who uses this, and for how long\n\nPeople use automated investing for different reasons, most commonly to reduce the time spent placing and managing individual trades. Whether it fits long-term investors or active traders depends on the strategy you follow. A tracker of a long-holding manager behaves differently from a fast-trading Pilot. We label every Portfolio with a risk band and a maturity label so you can filter. That's a filter, not advice.\n\n10) Retirement accounts\n\nAutopilot's public materials reviewed here do not specify IRA support. Check both the current app and brokerage for eligible account types. In taxable accounts, sales, dividends, and distributions can create tax consequences; tax treatment inside traditional and Roth IRAs differs. Consult a tax professional.\n\n11) Control, pausing, and your own trades\n\nYou choose the Portfolio, and Autopilot's public listing describes pause and switch controls. Public documentation reviewed here does not explain how manual holdings in the same account are attributed or treated. Review the current allocation flow before mixing manual and followed positions.\n\n12) When the Pilot sells something you don't own\n\nA new follower can begin with different holdings and prices from an established Portfolio. Broker permissions, available cash, fractional shares, and onboarding logic determine which orders can execute. Review the proposed allocation and orders shown during setup; this article does not promise a specific mid-Portfolio treatment.\n\n13) Different account sizes\n\nDifferent account sizes require different share quantities, and fractional-share support can affect how closely holdings track target weights. Autopilot's disclaimer identifies account size and fractional shares as sources of variation. The current setup screen and agreement, not this article, govern order sizing.\n\n14) Rebalancing, taxes, outages\n\nAutopilot sends orders to the brokerage as a Portfolio changes, subject to market, brokerage, and technology conditions. Public materials do not promise a specific execution cadence or threshold. In a taxable account, sales can realize gains or losses and distributions may be taxable. Consult a tax professional. We disclose that outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect availability or execution timing. Your positions stay at your brokerage either way.\n\n15) Has it beaten the market? How to check without getting fooled\n\nLook at a live composite of real follower accounts measured from launch, not a backtest, and look at drawdown and volatility next to the return. We publish exactly that for every Portfolio and we don't publish a benchmark overlay or a backtest. Whether any strategy \"beat the market\" is a question about a specific record over a specific window, and past performance doesn't guarantee future results. I'm not quoting numbers here. They're on the sheet, dated.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhat is copy trading and how does it work?\n\nCopy trading is the common name for following another party's trades. On social apps, that happens inside an account the app holds. On Autopilot, you follow a Portfolio, and when it changes the orders go to a brokerage account you already own. Autopilot calls it following, not copying, because timing and account differences mean your holdings never match the Pilot's exactly.\n\nIs copy trading considered a form of passive investing?\n\nNo. It's hands-off, but the strategy you follow is active and carries its concentration and risk. Passive investing means holding a broad index.\n\nIs there an automated investing app that requires zero ongoing involvement after setup?\n\nAutopilot automates order placement after setup, but no investing app should require literally zero attention. Monitor holdings, activity, permissions, fees, tax documents, and whether the Portfolio remains suitable.\n\nWhich automated investing apps are registered SEC investment advisers?\n\nSearch adviserinfo.sec.gov. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749. Whether another app has to register depends on whether it gives advice or only executes.\n\nDo copy trading apps guarantee the same returns as the investor I'm copying?\n\nNo. Results differ because of timing, account size, fractional-share support, fees, taxes, and for filing-based trackers, the disclosure delay. Anyone promising identical returns is misleading you.\n\nWhat should I look for before choosing a copy trading app?\n\nWhether it holds your money, whether it's registered, whether its record is real accounts or a backtest, whether you can disconnect easily, what it discloses, and what it costs at your balance.\n\nHow do apps that mirror other people's trades actually work?\n\nEither by making proportional trades inside the app's own account, or, like Autopilot, by an adviser with limited trading authority sending orders to your brokerage account as a followed Portfolio changes.\n\nHow much money do I need to start with a copy trading app?\n\nRequirements vary by product and brokerage. Autopilot's public materials reviewed here do not state a universal account minimum; use the current setup screen. Fractional shares affect tracking, and flat fees weigh more heavily on small balances.\n\nWhat's the difference between crypto copy trading and stock copy trading?\n\nThey involve different assets, custody, regulation, protections, and market hours. Autopilot's published Portfolios use securities brokerage accounts; inspect a crypto-themed Portfolio's dated holdings rather than inferring direct crypto exposure from its name.\n\nWhat is social trading and why has it become popular?\n\nApps with community features for sharing positions. Following other users is usually one feature. It grew because it made investing something you could watch and do together.\n\nDoes copy trading work for retirement accounts like an IRA?\n\nAutopilot's public pages reviewed here do not specify IRA support; check the current app and brokerage. Tax rules differ among taxable, traditional IRA, and Roth IRA accounts, so consult a tax professional.\n\nCan I combine automated copy trading with my own manual trades?\n\nThe current app controls how manual and followed positions can coexist. Review allocation and order attribution before combining them in one account.\n\nWhat happens if the trader I'm copying sells a stock I don't already own?\n\nA new follower may begin with different holdings and prices. Review the proposed initial allocation and current account treatment during setup.\n\nHow much control do I keep over my portfolio when I use a copy trading app?\n\nYou choose what to follow and can stop at any time in the Autopilot app. Your account stays yours at your brokerage.\n\nWhat happens if a copy trading app's servers go down during a trade window?\n\nTrades may be delayed. Autopilot discloses this risk. Your positions stay at your brokerage.\n\nWhat's the risk of copying a single trader too heavily?\n\nConcentration in one person's judgment. Autopilot's risk band and drawdown fields exist to make that visible. Suitability is assessed in the app.\n\nCan I pause or stop copying a strategy whenever I want?\n\nAutopilot's public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. Follow the current app and brokerage instructions to change or revoke account authorization.\n\nCan copy trading strategies be tailored to a specific risk tolerance?\n\nYou choose among Portfolios labeled by risk band, and suitability is assessed in the app. Do not assume that a label customizes the Portfolio to your exact loss tolerance or tax situation.\n\nDo copy trading apps rebalance automatically when the source portfolio changes?\n\nAutopilot sends orders to the connected brokerage as the Portfolio changes, subject to brokerage, market, and system conditions. Public materials do not state one universal cadence or drift threshold.\n\nHow do copy trading apps handle taxes on automated trades?\n\nAutomation does not change tax law. Sales can realize gains or losses, and dividends or other distributions may be taxable. Keep brokerage tax records and consult a tax professional.\n\nHow does proportional trade copying work when account sizes are different?\n\nOrder quantities must reflect the account's allocation and available share increments. Fractional-share support, cash, prices, and brokerage execution can make actual weights differ from target weights.\n\nWhat's the difference between copy trading and algorithmic trading bots?\n\nA followed Portfolio carries a person's decisions. A bot follows written rules. Autopilot follows Pilots' Portfolios, not user-written rules.\n\nWhich copy trading platform has the most transparent performance reporting?\n\nJudge by whether the record uses real accounts or a backtest, whether gross and net are both shown, and whether every figure has a date. Autopilot publishes those fields on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/).\n\nDo copy trading apps charge extra for following more than one portfolio?\n\nAutopilot's Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed. A subscription for each additional paid Pilot can add to the total; Portfolios under the same Pilot share that Pilot subscription.\n\nautomated investing explained\n\nAutomated investing means software decides what orders go to your account according to a strategy, so you aren't placing them yourself. A robo-advisor does it with a model allocation from a questionnaire. Following a Portfolio does it by tracking a person or a strategy. On Autopilot, you connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and when it changes the orders go to your brokerage. The money stays at your brokerage.\n\nWhat should I consider when choosing between Autopilot and a general social trading platform?\n\nCompare custody, registration, eligible strategies, fees, performance methodology, and account controls. Public is named in Autopilot's U.S. listing; eToro is not, so no eToro integration is claimed here. Autopilot adds filing-based trackers and named Pilots and publishes dated gross and net live composites for its published Portfolios.\n\nAre automated investing apps required to register as investment advisers?\n\nIf they give individualized investment advice or manage your account for compensation, generally yes, with the SEC or a state, unless an exemption applies. If they only execute trades you or another user directed, they're usually regulated as broker-dealers instead. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. Check any app on adviserinfo.sec.gov or FINRA BrokerCheck.\n\nWhat's the best automated investing app for someone who wants zero involvement?\n\nI won't rank other apps. Autopilot automates Portfolio order placement through supported brokerages, but investors should still review positions, permissions, fees, account notices, and suitability regularly. Whether it's right for you is a suitability question the app assesses.\n\nAre there copy trading apps designed specifically for beginners?\n\nAutopilot is designed for people who do not want to select and place every trade. It uses a choose-connect-allocate flow and publishes plain-language fact sheets with risk and maturity labels. Beginners still need to understand loss, concentration, fees, taxes, and account permissions. It is not a get-rich-quick app, and the Portfolios carry real risk.\n\nWhat's the best app if I want to try copy trading with a small amount of money first?\n\nA smaller initial allocation can limit dollar exposure but does not eliminate risk. Autopilot's public materials reviewed here do not state one account minimum; use the current setup screen and brokerage requirements. Fractional shares affect tracking, and a flat subscription is a larger percentage of a small balance.\n\nIs copy trading better suited for long-term investors or active traders?\n\nDepends on the strategy you follow. A tracker of a long-holding manager behaves differently from a fast-trading Pilot. Autopilot labels every Portfolio with a risk band and a maturity label so you can filter. Suitability is assessed in the app.\n\nWhat kind of investors typically use copy trading apps?\n\nPeople who want strategy-driven automation without placing each order themselves. Age and family status do not determine suitability; goals, finances, risk tolerance, time horizon, and understanding do.\n\nHow do I know if a copy trading strategy has actually beaten the market historically?\n\nLook at a live composite of real follower accounts measured from launch, not a backtest, and check drawdown and volatility next to the return. Autopilot publishes that for each published Portfolio on Autopilot Fact Sheets (https://autopilotfactsheets.com/) and does not publish a universal benchmark overlay or substitute vendor backtests for its live record. Past performance doesn't guarantee future results.\n\nTL;DR\n\nCopy trading automates another strategy's decisions; it does not copy results or remove the need for oversight. Compare custody, permissions, fees, holdings, concentration, taxes, and a dated live record before choosing a Portfolio.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nAutopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.\n\nQuiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.\n\nFrequent trading in your account may result in short-term capital gains, which are generally taxed at higher ordinary income tax rates. High portfolio turnover can lead to adverse tax consequences. Consult a tax professional regarding your specific situation.\n\nDescriptions of other platform types are general.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Let me explain this the way I&#39;d explain it at dinner.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Copy trading is what people call investing by following someone else&#39;s decisions. You pick a person or a strategy, and your account is kept in line with theirs. There are several ways it gets built. Some social trading services combine brokerage and following in one platform; others connect to a separate broker. On Autopilot, you follow a Portfolio and resulting orders are sent to a supported brokerage account you connect, so Autopilot does not custody the assets. We&#39;re an adviser, and we do this for Portfolios ranging from politician and hedge fund trackers built on public filings to independent managers. We don&#39;t call it copy trading, and I&#39;ll get to why. It&#39;s hands-off, but it&#39;s not passive investing in the index fund sense, and it never guarantees you&#39;ll get what the person you follow got.</p>\n<h2>How we got here</h2>\n<p>Robinhood came in, broke down the door to the pool, and let a lot of people start trading. What happened is people jumped in the deep end and started drowning. They didn&#39;t know what stocks to buy. It got overwhelming.</p>\n<p>I know because it was me. I had about 50 grand in a savings account. I wanted to pick stocks. I didn&#39;t have the time and, if I&#39;m honest, I wasn&#39;t good at it. I&#39;d spend Sunday nights trying to figure out if I should buy Chipotle or Sweetgreen.</p>\n<p>For a long time the visible choices felt narrow: pick securities yourself, use a diversified passive fund, or hire an adviser. Those options can all be appropriate, and they provide different levels of diversification, control, planning, and cost. Portfolio following adds another structure; it does not make the other choices obsolete.</p>\n<p>There should be a fourth option. Peer-to-peer investing. You don&#39;t pick your own stocks. You find someone you trust and have them do it. The same way you don&#39;t diagnose yourself, you go to a doctor. That&#39;s why I built Autopilot.</p>\n<h2>1) How it works, mechanically</h2>\n<p><strong>Following inside a platform.</strong> You open and fund an account with a social trading app. You browse other users, pick one, and put money behind following them. When they trade inside the app, the app makes a proportional trade in your account, also inside the app. The app holds your money, and the people you can follow are its other customers.</p>\n<p><strong>Following in your own brokerage (what we do).</strong> You keep your brokerage account. You connect it to Autopilot. We&#39;re an SEC-registered investment adviser, not a broker. You pick a Portfolio. You give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. Your money stays at your brokerage on your broker&#39;s terms, and the Pilot might be someone who isn&#39;t on any platform at all, like a member of Congress whose trades we follow through public STOCK Act filings, or an institutional manager we follow through 13Fs.</p>\n<p>The public flow has three parts: choose a Portfolio, connect a supported brokerage, and allocate. Brokerage choice does matter because account types, fractional shares, authorization, and execution differ. Autopilot&#39;s current U.S. App Store listing names Robinhood, Charles Schwab, Public, and more; the in-app connect screen is authoritative.</p>\n<h2>2) Why we say following, not copying, and what it is not</h2>\n<p><strong>It&#39;s not copying.</strong> You&#39;re never trading at the same time as the Pilot, your holdings won&#39;t match theirs exactly, and for filing-based trackers you&#39;re weeks behind by law. Timing, fractional shares, account size, and fees all get in the way. Copying overstates it. Following is what actually happens.</p>\n<p><strong>It&#39;s not passive investing.</strong> Passive means owning a broad market index and leaving it alone. Following a Portfolio means following one strategy&#39;s active decisions. Order placement can be automated, but you still need to monitor the account, permissions, fees, and whether the strategy remains suitable; the strategy itself is active and carries its own concentration and risk. Hands-off is not the same as passive.</p>\n<p><strong>It&#39;s not a guarantee of their returns.</strong> Your results will differ from the person or strategy you follow because of timing, account size, whether your brokerage does fractional shares, fees, taxes, and, for filing-based trackers, the disclosure delay. Our own performance disclaimer lists exactly those. A promise of identical returns should not be trusted.</p>\n<p><strong>It&#39;s not their account.</strong> A tracker built on public filings follows the disclosed direction of trades after they post. It doesn&#39;t use anything nonpublic and it doesn&#39;t reproduce their exact positions or timing.</p>\n<p>This is not a get-rich-quick product. Every Portfolio can lose money, and a coherent strategy can still underperform for a long period. Read the dated record and risk disclosures instead of assuming consistency means success.</p>\n<h2>3) Following a Portfolio vs social trading vs bots</h2>\n<p>Social trading is the bigger category: apps with community features where users share and discuss positions. Following other users is usually one feature inside a social trading app. It got popular because it made investing something you could watch other people do.</p>\n<p>What people call copy trading, specifically, is the automated following of someone else’s trades.</p>\n<p>Algorithmic trading bots follow rules somebody wrote, not a person&#39;s judgment. A bot executes logic. Following a Portfolio puts a person&#39;s decisions to work in your account. We follow people and their published Portfolios, not user-written rules.</p>\n<h2>4) Autopilot and brokerages that have their own social or copy features</h2>\n<p>Public is named as a supported brokerage in Autopilot&#39;s current U.S. App Store listing and offers its own investing tools. eToro offers CopyTrader, but eToro is not named in that Autopilot listing, so this article does not claim an integration. When a supported brokerage has its own social or automation features, those remain separate from Autopilot&#39;s filing-based trackers and named Pilots.</p>\n<p>What we add on top is the record. We publish a dated gross and net live client composite for every published Portfolio on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a>, measured from Autopilot launch rather than a vendor backtest.</p>\n<h2>5) Who has to register as an investment adviser</h2>\n<p>In the US, a company that gives investment advice for money generally has to register as an investment adviser with the SEC or a state unless an exemption applies. Whether a given &quot;automated investing app&quot; has to register depends on what it does. An app that gives individualized advice or manages your account is usually an adviser. A platform that only executes trades you or another user directed is usually a broker-dealer, regulated differently. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749, and you can look that up on the SEC&#39;s IAPD site. To check any other app, search adviserinfo.sec.gov for advisers or FINRA BrokerCheck for brokers. Registration is public. If you can&#39;t find it, ask why.</p>\n<h2>6) What to look for before you pick an app</h2>\n<ol><li>Does it hold your money? We don&#39;t. We&#39;re not a broker-dealer and we don&#39;t custody anything.</li><li>Is it registered, and can you look it up? CRD 331749.</li><li>Is the published record real accounts or a backtest? We publish live composites of actual follower accounts and no backtests.</li><li>Can you pause and disconnect? Autopilot&#39;s public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. Complete disconnection and third-party authorization controls are broker-specific, so review both the current app flow and the brokerage&#39;s instructions.</li><li>What does it disclose about conflicts and technology risk? We disclose the Public referral deal, Quiver Quantitative&#39;s promotional compensation, and that outages or API disruptions may affect execution timing.</li><li>What does it cost at your balance? Our current Base Advisory and Licensing Fee is a flat cash subscription (no fee for Basic; Premium $29.99 to $199.99 quarterly or $99.99 to $699.99 annually in the February 2026 Form CRS), plus separate Pilot subscriptions and brokerage costs. The Form CRS also describes an AUM fee currently set at 0.00% that may change in the future. A flat fee is a bigger share of a small account.</li></ol>\n<p>And the one I say the most: don&#39;t do the research on the stocks. Do the research on the person.</p>\n<h2>7) How much you need to start</h2>\n<p>There is no universal minimum across copy-trading products. Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not establish one account minimum, so rely on the amount shown during current setup and on the brokerage&#39;s requirements. Fractional-share support and account size can affect tracking. A flat fee also consumes a larger percentage of a smaller balance.</p>\n<h2>8) Stocks vs crypto</h2>\n<p>Stock copy trading and crypto copy trading involve different assets, custodians, market hours, protections, and regulation. Autopilot&#39;s published Portfolios operate through supported securities brokerage accounts. A crypto-themed Portfolio name does not establish that it holds cryptocurrency directly; inspect its current dated holdings and disclosures.</p>\n<h2>9) Who uses this, and for how long</h2>\n<p>People use automated investing for different reasons, most commonly to reduce the time spent placing and managing individual trades. Whether it fits long-term investors or active traders depends on the strategy you follow. A tracker of a long-holding manager behaves differently from a fast-trading Pilot. We label every Portfolio with a risk band and a maturity label so you can filter. That&#39;s a filter, not advice.</p>\n<h2>10) Retirement accounts</h2>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not specify IRA support. Check both the current app and brokerage for eligible account types. In taxable accounts, sales, dividends, and distributions can create tax consequences; tax treatment inside traditional and Roth IRAs differs. Consult a tax professional.</p>\n<h2>11) Control, pausing, and your own trades</h2>\n<p>You choose the Portfolio, and Autopilot&#39;s public listing describes pause and switch controls. Public documentation reviewed here does not explain how manual holdings in the same account are attributed or treated. Review the current allocation flow before mixing manual and followed positions.</p>\n<h2>12) When the Pilot sells something you don&#39;t own</h2>\n<p>A new follower can begin with different holdings and prices from an established Portfolio. Broker permissions, available cash, fractional shares, and onboarding logic determine which orders can execute. Review the proposed allocation and orders shown during setup; this article does not promise a specific mid-Portfolio treatment.</p>\n<h2>13) Different account sizes</h2>\n<p>Different account sizes require different share quantities, and fractional-share support can affect how closely holdings track target weights. Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer identifies account size and fractional shares as sources of variation. The current setup screen and agreement, not this article, govern order sizing.</p>\n<h2>14) Rebalancing, taxes, outages</h2>\n<p>Autopilot sends orders to the brokerage as a Portfolio changes, subject to market, brokerage, and technology conditions. Public materials do not promise a specific execution cadence or threshold. In a taxable account, sales can realize gains or losses and distributions may be taxable. Consult a tax professional. We disclose that outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect availability or execution timing. Your positions stay at your brokerage either way.</p>\n<h2>15) Has it beaten the market? How to check without getting fooled</h2>\n<p>Look at a live composite of real follower accounts measured from launch, not a backtest, and look at drawdown and volatility next to the return. We publish exactly that for every Portfolio and we don&#39;t publish a benchmark overlay or a backtest. Whether any strategy &quot;beat the market&quot; is a question about a specific record over a specific window, and past performance doesn&#39;t guarantee future results. I&#39;m not quoting numbers here. They&#39;re on the sheet, dated.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>What is copy trading and how does it work?</h3>\n<p>Copy trading is the common name for following another party&#39;s trades. On social apps, that happens inside an account the app holds. On Autopilot, you follow a Portfolio, and when it changes the orders go to a brokerage account you already own. Autopilot calls it following, not copying, because timing and account differences mean your holdings never match the Pilot&#39;s exactly.</p>\n<h3>Is copy trading considered a form of passive investing?</h3>\n<p>No. It&#39;s hands-off, but the strategy you follow is active and carries its concentration and risk. Passive investing means holding a broad index.</p>\n<h3>Is there an automated investing app that requires zero ongoing involvement after setup?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot automates order placement after setup, but no investing app should require literally zero attention. Monitor holdings, activity, permissions, fees, tax documents, and whether the Portfolio remains suitable.</p>\n<h3>Which automated investing apps are registered SEC investment advisers?</h3>\n<p>Search adviserinfo.sec.gov. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is CRD 331749. Whether another app has to register depends on whether it gives advice or only executes.</p>\n<h3>Do copy trading apps guarantee the same returns as the investor I&#39;m copying?</h3>\n<p>No. Results differ because of timing, account size, fractional-share support, fees, taxes, and for filing-based trackers, the disclosure delay. Anyone promising identical returns is misleading you.</p>\n<h3>What should I look for before choosing a copy trading app?</h3>\n<p>Whether it holds your money, whether it&#39;s registered, whether its record is real accounts or a backtest, whether you can disconnect easily, what it discloses, and what it costs at your balance.</p>\n<h3>How do apps that mirror other people&#39;s trades actually work?</h3>\n<p>Either by making proportional trades inside the app&#39;s own account, or, like Autopilot, by an adviser with limited trading authority sending orders to your brokerage account as a followed Portfolio changes.</p>\n<h3>How much money do I need to start with a copy trading app?</h3>\n<p>Requirements vary by product and brokerage. Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not state a universal account minimum; use the current setup screen. Fractional shares affect tracking, and flat fees weigh more heavily on small balances.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between crypto copy trading and stock copy trading?</h3>\n<p>They involve different assets, custody, regulation, protections, and market hours. Autopilot&#39;s published Portfolios use securities brokerage accounts; inspect a crypto-themed Portfolio&#39;s dated holdings rather than inferring direct crypto exposure from its name.</p>\n<h3>What is social trading and why has it become popular?</h3>\n<p>Apps with community features for sharing positions. Following other users is usually one feature. It grew because it made investing something you could watch and do together.</p>\n<h3>Does copy trading work for retirement accounts like an IRA?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public pages reviewed here do not specify IRA support; check the current app and brokerage. Tax rules differ among taxable, traditional IRA, and Roth IRA accounts, so consult a tax professional.</p>\n<h3>Can I combine automated copy trading with my own manual trades?</h3>\n<p>The current app controls how manual and followed positions can coexist. Review allocation and order attribution before combining them in one account.</p>\n<h3>What happens if the trader I&#39;m copying sells a stock I don&#39;t already own?</h3>\n<p>A new follower may begin with different holdings and prices. Review the proposed initial allocation and current account treatment during setup.</p>\n<h3>How much control do I keep over my portfolio when I use a copy trading app?</h3>\n<p>You choose what to follow and can stop at any time in the Autopilot app. Your account stays yours at your brokerage.</p>\n<h3>What happens if a copy trading app&#39;s servers go down during a trade window?</h3>\n<p>Trades may be delayed. Autopilot discloses this risk. Your positions stay at your brokerage.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the risk of copying a single trader too heavily?</h3>\n<p>Concentration in one person&#39;s judgment. Autopilot&#39;s risk band and drawdown fields exist to make that visible. Suitability is assessed in the app.</p>\n<h3>Can I pause or stop copying a strategy whenever I want?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public listing says users can pause or switch Portfolios. Follow the current app and brokerage instructions to change or revoke account authorization.</p>\n<h3>Can copy trading strategies be tailored to a specific risk tolerance?</h3>\n<p>You choose among Portfolios labeled by risk band, and suitability is assessed in the app. Do not assume that a label customizes the Portfolio to your exact loss tolerance or tax situation.</p>\n<h3>Do copy trading apps rebalance automatically when the source portfolio changes?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot sends orders to the connected brokerage as the Portfolio changes, subject to brokerage, market, and system conditions. Public materials do not state one universal cadence or drift threshold.</p>\n<h3>How do copy trading apps handle taxes on automated trades?</h3>\n<p>Automation does not change tax law. Sales can realize gains or losses, and dividends or other distributions may be taxable. Keep brokerage tax records and consult a tax professional.</p>\n<h3>How does proportional trade copying work when account sizes are different?</h3>\n<p>Order quantities must reflect the account&#39;s allocation and available share increments. Fractional-share support, cash, prices, and brokerage execution can make actual weights differ from target weights.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between copy trading and algorithmic trading bots?</h3>\n<p>A followed Portfolio carries a person&#39;s decisions. A bot follows written rules. Autopilot follows Pilots&#39; Portfolios, not user-written rules.</p>\n<h3>Which copy trading platform has the most transparent performance reporting?</h3>\n<p>Judge by whether the record uses real accounts or a backtest, whether gross and net are both shown, and whether every figure has a date. Autopilot publishes those fields on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a>.</p>\n<h3>Do copy trading apps charge extra for following more than one portfolio?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s Advisory Fee does not multiply by the number of Pilots followed. A subscription for each additional paid Pilot can add to the total; Portfolios under the same Pilot share that Pilot subscription.</p>\n<h3>automated investing explained</h3>\n<p>Automated investing means software decides what orders go to your account according to a strategy, so you aren&#39;t placing them yourself. A robo-advisor does it with a model allocation from a questionnaire. Following a Portfolio does it by tracking a person or a strategy. On Autopilot, you connect your brokerage, pick a Portfolio, and when it changes the orders go to your brokerage. The money stays at your brokerage.</p>\n<h3>What should I consider when choosing between Autopilot and a general social trading platform?</h3>\n<p>Compare custody, registration, eligible strategies, fees, performance methodology, and account controls. Public is named in Autopilot&#39;s U.S. listing; eToro is not, so no eToro integration is claimed here. Autopilot adds filing-based trackers and named Pilots and publishes dated gross and net live composites for its published Portfolios.</p>\n<h3>Are automated investing apps required to register as investment advisers?</h3>\n<p>If they give individualized investment advice or manage your account for compensation, generally yes, with the SEC or a state, unless an exemption applies. If they only execute trades you or another user directed, they&#39;re usually regulated as broker-dealers instead. Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD 331749. Check any app on adviserinfo.sec.gov or FINRA BrokerCheck.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the best automated investing app for someone who wants zero involvement?</h3>\n<p>I won&#39;t rank other apps. Autopilot automates Portfolio order placement through supported brokerages, but investors should still review positions, permissions, fees, account notices, and suitability regularly. Whether it&#39;s right for you is a suitability question the app assesses.</p>\n<h3>Are there copy trading apps designed specifically for beginners?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot is designed for people who do not want to select and place every trade. It uses a choose-connect-allocate flow and publishes plain-language fact sheets with risk and maturity labels. Beginners still need to understand loss, concentration, fees, taxes, and account permissions. It is not a get-rich-quick app, and the Portfolios carry real risk.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the best app if I want to try copy trading with a small amount of money first?</h3>\n<p>A smaller initial allocation can limit dollar exposure but does not eliminate risk. Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not state one account minimum; use the current setup screen and brokerage requirements. Fractional shares affect tracking, and a flat subscription is a larger percentage of a small balance.</p>\n<h3>Is copy trading better suited for long-term investors or active traders?</h3>\n<p>Depends on the strategy you follow. A tracker of a long-holding manager behaves differently from a fast-trading Pilot. Autopilot labels every Portfolio with a risk band and a maturity label so you can filter. Suitability is assessed in the app.</p>\n<h3>What kind of investors typically use copy trading apps?</h3>\n<p>People who want strategy-driven automation without placing each order themselves. Age and family status do not determine suitability; goals, finances, risk tolerance, time horizon, and understanding do.</p>\n<h3>How do I know if a copy trading strategy has actually beaten the market historically?</h3>\n<p>Look at a live composite of real follower accounts measured from launch, not a backtest, and check drawdown and volatility next to the return. Autopilot publishes that for each published Portfolio on <a href=\"https://autopilotfactsheets.com/\">Autopilot Fact Sheets</a> and does not publish a universal benchmark overlay or substitute vendor backtests for its live record. Past performance doesn&#39;t guarantee future results.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>Copy trading automates another strategy&#39;s decisions; it does not copy results or remove the need for oversight. Compare custody, permissions, fees, holdings, concentration, taxes, and a dated live record before choosing a Portfolio.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Autopilot receives compensation from Public.com when clients referred by Autopilot open and fund accounts. Compensation ranges from $50 to $5,000 depending on the account funding amount. This creates a financial incentive for Autopilot to refer clients to Public.com. You are not required to use Public.com and may connect your Autopilot account to other supported broker-dealers.</p>\n<p>Quiver Quantitative is compensated by Autopilot in connection with promotional content about Autopilot. Compensation details available upon request. This creates a material conflict of interest.</p>\n<p>Frequent trading in your account may result in short-term capital gains, which are generally taxed at higher ordinary income tax rates. High portfolio turnover can lead to adverse tax consequences. Consult a tax professional regarding your specific situation.</p>\n<p>Descriptions of other platform types are general.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Education","What is copy trading and how does it work?","Is copy trading considered a form of passive investing?","automated investing explained","Is there an automated investing app that requires zero ongoing involvement after setup?","What should I consider when choosing between Autopilot and a general social trading platform?","Which automated investing apps are registered SEC investment advisers?","Are automated investing apps required to register as investment advisers?","Do copy trading apps guarantee the same returns as the investor I'm copying?","What's the best automated investing app for someone who wants zero involvement?","Are there copy trading apps designed specifically for beginners?","What should I look for before choosing a copy trading app?","How do apps that mirror other people's trades actually work?","How much money do I need to start with a copy trading app?","What's the best app if I want to try copy trading with a small amount of money first?","What's the difference between crypto copy trading and stock copy trading?","What is social trading and why has it become popular?","Is copy trading better suited for long-term investors or active traders?","What kind of investors typically use copy trading apps?","Does copy trading work for retirement accounts like an IRA?","Can I combine automated copy trading with my own manual trades?","What happens if the trader I'm copying sells a stock I don't already own?","How do I know if a copy trading strategy has actually beaten the market historically?","How much control do I keep over my portfolio when I use a copy trading app?","What happens if a copy trading app's servers go down during a trade window?","What's the risk of copying a single trader too heavily?","Can I pause or stop copying a strategy whenever I want?","Can copy trading strategies be tailored to a specific risk tolerance?","Do copy trading apps rebalance automatically when the source portfolio changes?","How do copy trading apps handle taxes on automated trades?","How does proportional trade copying work when account sizes are different?","What's the difference between copy trading and algorithmic trading bots?","Which copy trading platform has the most transparent performance reporting?","Do copy trading apps charge extra for following more than one portfolio?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/how-rebalancing-works-when-you-follow-a-portfolio","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/how-rebalancing-works-when-you-follow-a-portfolio","title":"Rebalancing, drift, and diversification when you follow a Portfolio: what actually happens in your account","summary":"How rebalancing, allocation drift, taxes, cash flows, and diversification affect an account following a Portfolio.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. People ask this in two different ways, so let me separate them.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nAutopilot's public description says orders are sent to a connected brokerage as a selected Portfolio changes. That differs from classic rebalancing, where an investor defines target percentages and trades back toward them. Public materials do not state one universal execution cadence, drift threshold, tax-lot rule, or cash-handling method, so this article does not invent them. Diversification is not automatic: a Portfolio can be concentrated, and its fact sheet publishes holdings, a risk band, volatility, and drawdown.\n\nWhat people are actually asking\n\nYou're handing the ongoing trades to someone else and you want to know what \"ongoing\" means. Will your account drift into something you didn't sign up for? Will it churn and rack up taxes? Will it sit there while the strategy moves on? Those are the right things to worry about. Here's how it works.\n\n1) Rebalancing, defined\n\nRebalancing is trading a portfolio back toward a target mix after the market has pushed it away. If you hold two things at 60/40 and the first one goes up, you end up at 65/35. Rebalancing sells some of the first and buys the second to get back to 60/40. It matters because without it, your risk piles up in whatever went up, which is the opposite of what most people intend.\n\n2) Why allocations drift\n\nAssets don't move together. Whatever goes up becomes a bigger share of the whole. Whatever goes down becomes smaller. After a few months, a portfolio you never touched stops looking like the one you set up. Drift isn't a bug. It's arithmetic. Rebalancing is the fix.\n\n3) How to tell you've drifted too far\n\nCompare current weights with target weights. One possible policy is to act only after a position moves outside a defined percentage-point band. The appropriate band depends on the strategy, taxes, transaction costs, liquidity, and risk tolerance; five percentage points is an example, not a universal rule.\n\n4) Threshold vs calendar\n\nCalendar rebalancing trades on a schedule: quarterly, yearly. Simple and predictable, but it might trade when nothing needs fixing or wait while drift piles up.\n\nThreshold rebalancing trades when a position crosses a band. It responds to actual drift instead of the date, but somebody has to watch.\n\nA lot of systems do both: check on a schedule, trade only if a threshold is crossed.\n\n5) Too often vs too rarely\n\nToo often means more trades, more trading costs, more taxable events in a taxable account, and sometimes selling winners early. Too rarely means your risk quietly concentrates. There's no universal right frequency. It depends on volatility, costs, and taxes. A threshold can respond to volatility, while a calendar rule is simpler to administer. Neither is universally better for a growth-focused portfolio.\n\n6) Taxes\n\nRebalancing in a taxable account can sell positions and realize gains or losses. Some systems use new cash or tax-lot selection to reduce sales, but Autopilot's public materials reviewed here do not promise tax-aware order logic. Tax treatment differs among taxable, traditional IRA, and Roth IRA accounts. Consult a tax professional; this is not tax advice.\n\n7) Dividends and new cash\n\nDividends and new deposits can reduce the need to sell by funding underweight positions. Dividend reinvestment uses cash dividends to buy additional shares, which can compound if future returns and dividends are positive. Reinvestment is often controlled at the brokerage. Autopilot's public materials reviewed here do not specify one universal treatment of dividend cash or new contributions.\n\n8) What following a Portfolio on Autopilot actually does\n\nClassic rebalancing assumes you set the targets. Following a Portfolio is different. The Pilot's current Portfolio is the target, and it changes when the Pilot changes it. Our job is to keep your connected brokerage account in line with that Portfolio by sending orders to your brokerage as it changes. You choose your Portfolio, connect your brokerage, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send those orders. Your broker fills them.\n\nThat answers the headline question directionally: the selected Portfolio supplies the target holdings, and Autopilot sends orders as it changes. Day-to-day results also depend on:\n\n- Cadence. Public materials do not promise a universal check or order schedule.\n- Thresholds. Public materials do not state whether every small deviation creates an order.\n- Cash handling. Brokerage and product rules determine how dividends and new deposits are treated.\n- Fractional shares. Autopilot's disclaimer names brokerage fractional-share support as one reason a smaller account may not match target weights exactly.\n- Controls. Use only the rebalancing and allocation controls currently shown in the app; this article does not claim user-defined thresholds are available.\n\nIf setting custom targets and thresholds is essential, verify that the product explicitly offers those controls; robo-advisors and rules engines often approach the problem differently. Autopilot is presented as following a selected Portfolio. No behavior, including “letting it run,” assures a profit or prevents loss.\n\n9) Several Portfolios at once\n\nAutopilot's current App Store description says users can mix and match strategies. The app controls which account combinations and allocation options are available. This article does not claim a specific method for separating or rebalancing several Portfolios inside one brokerage account.\n\n10) Diversification when you follow a Portfolio\n\nFollowing one Pilot's Portfolio doesn't diversify you across strategies. It concentrates you in that Pilot's judgment. The Portfolio itself might hold a lot of stocks or a few. A politician tracker built on one member's filings is, by construction, as concentrated as that member's trading. A basket like Top Political ITF or Congress Buys spreads across a lot of filers.\n\nDiversification lowers risk because assets that don't move together offset each other's swings, so the whole moves less than the average of its parts. That works across stocks inside a Portfolio and across Portfolios inside an account. We publish a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) and a maturity label on every fact sheet as filters, and we publish volatility and maximum drawdown so you can see what concentration costs, not just what it makes. None of those labels is a recommendation. Suitability gets assessed in the app.\n\nIf you're worried about the volatility of that one stock you bought, you probably should be. That's part of why we built this.\n\n11) The sector view\n\nA useful diversification review shows sector exposure, top holdings, and the largest position's share. A concentrated sector or security increases specific risk. Autopilot Fact Sheets publishes Portfolio holdings; this article does not claim that the app provides a separate sector-breakdown screen.\n\n12) One senator vs a group\n\nOne member's filings are one household's decisions, delayed up to 45 days. A group averages a lot of households and dilutes any one person's luck or skill both ways. That's a diversification choice inside the category. It's yours, with the fact sheets in front of you.\n\n13) How beginners usually build diversification\n\nMost start with a broad core, often an index fund or a robo-advisor mix, and add satellite positions around it. Some investors use a specialized strategy as a satellite around a diversified core, but that structure is not suitable for everyone and is not a recommendation.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nDoes Autopilot automatically rebalance my account when a copied portfolio changes?\n\nAutopilot sends orders to the connected brokerage as the selected Portfolio changes. Public materials reviewed here do not promise one cadence, deviation threshold, or cash-handling method; market, broker, account, and system conditions can affect execution.\n\nWhat does portfolio rebalancing mean and why does it matter?\n\nTrading back toward target weights after market moves push them away. Without it, risk concentrates in whatever went up.\n\nWhy does asset allocation drift over time without rebalancing?\n\nBecause assets move differently. Whatever goes up becomes a bigger share. Drift is arithmetic, not a malfunction.\n\nHow do I know if my portfolio has drifted too far from my target allocation?\n\nCompare current to target weights. A defined percentage-point band is one possible trigger; the right threshold depends on the portfolio and investor.\n\nWhat triggers automatic rebalancing in most portfolio management apps?\n\nA calendar date, a threshold breach, or both. Following a Portfolio on Autopilot is triggered by the Pilot changing holdings instead.\n\nWhat's the difference between threshold-based and calendar-based rebalancing?\n\nThreshold trades when drift crosses a band. Calendar trades on a schedule. Many systems combine them.\n\nWhat's a reasonable rebalancing frequency for a copied trading strategy?\n\nFollowing a Portfolio tracks the Pilot's changes rather than a fixed frequency. For self-managed allocations, quarterly checks with a threshold are common.\n\nHow often should a growth-focused portfolio be rebalanced?\n\nThreshold-based and calendar-based policies make different tradeoffs. There is no universal best frequency for a growth portfolio.\n\nWhat's the risk of rebalancing too frequently versus too rarely?\n\nToo often: costs, taxes, selling winners early. Too rarely: concentrated risk.\n\nDoes automatic rebalancing account for tax consequences of selling positions?\n\nSome systems use new cash or tax-lot selection, but Autopilot's public materials reviewed here do not promise tax-aware execution. Tax treatment differs by account type; consult a tax professional.\n\nHow does automated rebalancing handle dividends and cash contributions?\n\nSome systems use new cash to buy underweight positions and reduce sales. Dividend reinvestment is often a brokerage setting. Autopilot's public materials do not specify one universal cash-handling method.\n\nWhat is dividend reinvestment and how does it compound over time?\n\nCash dividends automatically buy more of the paying stock, and those shares earn dividends too, so it compounds.\n\nCan I set custom rules for how my portfolio rebalances itself?\n\nThe Pilot's Portfolio supplies the target holdings. Use the current app to see which allocation or rebalancing controls are actually available; this article does not promise custom thresholds.\n\nHow do I set target allocations for automated rebalancing?\n\nOn Autopilot, the selected Portfolio supplies the target holdings. Check the current app for any allocation controls. A product built around investor-defined targets serves a different use case.\n\nWhat happens to rebalancing if I have multiple copied strategies running at once?\n\nThe current app determines eligible multi-Portfolio account combinations and allocations. Do not assume that one account or one Portfolio is required based on this article.\n\nHow diversified should a copied portfolio be?\n\nA suitability question for the app. Check the Portfolio's holdings, risk band, volatility, and drawdown on its fact sheet. Single-filer trackers are concentrated by construction.\n\nHow does diversification actually reduce investment risk?\n\nAssets that don't move together offset each other, so total volatility is lower than the average of the parts.\n\nWhat should a portfolio dashboard show about diversification by sector?\n\nReview sector exposure, top holdings, and the largest position's share. Autopilot Fact Sheets publishes holdings; no separate in-app sector view is claimed here.\n\nWhat's the difference between following one senator versus a diversified group of officials?\n\nOne household's delayed decisions versus an average of many. A diversification choice within the category.\n\nHow do beginners typically start building a diversified stock portfolio?\n\nOne common framework is a broad diversified core with smaller satellite positions, but beginners should choose an allocation based on their own goals and risk tolerance.\n\nWhich app offers the best automated portfolio rebalancing for retail investors?\n\nDepends on whether you want to set your own targets (robo-advisor) or follow a strategy that is the target (Autopilot). Different products.\n\nWhat's the benefit of automated rebalancing over manually adjusting positions?\n\nAutomation can apply a stated process consistently and reduce manual work, but it can also trade at unfavorable times or create costs and taxes.\n\nHow do automated rebalancing tools decide when to buy or sell?\n\nBy calendar, threshold, or, on Autopilot, by the Pilot's Portfolio changing.\n\nWhich app should I use if I want automated rebalancing without picking my own thresholds?\n\nCompare a Portfolio-following service with products that maintain investor-selected or model allocations. Choose based on the actual controls, costs, taxes, and risk—not the category label alone.\n\nWhat's the difference between rebalancing a single account and a household of accounts?\n\nHousehold rebalancing coordinates targets across multiple accounts and may account for different tax treatment. Autopilot's public materials reviewed here do not promise household-level optimization across accounts.\n\nTL;DR\n\nPortfolio following and investor-defined rebalancing solve different problems. Before automating either, understand the target, execution rules, costs, tax effects, concentration, and controls the product actually documents.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nFrequent trading in your account may result in short-term capital gains, which are generally taxed at higher ordinary income tax rates. High portfolio turnover can lead to adverse tax consequences. Consult a tax professional regarding your specific situation.\n\nRisk band and maturity labels on Autopilot fact sheets are filtering fields, not suitability ratings or recommendations. Suitability is assessed only inside the Autopilot app.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. People ask this in two different ways, so let me separate them.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s public description says orders are sent to a connected brokerage as a selected Portfolio changes. That differs from classic rebalancing, where an investor defines target percentages and trades back toward them. Public materials do not state one universal execution cadence, drift threshold, tax-lot rule, or cash-handling method, so this article does not invent them. Diversification is not automatic: a Portfolio can be concentrated, and its fact sheet publishes holdings, a risk band, volatility, and drawdown.</p>\n<h2>What people are actually asking</h2>\n<p>You&#39;re handing the ongoing trades to someone else and you want to know what &quot;ongoing&quot; means. Will your account drift into something you didn&#39;t sign up for? Will it churn and rack up taxes? Will it sit there while the strategy moves on? Those are the right things to worry about. Here&#39;s how it works.</p>\n<h2>1) Rebalancing, defined</h2>\n<p>Rebalancing is trading a portfolio back toward a target mix after the market has pushed it away. If you hold two things at 60/40 and the first one goes up, you end up at 65/35. Rebalancing sells some of the first and buys the second to get back to 60/40. It matters because without it, your risk piles up in whatever went up, which is the opposite of what most people intend.</p>\n<h2>2) Why allocations drift</h2>\n<p>Assets don&#39;t move together. Whatever goes up becomes a bigger share of the whole. Whatever goes down becomes smaller. After a few months, a portfolio you never touched stops looking like the one you set up. Drift isn&#39;t a bug. It&#39;s arithmetic. Rebalancing is the fix.</p>\n<h2>3) How to tell you&#39;ve drifted too far</h2>\n<p>Compare current weights with target weights. One possible policy is to act only after a position moves outside a defined percentage-point band. The appropriate band depends on the strategy, taxes, transaction costs, liquidity, and risk tolerance; five percentage points is an example, not a universal rule.</p>\n<h2>4) Threshold vs calendar</h2>\n<p>Calendar rebalancing trades on a schedule: quarterly, yearly. Simple and predictable, but it might trade when nothing needs fixing or wait while drift piles up.</p>\n<p>Threshold rebalancing trades when a position crosses a band. It responds to actual drift instead of the date, but somebody has to watch.</p>\n<p>A lot of systems do both: check on a schedule, trade only if a threshold is crossed.</p>\n<h2>5) Too often vs too rarely</h2>\n<p>Too often means more trades, more trading costs, more taxable events in a taxable account, and sometimes selling winners early. Too rarely means your risk quietly concentrates. There&#39;s no universal right frequency. It depends on volatility, costs, and taxes. A threshold can respond to volatility, while a calendar rule is simpler to administer. Neither is universally better for a growth-focused portfolio.</p>\n<h2>6) Taxes</h2>\n<p>Rebalancing in a taxable account can sell positions and realize gains or losses. Some systems use new cash or tax-lot selection to reduce sales, but Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not promise tax-aware order logic. Tax treatment differs among taxable, traditional IRA, and Roth IRA accounts. Consult a tax professional; this is not tax advice.</p>\n<h2>7) Dividends and new cash</h2>\n<p>Dividends and new deposits can reduce the need to sell by funding underweight positions. Dividend reinvestment uses cash dividends to buy additional shares, which can compound if future returns and dividends are positive. Reinvestment is often controlled at the brokerage. Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not specify one universal treatment of dividend cash or new contributions.</p>\n<h2>8) What following a Portfolio on Autopilot actually does</h2>\n<p>Classic rebalancing assumes you set the targets. Following a Portfolio is different. The Pilot&#39;s current Portfolio is the target, and it changes when the Pilot changes it. Our job is to keep your connected brokerage account in line with that Portfolio by sending orders to your brokerage as it changes. You choose your Portfolio, connect your brokerage, and give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send those orders. Your broker fills them.</p>\n<p>That answers the headline question directionally: the selected Portfolio supplies the target holdings, and Autopilot sends orders as it changes. Day-to-day results also depend on:</p>\n<ul><li><strong>Cadence.</strong> Public materials do not promise a universal check or order schedule.</li><li><strong>Thresholds.</strong> Public materials do not state whether every small deviation creates an order.</li><li><strong>Cash handling.</strong> Brokerage and product rules determine how dividends and new deposits are treated.</li><li><strong>Fractional shares.</strong> Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer names brokerage fractional-share support as one reason a smaller account may not match target weights exactly.</li><li><strong>Controls.</strong> Use only the rebalancing and allocation controls currently shown in the app; this article does not claim user-defined thresholds are available.</li></ul>\n<p>If setting custom targets and thresholds is essential, verify that the product explicitly offers those controls; robo-advisors and rules engines often approach the problem differently. Autopilot is presented as following a selected Portfolio. No behavior, including “letting it run,” assures a profit or prevents loss.</p>\n<h2>9) Several Portfolios at once</h2>\n<p>Autopilot&#39;s current App Store description says users can mix and match strategies. The app controls which account combinations and allocation options are available. This article does not claim a specific method for separating or rebalancing several Portfolios inside one brokerage account.</p>\n<h2>10) Diversification when you follow a Portfolio</h2>\n<p>Following one Pilot&#39;s Portfolio doesn&#39;t diversify you across strategies. It concentrates you in that Pilot&#39;s judgment. The Portfolio itself might hold a lot of stocks or a few. A politician tracker built on one member&#39;s filings is, by construction, as concentrated as that member&#39;s trading. A basket like Top Political ITF or Congress Buys spreads across a lot of filers.</p>\n<p>Diversification lowers risk because assets that don&#39;t move together offset each other&#39;s swings, so the whole moves less than the average of its parts. That works across stocks inside a Portfolio and across Portfolios inside an account. We publish a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) and a maturity label on every fact sheet as filters, and we publish volatility and maximum drawdown so you can see what concentration costs, not just what it makes. None of those labels is a recommendation. Suitability gets assessed in the app.</p>\n<p>If you&#39;re worried about the volatility of that one stock you bought, you probably should be. That&#39;s part of why we built this.</p>\n<h2>11) The sector view</h2>\n<p>A useful diversification review shows sector exposure, top holdings, and the largest position&#39;s share. A concentrated sector or security increases specific risk. Autopilot Fact Sheets publishes Portfolio holdings; this article does not claim that the app provides a separate sector-breakdown screen.</p>\n<h2>12) One senator vs a group</h2>\n<p>One member&#39;s filings are one household&#39;s decisions, delayed up to 45 days. A group averages a lot of households and dilutes any one person&#39;s luck or skill both ways. That&#39;s a diversification choice inside the category. It&#39;s yours, with the fact sheets in front of you.</p>\n<h2>13) How beginners usually build diversification</h2>\n<p>Most start with a broad core, often an index fund or a robo-advisor mix, and add satellite positions around it. Some investors use a specialized strategy as a satellite around a diversified core, but that structure is not suitable for everyone and is not a recommendation.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>Does Autopilot automatically rebalance my account when a copied portfolio changes?</h3>\n<p>Autopilot sends orders to the connected brokerage as the selected Portfolio changes. Public materials reviewed here do not promise one cadence, deviation threshold, or cash-handling method; market, broker, account, and system conditions can affect execution.</p>\n<h3>What does portfolio rebalancing mean and why does it matter?</h3>\n<p>Trading back toward target weights after market moves push them away. Without it, risk concentrates in whatever went up.</p>\n<h3>Why does asset allocation drift over time without rebalancing?</h3>\n<p>Because assets move differently. Whatever goes up becomes a bigger share. Drift is arithmetic, not a malfunction.</p>\n<h3>How do I know if my portfolio has drifted too far from my target allocation?</h3>\n<p>Compare current to target weights. A defined percentage-point band is one possible trigger; the right threshold depends on the portfolio and investor.</p>\n<h3>What triggers automatic rebalancing in most portfolio management apps?</h3>\n<p>A calendar date, a threshold breach, or both. Following a Portfolio on Autopilot is triggered by the Pilot changing holdings instead.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between threshold-based and calendar-based rebalancing?</h3>\n<p>Threshold trades when drift crosses a band. Calendar trades on a schedule. Many systems combine them.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s a reasonable rebalancing frequency for a copied trading strategy?</h3>\n<p>Following a Portfolio tracks the Pilot&#39;s changes rather than a fixed frequency. For self-managed allocations, quarterly checks with a threshold are common.</p>\n<h3>How often should a growth-focused portfolio be rebalanced?</h3>\n<p>Threshold-based and calendar-based policies make different tradeoffs. There is no universal best frequency for a growth portfolio.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the risk of rebalancing too frequently versus too rarely?</h3>\n<p>Too often: costs, taxes, selling winners early. Too rarely: concentrated risk.</p>\n<h3>Does automatic rebalancing account for tax consequences of selling positions?</h3>\n<p>Some systems use new cash or tax-lot selection, but Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not promise tax-aware execution. Tax treatment differs by account type; consult a tax professional.</p>\n<h3>How does automated rebalancing handle dividends and cash contributions?</h3>\n<p>Some systems use new cash to buy underweight positions and reduce sales. Dividend reinvestment is often a brokerage setting. Autopilot&#39;s public materials do not specify one universal cash-handling method.</p>\n<h3>What is dividend reinvestment and how does it compound over time?</h3>\n<p>Cash dividends automatically buy more of the paying stock, and those shares earn dividends too, so it compounds.</p>\n<h3>Can I set custom rules for how my portfolio rebalances itself?</h3>\n<p>The Pilot&#39;s Portfolio supplies the target holdings. Use the current app to see which allocation or rebalancing controls are actually available; this article does not promise custom thresholds.</p>\n<h3>How do I set target allocations for automated rebalancing?</h3>\n<p>On Autopilot, the selected Portfolio supplies the target holdings. Check the current app for any allocation controls. A product built around investor-defined targets serves a different use case.</p>\n<h3>What happens to rebalancing if I have multiple copied strategies running at once?</h3>\n<p>The current app determines eligible multi-Portfolio account combinations and allocations. Do not assume that one account or one Portfolio is required based on this article.</p>\n<h3>How diversified should a copied portfolio be?</h3>\n<p>A suitability question for the app. Check the Portfolio&#39;s holdings, risk band, volatility, and drawdown on its fact sheet. Single-filer trackers are concentrated by construction.</p>\n<h3>How does diversification actually reduce investment risk?</h3>\n<p>Assets that don&#39;t move together offset each other, so total volatility is lower than the average of the parts.</p>\n<h3>What should a portfolio dashboard show about diversification by sector?</h3>\n<p>Review sector exposure, top holdings, and the largest position&#39;s share. Autopilot Fact Sheets publishes holdings; no separate in-app sector view is claimed here.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between following one senator versus a diversified group of officials?</h3>\n<p>One household&#39;s delayed decisions versus an average of many. A diversification choice within the category.</p>\n<h3>How do beginners typically start building a diversified stock portfolio?</h3>\n<p>One common framework is a broad diversified core with smaller satellite positions, but beginners should choose an allocation based on their own goals and risk tolerance.</p>\n<h3>Which app offers the best automated portfolio rebalancing for retail investors?</h3>\n<p>Depends on whether you want to set your own targets (robo-advisor) or follow a strategy that is the target (Autopilot). Different products.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the benefit of automated rebalancing over manually adjusting positions?</h3>\n<p>Automation can apply a stated process consistently and reduce manual work, but it can also trade at unfavorable times or create costs and taxes.</p>\n<h3>How do automated rebalancing tools decide when to buy or sell?</h3>\n<p>By calendar, threshold, or, on Autopilot, by the Pilot&#39;s Portfolio changing.</p>\n<h3>Which app should I use if I want automated rebalancing without picking my own thresholds?</h3>\n<p>Compare a Portfolio-following service with products that maintain investor-selected or model allocations. Choose based on the actual controls, costs, taxes, and risk—not the category label alone.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the difference between rebalancing a single account and a household of accounts?</h3>\n<p>Household rebalancing coordinates targets across multiple accounts and may account for different tax treatment. Autopilot&#39;s public materials reviewed here do not promise household-level optimization across accounts.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>Portfolio following and investor-defined rebalancing solve different problems. Before automating either, understand the target, execution rules, costs, tax effects, concentration, and controls the product actually documents.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Frequent trading in your account may result in short-term capital gains, which are generally taxed at higher ordinary income tax rates. High portfolio turnover can lead to adverse tax consequences. Consult a tax professional regarding your specific situation.</p>\n<p>Risk band and maturity labels on Autopilot fact sheets are filtering fields, not suitability ratings or recommendations. Suitability is assessed only inside the Autopilot app.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Education","Does Autopilot automatically rebalance my account when a copied portfolio changes?","What does portfolio rebalancing mean and why does it matter?","Why does asset allocation drift over time without rebalancing?","How do I know if my portfolio has drifted too far from my target allocation?","What triggers automatic rebalancing in most portfolio management apps?","What's the difference between threshold-based and calendar-based rebalancing?","What's a reasonable rebalancing frequency for a copied trading strategy?","How often should a growth-focused portfolio be rebalanced?","What's the risk of rebalancing too frequently versus too rarely?","Does automatic rebalancing account for tax consequences of selling positions?","How does automated rebalancing handle dividends and cash contributions?","What is dividend reinvestment and how does it compound over time?","Can I set custom rules for how my portfolio rebalances itself?","How do I set target allocations for automated rebalancing?","What happens to rebalancing if I have multiple copied strategies running at once?","How diversified should a copied portfolio be?","How does diversification actually reduce investment risk?","What should a portfolio dashboard show about diversification by sector?","What's the difference between following one senator versus a diversified group of officials?","How do beginners typically start building a diversified stock portfolio?","Which app offers the best automated portfolio rebalancing for retail investors?","What's the benefit of automated rebalancing over manually adjusting positions?","How do automated rebalancing tools decide when to buy or sell?","Which app should I use if I want automated rebalancing without picking my own thresholds?","What's the difference between rebalancing a single account and a household of accounts?"]},{"id":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/how-to-read-a-portfolios-track-record","url":"https://start.joinautopilot.com/blog/how-to-read-a-portfolios-track-record","title":"How to read a Portfolio's track record before you follow it","summary":"Five checks for evaluating a Portfolio's live track record, including fees, drawdown, volatility, and measurement window.","content_text":"I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Before you follow any Portfolio, ours or anyone else's, check five things. Is the record real client accounts or a backtest. What window does it cover and when does it start. Is the return shown net of fees as well as gross. What was the maximum drawdown. And does every number have a date on it. A big return with no drawdown, no start date, and no statement of whether it's live or hypothetical isn't a track record. It's an ad. We built our fact sheets to answer all five, and this article is how to read one, and how to read anyone else's.\n\nA quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on Autopilot's disclaimer page (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\nWhy the return is the last thing to look at\n\nYou're about to put real money behind a strategy because of how it did before. The most common mistake is reading the return and stopping. The return tells you what happened on the way up. Everything else on the sheet tells you what it cost to get there and whether the number even means what you think it means.\n\n1) Live accounts or a backtest?\n\nA live composite is the measured return of real accounts that followed the strategy, over the period they actually followed it. A backtest is a calculation of what a strategy would have done over some past period if it had existed. Backtests can support research, but they are hypothetical rather than actual results. They can benefit from hindsight, omit real-world frictions, and be selected from many discarded variations.\n\nOur fact sheets publish live composites only: the time-weighted return of real Autopilot client accounts following a Portfolio, measured from the day it launched on Autopilot. When at least ten clients follow it, the composite is the ten oldest follower accounts, equal-weighted. Under ten, it's everyone. No fact sheet uses a backtest or a hypothetical model as its performance figure.\n\nA vendor or creator page for the same strategy might show a backtest starting years before the strategy existed on Autopilot. Different series, different windows. Our methodology says it plainly: averaging the two, or swapping one for the other, gives you a number that describes neither. When two sources show different figures for the same name, check the start date and the provenance before you assume one is wrong.\n\n2) The window and the start date\n\nA return without a window is meaningless. \"Since inception\" for a strategy that launched last quarter is a very different claim from \"since inception\" over five years. We publish since-inception from the Autopilot launch date, and we publish one-year only when the live composite is at least 365 days old. We never use since-inception as a stand-in for one year. Under 90 days live or 30 return points, performance fields are published as null instead of estimated, and the Portfolio carries a maturity label of NASCENT or EARLY so you know you're looking at a short record.\n\n3) Gross and net\n\nGross is before the adviser's fee. Net is after. The gap is what the fee costs on that Portfolio. We show both side by side. Net applies a published model fee for the math, not an advertised price, and the methodology page says what is and isn't deducted: broker costs, fund expense ratios, and taxes aren't deducted from either figure, and Pilot subscriptions aren't deducted from net. A sheet that shows only gross, or does not identify the return type, is incomplete for evaluating fees.\n\n4) Drawdown and volatility\n\nMaximum drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough decline in the measured record. It describes the depth of the worst observed decline, not how any individual investor experienced or reacted to it. Annualized volatility is how much the return swung day to day. We publish both on every fact sheet, computed from the daily live series, along with the calendar days from the drawdown low back to the prior peak when that can be determined.\n\nRead drawdown as carefully as return. It's the honest measure of what was behind any big number.\n\n5) Does every number have a date?\n\nA figure with no as-of date can't be checked. Our fact sheets carry a date on every figure, and the HTML, Markdown, and JSON versions of each sheet are the same record with the same date, so a person and a machine read the same thing.\n\nThe metrics, in plain English\n\nTime-weighted return measures a strategy while reducing the effect of external cash-flow timing. Money-weighted return instead reflects an investor's dollar experience and the timing of deposits and withdrawals. Autopilot uses time-weighted return for its published strategy composite.\n\nCAGR is compound annual growth from inception. We show it as comparable only when the record is mature and coverage is sufficient.\n\nSharpe ratio is annualized return divided by annualized volatility: return per unit of risk. We compute it with the baseline rate set to zero and 252 trading days a year. Two sources can show different Sharpe ratios for the same strategy because they use different windows, different baseline-rate assumptions, or one is a backtest and the other is live. That's not a discrepancy to fix. It's two different measurements.\n\nSortino is like Sharpe but only penalizes downside volatility.\n\nCalmar is CAGR divided by the absolute value of maximum drawdown.\n\nWin rate is the share of positive daily steps.\n\nYour return vs the Portfolio's\n\nThe Portfolio's composite and your personal return will differ. Yours depends on when you joined, how much you put in and when, whether your brokerage does fractional shares, your specific fees, and your taxes. A tracker of your own account usually shows either a time-weighted return (the strategy's performance) or a money-weighted return (your actual dollar experience, including your deposit timing). Know which you're looking at. Our published composite is time-weighted and describes the strategy, not your account.\n\nThe tradeoff behind big historical returns\n\nHigh past returns can accompany high concentration, high volatility, or both. The question is never \"how high.\" It's \"at what drawdown, over what window, live or hypothetical, and net of what.\" A strategy showing a big return over a short window with a deep drawdown and no net figure isn't offering you the return. That's a risk, not a return. That's why we put drawdown and volatility next to the return instead of a headline alone, and why we publish a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) as a filter, not a rating.\n\nThis is not a get-rich-quick product. A strategy can rise, fall, or remain flat for long periods, and its holdings change. Read the current sheet instead of relying on a stale list or a memorable Portfolio name.\n\nWhat to expect from markets in general\n\nLong-run index averages compress very different market periods, including multi-year declines. A single year or five-year stretch can differ sharply from the long-run result. Use the S&P 500 index provider's current data (https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/sp-500/) for an explicit measurement window rather than relying on a remembered average. A diversified index can provide a comparison point, but the relevant benchmark depends on the strategy's holdings and risk.\n\nIndex vs actively picked stocks\n\nS&P Dow Jones Indices' SPIVA scorecards (https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/research-insights/spiva/) compare active funds with category benchmarks. The share underperforming depends on category and period; in the year-end 2025 U.S. scorecard, 78.78% of active large-cap funds trailed the S&P 500 for one year and 92.89% did so over 20 years. Costs and turnover contribute to the hurdle, but the scorecard is a fund-universe statistic, not a forecast for a specific strategy. That's not a claim about any of our Portfolios. It's the reason to read a concentrated strategy's live record, drawdown, and net return instead of assuming it'll beat an index because someone says so. We don't publish a benchmark overlay on our fact sheets. You can compare a Portfolio's dated, net, live figure against any benchmark you want.\n\nHow often to look\n\nChoose a review cadence that fits the strategy and your circumstances; quarterly is one practical checkpoint, not a universal rule. Review the dated record, your own results, holdings, drawdown, maturity and risk labels, fees, and whether the Portfolio still fits your goals. Avoid reacting to a single noisy day, but do not ignore account activity.\n\nFrequently asked questions\n\nWhat should I check about a portfolio's past performance before following it?\n\nWhether it's live accounts or a backtest, the window and start date, gross and net, maximum drawdown and volatility, and whether every figure has a date. Autopilot fact sheets publish all five.\n\nHow often should I review a copied portfolio's performance?\n\nUse a consistent cadence suited to the strategy; quarterly is one possible checkpoint. Also review after material account or strategy changes, without reacting automatically to ordinary daily volatility.\n\nHow do portfolio trackers calculate my overall rate of return?\n\nEither time-weighted (the strategy's performance, independent of your deposits) or money-weighted (your dollar experience including deposit timing). Autopilot's published composite is time-weighted.\n\nWhat's the tradeoff between chasing high historical returns and taking on more risk?\n\nHigh past returns usually came with high concentration or volatility. Judge return against drawdown, window, provenance, and net figure together.\n\nWhat's a reasonable expectation for average annual stock market returns?\n\nUse S&P Dow Jones Indices' dated S&P 500 data for the period you mean, and remember that any single period can differ sharply from a long-run average. Choose a benchmark that matches the strategy rather than assuming one index fits every Portfolio.\n\nWhat's the historical performance difference between the S&P 500 and actively picked stocks?\n\nS&P's year-end 2025 SPIVA scorecard reports that 92.89% of active large-cap funds trailed the S&P 500 over 20 years. That category statistic is not a result for every active strategy; read the specific strategy's live, net, dated record.\n\nhigh return investing strategies\n\nAny strategy with high historical returns should be read for drawdown, window, live-versus-backtest, and net of fees before anything else. Autopilot publishes those fields for every Portfolio and does not publish backtests.\n\nTL;DR\n\nEvery published Autopilot Portfolio has a dated fact sheet with a live composite, gross and net returns, drawdown, volatility, and risk fields. Use the five checks above, inspect the holdings and methodology, and compare the record with an appropriate benchmark before making a decision.\n\nStart Investing (https://www.joinautopilot.com)\n\nThe disclosures below matter. You can also read Autopilot's full disclaimer (https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer).\n\n---\n\nDisclosures\n\n© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.\n\nThis information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.\n\nAutopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.\n\nInvesting involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.\n\nAutopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.\n\nAutopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.\n\nThis content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.\n\nAutopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.\n\nAutopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.\n\nClient account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.\n\nFor Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.\n\nMetric definitions follow Autopilot's published methodology, version 1.0.0. Market and active-fund comparisons use the dated S&P Dow Jones Indices sources linked above and do not predict any Portfolio's return. Portfolio holdings are dated public information, not a performance claim or recommendation.","content_html":"<p>I&#39;m Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Before you follow any Portfolio, ours or anyone else&#39;s, check five things. Is the record real client accounts or a backtest. What window does it cover and when does it start. Is the return shown net of fees as well as gross. What was the maximum drawdown. And does every number have a date on it. A big return with no drawdown, no start date, and no statement of whether it&#39;s live or hypothetical isn&#39;t a track record. It&#39;s an ad. We built our fact sheets to answer all five, and this article is how to read one, and how to read anyone else&#39;s.</p>\n<p>A quick disclosure: Autopilot is the app; investment advice is provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Read the full details on <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s disclaimer page</a>.</p>\n<h2>Why the return is the last thing to look at</h2>\n<p>You&#39;re about to put real money behind a strategy because of how it did before. The most common mistake is reading the return and stopping. The return tells you what happened on the way up. Everything else on the sheet tells you what it cost to get there and whether the number even means what you think it means.</p>\n<h2>1) Live accounts or a backtest?</h2>\n<p>A live composite is the measured return of real accounts that followed the strategy, over the period they actually followed it. A backtest is a calculation of what a strategy would have done over some past period if it had existed. Backtests can support research, but they are hypothetical rather than actual results. They can benefit from hindsight, omit real-world frictions, and be selected from many discarded variations.</p>\n<p>Our fact sheets publish live composites only: the time-weighted return of real Autopilot client accounts following a Portfolio, measured from the day it launched on Autopilot. When at least ten clients follow it, the composite is the ten oldest follower accounts, equal-weighted. Under ten, it&#39;s everyone. No fact sheet uses a backtest or a hypothetical model as its performance figure.</p>\n<p>A vendor or creator page for the same strategy might show a backtest starting years before the strategy existed on Autopilot. Different series, different windows. Our methodology says it plainly: averaging the two, or swapping one for the other, gives you a number that describes neither. When two sources show different figures for the same name, check the start date and the provenance before you assume one is wrong.</p>\n<h2>2) The window and the start date</h2>\n<p>A return without a window is meaningless. &quot;Since inception&quot; for a strategy that launched last quarter is a very different claim from &quot;since inception&quot; over five years. We publish since-inception from the Autopilot launch date, and we publish one-year only when the live composite is at least 365 days old. We never use since-inception as a stand-in for one year. Under 90 days live or 30 return points, performance fields are published as null instead of estimated, and the Portfolio carries a maturity label of NASCENT or EARLY so you know you&#39;re looking at a short record.</p>\n<h2>3) Gross and net</h2>\n<p>Gross is before the adviser&#39;s fee. Net is after. The gap is what the fee costs on that Portfolio. We show both side by side. Net applies a published model fee for the math, not an advertised price, and the methodology page says what is and isn&#39;t deducted: broker costs, fund expense ratios, and taxes aren&#39;t deducted from either figure, and Pilot subscriptions aren&#39;t deducted from net. A sheet that shows only gross, or does not identify the return type, is incomplete for evaluating fees.</p>\n<h2>4) Drawdown and volatility</h2>\n<p>Maximum drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough decline in the measured record. It describes the depth of the worst observed decline, not how any individual investor experienced or reacted to it. Annualized volatility is how much the return swung day to day. We publish both on every fact sheet, computed from the daily live series, along with the calendar days from the drawdown low back to the prior peak when that can be determined.</p>\n<p>Read drawdown as carefully as return. It&#39;s the honest measure of what was behind any big number.</p>\n<h2>5) Does every number have a date?</h2>\n<p>A figure with no as-of date can&#39;t be checked. Our fact sheets carry a date on every figure, and the HTML, Markdown, and JSON versions of each sheet are the same record with the same date, so a person and a machine read the same thing.</p>\n<h2>The metrics, in plain English</h2>\n<p>Time-weighted return measures a strategy while reducing the effect of external cash-flow timing. Money-weighted return instead reflects an investor&#39;s dollar experience and the timing of deposits and withdrawals. Autopilot uses time-weighted return for its published strategy composite.</p>\n<p>CAGR is compound annual growth from inception. We show it as comparable only when the record is mature and coverage is sufficient.</p>\n<p>Sharpe ratio is annualized return divided by annualized volatility: return per unit of risk. We compute it with the baseline rate set to zero and 252 trading days a year. Two sources can show different Sharpe ratios for the same strategy because they use different windows, different baseline-rate assumptions, or one is a backtest and the other is live. That&#39;s not a discrepancy to fix. It&#39;s two different measurements.</p>\n<p>Sortino is like Sharpe but only penalizes downside volatility.</p>\n<p>Calmar is CAGR divided by the absolute value of maximum drawdown.</p>\n<p>Win rate is the share of positive daily steps.</p>\n<h2>Your return vs the Portfolio&#39;s</h2>\n<p>The Portfolio&#39;s composite and your personal return will differ. Yours depends on when you joined, how much you put in and when, whether your brokerage does fractional shares, your specific fees, and your taxes. A tracker of your own account usually shows either a time-weighted return (the strategy&#39;s performance) or a money-weighted return (your actual dollar experience, including your deposit timing). Know which you&#39;re looking at. Our published composite is time-weighted and describes the strategy, not your account.</p>\n<h2>The tradeoff behind big historical returns</h2>\n<p>High past returns can accompany high concentration, high volatility, or both. The question is never &quot;how high.&quot; It&#39;s &quot;at what drawdown, over what window, live or hypothetical, and net of what.&quot; A strategy showing a big return over a short window with a deep drawdown and no net figure isn&#39;t offering you the return. That&#39;s a risk, not a return. That&#39;s why we put drawdown and volatility next to the return instead of a headline alone, and why we publish a risk band (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) as a filter, not a rating.</p>\n<p>This is not a get-rich-quick product. A strategy can rise, fall, or remain flat for long periods, and its holdings change. Read the current sheet instead of relying on a stale list or a memorable Portfolio name.</p>\n<h2>What to expect from markets in general</h2>\n<p>Long-run index averages compress very different market periods, including multi-year declines. A single year or five-year stretch can differ sharply from the long-run result. Use the <a href=\"https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/sp-500/\">S&amp;P 500 index provider&#39;s current data</a> for an explicit measurement window rather than relying on a remembered average. A diversified index can provide a comparison point, but the relevant benchmark depends on the strategy&#39;s holdings and risk.</p>\n<h2>Index vs actively picked stocks</h2>\n<p>S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices&#39; <a href=\"https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/research-insights/spiva/\">SPIVA scorecards</a> compare active funds with category benchmarks. The share underperforming depends on category and period; in the year-end 2025 U.S. scorecard, 78.78% of active large-cap funds trailed the S&amp;P 500 for one year and 92.89% did so over 20 years. Costs and turnover contribute to the hurdle, but the scorecard is a fund-universe statistic, not a forecast for a specific strategy. That&#39;s not a claim about any of our Portfolios. It&#39;s the reason to read a concentrated strategy&#39;s live record, drawdown, and net return instead of assuming it&#39;ll beat an index because someone says so. We don&#39;t publish a benchmark overlay on our fact sheets. You can compare a Portfolio&#39;s dated, net, live figure against any benchmark you want.</p>\n<h2>How often to look</h2>\n<p>Choose a review cadence that fits the strategy and your circumstances; quarterly is one practical checkpoint, not a universal rule. Review the dated record, your own results, holdings, drawdown, maturity and risk labels, fees, and whether the Portfolio still fits your goals. Avoid reacting to a single noisy day, but do not ignore account activity.</p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>\n<h3>What should I check about a portfolio&#39;s past performance before following it?</h3>\n<p>Whether it&#39;s live accounts or a backtest, the window and start date, gross and net, maximum drawdown and volatility, and whether every figure has a date. Autopilot fact sheets publish all five.</p>\n<h3>How often should I review a copied portfolio&#39;s performance?</h3>\n<p>Use a consistent cadence suited to the strategy; quarterly is one possible checkpoint. Also review after material account or strategy changes, without reacting automatically to ordinary daily volatility.</p>\n<h3>How do portfolio trackers calculate my overall rate of return?</h3>\n<p>Either time-weighted (the strategy&#39;s performance, independent of your deposits) or money-weighted (your dollar experience including deposit timing). Autopilot&#39;s published composite is time-weighted.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the tradeoff between chasing high historical returns and taking on more risk?</h3>\n<p>High past returns usually came with high concentration or volatility. Judge return against drawdown, window, provenance, and net figure together.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s a reasonable expectation for average annual stock market returns?</h3>\n<p>Use S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices&#39; dated S&amp;P 500 data for the period you mean, and remember that any single period can differ sharply from a long-run average. Choose a benchmark that matches the strategy rather than assuming one index fits every Portfolio.</p>\n<h3>What&#39;s the historical performance difference between the S&amp;P 500 and actively picked stocks?</h3>\n<p>S&amp;P&#39;s year-end 2025 SPIVA scorecard reports that 92.89% of active large-cap funds trailed the S&amp;P 500 over 20 years. That category statistic is not a result for every active strategy; read the specific strategy&#39;s live, net, dated record.</p>\n<h3>high return investing strategies</h3>\n<p>Any strategy with high historical returns should be read for drawdown, window, live-versus-backtest, and net of fees before anything else. Autopilot publishes those fields for every Portfolio and does not publish backtests.</p>\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n<p>Every published Autopilot Portfolio has a dated fact sheet with a live composite, gross and net returns, drawdown, volatility, and risk fields. Use the five checks above, inspect the holdings and methodology, and compare the record with an appropriate benchmark before making a decision.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com\">Start Investing</a></p>\n<p>The disclosures below matter. You can also read <a href=\"https://www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer\">Autopilot&#39;s full disclaimer</a>.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Disclosures</strong></p>\n<p>© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly owned and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at www.joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.</p>\n<p>This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.</p>\n<p>Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.</p>\n<p>Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.</p>\n<p>Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.</p>\n<p>Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.</p>\n<p>This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.</p>\n<p>Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.</p>\n<p>Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.</p>\n<p>Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.</p>\n<p>For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.</p>\n<p>Metric definitions follow Autopilot&#39;s published methodology, version 1.0.0. Market and active-fund comparisons use the dated S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices sources linked above and do not predict any Portfolio&#39;s return. Portfolio holdings are dated public information, not a performance claim or recommendation.</p>","date_published":"2026-09-02","date_modified":"2026-09-03","authors":[{"name":"Chris Josephs"}],"tags":["Education","What should I check about a portfolio's past performance before following it?","How often should I review a copied portfolio's performance?","How do portfolio trackers calculate my overall rate of return?","What's the tradeoff between chasing high historical returns and taking on more risk?","What's a reasonable expectation for average annual stock market returns?","What's the historical performance difference between the S&P 500 and actively picked stocks?","high return investing strategies"]}]}