If the goal is making profits, I can tell you from experience and practical fact that copy trading is not the only way in this vast crypto world, but when it comes to taking the right steps, I can give it a thumbs up, because, what makes it different from other means of making profit is it covers the part of making wrong decisions and taking wrong actions.

Talking about its effectiveness, of course everything needs a know-how and that's why it's good to first learn more about crypto then step up with copy trading to avoid doing things blindly. If for anything I'd recommend to first check the success rate of anybody you want to copy before doing so, but trust me, it's worth it.