How to Copy Trades from MT4 to MT5 (and Between Brokers)

Author: SignalSync editorial · Published: 2026-10-02 · Updated: 2026-10-03 · Guides

You want to copy trades from MT4 to MT5 because the trader you follow still runs MetaTrader 4 and your broker only opens MT5 accounts now — or the reverse: your profitable EA is MQL4 and your prop-firm account is MT5. Either way, MetaTrader will not do it for you. This guide explains why, what breaks when you bridge the two platforms (symbol names, lot sizes, netting accounts, latency), and how to set it up step by step, with the numbers you need to check before the first live trade.

Copying trades from MT4 to MT5 means replicating orders from a MetaTrader 4 account onto a MetaTrader 5 account through a third-party copier, because the two platforms share no order format, no programming language and no native signal link. The copier must translate symbol names, convert volumes, decide what to do with hedged positions on a netting account, and do all of that faster than the market moves.

Key takeaways

• MetaQuotes' own Signals service only connects MT4 accounts to MT4 signals and MT5 to MT5; cross-platform copying always needs an external copier (local EA pair, cloud service or hosted platform).
• Symbol suffixes are the number-one cause of "trade not copied": EURUSD on the MT4 side may be EURUSD.m, EURUSDmicro or EURUSD# on the MT5 side, and GOLD may be XAUUSD.
• Size from risk, not from a guessed balance: if the provider's typical trade is 0.50 lots with a 40-pip stop ($200 at multiplier 1.0) and you have $2,000, a 0.10 multiplier makes that $20, 1% of your deposit. The provider's balance is never shown; the card's recommended deposit is the minimum he suggests for 1.0, not his balance.
• A netting MT5 account cannot hold a buy and a sell on the same symbol at once; a hedging MT4 provider's second position will net against the first. Check the account type before subscribing.
• SignalSync's 2025-12-10 benchmark came to about 0.78 s end-to-end as the sum of stage averages, with the broker's execution (175–300 ms) the largest fixed component; set a slippage limit and avoid copying scalpers over slow links.

Why MetaTrader has no native MT4-to-MT5 copying

MT4 and MT5 are separate products with separate server software. MT4 stores orders as individual tickets with their own SL/TP; MT5 separates orders, deals and positions and, by default, nets them per symbol. MQL4 code does not compile in MQL5. MetaQuotes stopped selling new MT4 licences to brokers in 2022 and now ships maintenance builds only, which is why so many brokers push new clients to MT5 while legacy traders stay on MT4.

The built-in Signals service reflects that split. The MQL5 Signals rules state that for a MetaTrader 4 terminal account you can only subscribe to signals from the MetaTrader 4 section (and likewise for MT5), and that one trading account can be subscribed to one signal only. So "copy an MT4 signal into my MT5 account" has no first-party answer. Everything below is about third-party bridges.

Three ways to bridge MT4 and MT5

The full copier comparison covers 11 tools; here we focus on what goes wrong at the MT4/MT5 boundary regardless of which one you pick.

Problem 1: symbol suffix and name mapping

Brokers decorate symbols to distinguish account types: EURUSD, EURUSD.m, EURUSDmicro, EURUSD#, EURUSD.pro, EURUSD.ecn. Metals and indices are worse: one broker's GOLD is another's XAUUSD; NAS100, US100 and USTEC are the same index. A copier that sends "EURUSD" to a terminal whose Market Watch only has "EURUSD.m" gets an "unknown symbol" error and the trade is silently missed.

Good copiers resolve this three ways, and you should know which your tool uses:

1. Automatic suffix search. The slave strips any suffix from the incoming name, then tries the base symbol with each suffix it knows. SignalSync's MT4 subscriber EA, for example, tries the list #, .micro, .m, .p, .pro, .ecn in order; FX Blue's copier advertises automatic adjustment between names such as EURUSD and EURUSDcx.
2. Alias table. A server-side or EA-side dictionary for the non-obvious cases. SignalSync's server applies GOLD→XAUUSD, SILVER→XAGUSD, BRENT→UKOIL, WTI→USOIL, NAS100→US100, SPX500→US500 and DJI30→US30 when the subscriber is on MT4; for MT5 subscribers the symbol is passed through as named, so check it exists on your broker. Local copiers let you type your own pairs.
3. Auto-add to Market Watch. MT5 will not trade a symbol that is not selected in Market Watch. Look for an "auto add symbols" switch (on by default in SignalSync's subscriber settings) or enable the symbols manually before the first signal.

Check before going live: open the provider's trade history, list every distinct symbol they traded in the last three months, and confirm each one resolves on your MT5 terminal. Five minutes now saves a missed trade during news.

Problem 2: lot sizing across accounts of different size

A copier copies volume, not risk. If the provider trades 0.50 lots on $20,000 and you copy 0.50 lots on $2,000, you carry ten times their risk per trade. The multiplier fixes that, but only if you compute it.

Worked example. Your deposit is $2,000. The provider's trade history (after login, without money amounts) shows a typical 0.50 lots GBPUSD with a 40-pip stop: about $10 per pip per lot, so $200 of risk per trade at multiplier 1.0. The provider's own balance is not shown and is not needed; the target is 1–2% of your deposit per trade.

Three details catch people out. First, lot step: most brokers quote volume in 0.01 steps, so the copier rounds — find out whether yours rounds down (safer) or to nearest. Second, minimum lot: if the scaled volume falls below 0.01, the trade is either skipped or forced up to 0.01, which on a provider who trades 0.01 lots means you cannot scale below 1:1 at all. Third, contract size differences between MT4 and MT5 symbols on different brokers: a "micro" symbol with a 1,000-unit contract needs a 100× larger lot number for the same exposure. SignalSync's MT4 subscriber EA has an optional per-suffix lot scale (for example .micro:0.01) for exactly this case; if your copier lacks one, use a separate multiplier per symbol group or avoid mixing contract sizes.

Always pair the multiplier with a maximum lot cap where your copier enforces one. It is the setting that protects you when a provider changes behaviour (note: SignalSync enforces the maximum-lot cap only through the MT4 subscriber EA; on MT5 the setting exists but the default Python copier does not apply it, so limit risk with the multiplier). The method for picking the cap is in our position-size calculation guide.

Problem 3: hedging MT4 versus netting MT5

Almost every MT4 account is a hedging account (US accounts under NFA FIFO rules are the exception): you can hold a buy and a sell on EURUSD simultaneously as separate tickets. MT5 was designed around netting (one position per symbol; an opposite trade reduces or reverses it) and added a hedging mode in build 1325 in 2016. Brokers choose which mode each account type uses; in MQL5 the property is ACCOUNT_MARGIN_MODE, with RETAIL_HEDGING versus RETAIL_NETTING.

Copy a hedging MT4 provider into a netting MT5 account and the following happens: the provider opens buy 0.10, then sell 0.10 as a hedge; your account opens buy 0.01 (with a 0.10 multiplier), then the sell 0.01 closes it. When the provider later closes the buy and keeps the sell, your copier finds no position to close and no position to keep. Your equity curve no longer resembles the provider's, and grid or hedge strategies become uncopyable.

Rules of thumb:

• Prefer a hedging MT5 account for copying. Most forex brokers offer one; ask if the account type is not labelled.
• If you are stuck with netting, copy only providers who never hold opposite positions on one symbol. Their trade history will show it: look for overlapping buy and sell on the same pair.
• Partial closes also differ: MT4 partial close creates a new ticket number for the remainder; a copier must track that re-ticketing or it loses the mapping. Ask the vendor how it handles it, or test a partial close on demo.

Problem 4: latency and slippage

Nothing about MT4→MT5 copying is inherently slower than MT4→MT4, but the bridge adds a translation step, and every network hop adds milliseconds. What matters is the full chain: provider terminal detects the order → copier transmits → subscriber terminal processes → broker fills.

SignalSync instrumented that chain in a benchmark on 2025-12-10 with one MT4 subscriber EA (v2.4) copying 200 signals in 71 minutes: server processing 48 ms average (P95 88 ms, P99 103 ms), queue wait inside the terminal about 553 ms average, EA processing plus broker execution about 175 ms, and roughly 0.78 s end-to-end as the sum of those stage averages; the platform's documentation states 200–800 ms. That benchmark is about ten months old, was run on MT4 and during a burst in which 81.5% of signals were SL/TP modifications, and may not reflect the current MT5 copier. The shape will hold anywhere: broker fill time (175–300 ms in those runs) is the floor, and bursts add queueing on top.

What to do about it:

• Set a maximum slippage in points. SignalSync's default is 20 points in MT4 terms (minimum price steps, about 2 pips on 5-digit EURUSD or $0.20 on XAUUSD); by default the copier waits up to 60 seconds for the price to return within tolerance rather than skipping the trade, and you can switch it to skip instead. Scalping providers may need tighter limits and the skip setting; swing providers can tolerate more.
• Match the strategy to the latency. A provider holding trades for days (seven of the platform's 21 provider accounts with statistics — internal data, not all of them publicly listed — average over 1,000 minutes per trade) loses nothing to a 0.8 s delay. A 5-pip scalper loses most of the edge.
• Co-locate. If you run a local copier, put the VPS in the same region as the subscriber broker's server; London and New York cover most brokers.
• Prefer pending orders where the provider uses them. Copying pending orders is safer across platforms than copying market orders, because the price is fixed before the delay.

Prefer to skip the VPS and the EA pair entirely? Register on SignalSync, connect your MT5 account and subscribe to an MT4 provider; the platform hosts both terminals and bridges the formats. The demo portfolio lets you watch copying work before you pay anything.

Step by step: copying an MT4 provider into your MT5 account on SignalSync

1. Create an account. Register with email and verify it. Nothing is charged at this point.
2. Connect your MT5 account. Dashboard → My Accounts → Add MT4/MT5 Account. Enter the account number, broker server and trading password, select MT5 and the "subscriber" type. The one-time $10 USDT connection fee pays for a portable terminal on the platform VPS with the copier pre-configured; you do not install anything. Use a hedging account if your broker offers one.
3. Choose a provider. On the providers page, filter by drawdown, profit factor and trade count rather than by gain. The provider's platform (MT4 or MT5) is shown; cross-platform subscriptions are allowed in both directions. Note that most catalogue accounts are currently the platform's own test and demo accounts running catalogue expert advisors, and the card does not show demo versus live — ask support if it matters to you.
4. Check the symbols. Open the provider's trade history and confirm every symbol they trade exists on your broker, with or without a suffix. The server-side GOLD/XAUUSD-type aliasing applies to MT4 subscribers; as an MT5 subscriber, make sure the names match or the symbol is enabled.
5. Set copy parameters. Lot multiplier (size from risk: typical lot × pip value × stop from the trade history, scaled so that risk per trade is 1–2% of your deposit; the provider's balance is never shown and the card's recommended deposit is his suggested minimum for 1.0, not his balance), maximum lot size, copy SL/TP (keep on), slippage protection, auto-add symbols. The defaults are 1.0, 10 lots, on, 20 points (MT4 points, about 2 pips on EURUSD) with a 60-second wait, and on; the first two are almost never right for a smaller account, and as an MT5 subscriber remember that the lot cap is not enforced by the default copier — the multiplier is your real limit.
6. Pay. The provider's monthly price ($35 if none is set) plus about $2.5 in TRON network fees, in USDT TRC20 via a QR code or TronLink deeplink. Confirmation typically takes one to two minutes.
7. Watch the first trades. Compare your fills with the provider's: entry price difference, lot size, and whether SL/TP arrived. If a symbol did not copy, check the account's copier status and log or ask support; the alias table can be extended.

Each connected account copies one provider; to follow a second provider, connect a second account (another $10). Running the terminal yourself instead of on the platform VPS is possible on request via support. The MT5 setup guide walks through the hosted flow in more detail, and the documentation covers settings and payments.

Copying between different brokers (same platform or not)

Cross-broker copying shares every issue above and adds three of its own.

• Quote differences. Two brokers quote EURUSD a fraction of a pip apart and their spreads differ; a 2-pip stop on the provider's ECN account can be inside the spread on a standard account. Copy the SL/TP as price levels, not as distances, and widen the slippage limit slightly.
• Trading hours and symbol availability. Indices and metals open and close at different times on different brokers. A copied close that arrives during your broker's daily break fails and leaves you with an open position; look for a copier that retries and alerts.
• Leverage and margin. A provider on 1:500 can hold positions that your 1:30 account cannot. The copier reports "not enough money" and the trade is skipped, which silently unbalances a multi-position strategy. Compare maximum historical exposure against your margin before subscribing.

Troubleshooting

Ready to try it with real signals and no server to manage? Open a free SignalSync account, add your MT5 account for $10, and pick a provider whose drawdown you can live with on the providers page. See the features page for what the hosted terminal supports, including uploading your own EA.

FAQ

Can I copy trades from MT4 to MT5 with MQL5 Signals?

No. Under the MQL5 Signals rules an MT4 terminal account subscribes only to signals from the MT4 section and an MT5 account only to the MT5 section, with one signal per trading account. Cross-platform copying needs an external copier such as a local EA pair, a cloud copier or a hosted platform.

Which free software copies trades from MT4 to MT5?

FX Blue Personal Trade Copier is free and supports MT4→MT5 and MT5→MT4 when both terminals run on the same computer; install the MT4 version in MT4 and the MT5 version in MT5. Copiix is a newer free local alternative. Both need you to keep the machine running, typically on a VPS.

Why are trades on my MT5 account missing when the provider's symbol is GOLD?

Your broker lists the instrument as XAUUSD (possibly with a suffix), so "GOLD" does not resolve. Use a copier with an alias table — SignalSync applies GOLD→XAUUSD server-side for MT4 subscribers; MT5 subscribers should confirm the name matches — or add the mapping manually in a local copier, and make sure the symbol is enabled in Market Watch.

What lot multiplier should I use to copy an MT4 account five times bigger than mine?

You rarely know that it is five times bigger. The provider's balance is never shown. The card's "recommended deposit" is the minimum the provider suggests for a 1.0 multiplier — not his balance — and is omitted when blank. Size from risk instead: after login, open the provider's trade history, take the typical lot and typical stop (or typical loss in pips), compute the dollar risk per trade at multiplier 1.0 (lot × pip value × stop) and set the multiplier so that risk per trade is 1–2% of your deposit. If the history shows no stops, use the card's maximum drawdown: multiplier ≈ your acceptable drawdown % ÷ (historical drawdown % × 1.5). Then check the smallest and largest lots in the history: if their smallest is 0.01 lots you cannot go below 0.01 anyway; if their largest is 2.0 lots, a 0.2 multiplier gives you 0.40 lots, so pick a multiplier (and, on MT4, a maximum lot cap) you can afford to lose a full stop on; on MT5 the cap is not enforced by the default copier. Worked numbers are in the position-size guide.

Does copying from a hedging MT4 account to a netting MT5 account work?

Only for providers who never hold buy and sell on the same symbol at once. On a netting account the opposite trade reduces or closes the existing position instead of opening a second one, so hedge and grid strategies desynchronise. Ask your broker for a hedging MT5 account; most retail brokers offer one.

How much delay should I expect when copying MT4 to MT5?

Hundreds of milliseconds. SignalSync's 2025-12-10 benchmark (one MT4 subscriber, 200 signals) showed 48 ms of server time and about 0.78 s end-to-end as the sum of stage averages, with broker execution of 175–300 ms the biggest fixed part. Local copiers on a VPS next to the broker do better on the copy step but still wait for the fill. Set slippage protection accordingly.

Can I copy trades between two different brokers on MT5?

Yes, with any third-party copier. Expect symbol-name, spread, trading-hour and leverage differences; copy SL/TP as price levels, allow a few points of slippage, and compare the provider's maximum exposure against your margin. Broker-bundled copy services only work within the same broker.

mt4 to mt5, trade copier, cross-platform copy trading, symbol mapping, lot multiplier, hedging vs netting, copy trading setup