Q: I use LTC on a very fast dedicated server, which still copies trades with a delay of 15 to 30 seconds. What could it be, and how do I solve this?
Local Trade Copier™ speed depends on your computer’s speed, Internet connection speed, and how fast your broker can execute trades.
Are you using a dedicated server, or is it a VPS after all?
If it’s a VPS and it has multiple CPUs, then you should try setting all MT4s to use the same CPU core via Set Affinity. Many VPS providers don’t configure virtualization properly, and this causes MT4 to work slowly on VPS servers. The only VPS company I know to not have this problem is VpsForexTrader.
If it’s a dedicated server, then this multi-CPU issue should not affect you.
Check the following things to find a problem possibly:
- How many open trades are there on your MT4 accounts? If you have dozens or even hundreds of trades open and they get opened, closed, or modified often, then the trade copier might experience delays because it has lots of trades to check and manage.
- What speed do you see reported in the dashboard of the Server EA and Client EA? This might help you identify in which part the copier is slowing down. It could be Data exchange, trade list check, or trade execution.
- What overall CPU load do you see in the Task Manager? Maybe the server’s CPU is overloaded? Try running fewer MT4s. Note how many MT4 platforms you can run until your CPU load reaches 80% and do not add any more.
- How much available RAM memory there are?
- Is there any other software running on the server that uses CPU, RAM, and DISK resources excessively?
- What SyncRate are you using for the Server EA and Client EA? The default is 100 ms which is an optimal speed. If SyncRate is lower than 100 ms, the copier will use server resources excessively, and maybe your server is too slow for that.
- Some users reported that reinstalling MT4 and LTC copier or just a simple computer reboot solved the problem.
Q: Why LTC Client EA does not update the lot size on the copied trades when I change the stop loss or lot size on the master account?
MT4 does not allow changing the lot size once the trade is opened. If you change the lot size on the master trade and want this to reflect on the client side, then you need to close the master trade and open it again with new trade parameters. In this case, Client EA will close the old copied trade and copy the new one with new parameters as per your EA settings.
Q: Does your software require me to open the MT4 or MT5 platform for every account and keep it running?
Yes, LTC is an EA-based trade copier, and you need to open the Metatrader platform for each master or client account you will use.
I know there are cloud-based solutions that allow you to copy trades between MT4/MT5 accounts without the need to run the platform. Still, the problem is that most of them use hacked protocols or a 3rd party API to connect to the Metatrader platform directly. This is against the law, and Metatrader creators clearly said they do not allow it. There were cases in the past when MetaQuotes sued companies that hacked their protocol and used a direct connection. So actually, using such software that does not need to run the Metatrader platform might give you a lot of problems, and you would constantly be in danger of having it blocked by MetaQuotes.
This is why LTC does not use any of this, which is why it is a reliable and safe trade copier.
Q: My master MT4 account has zero SL/TP values, meaning there are no SL/TP values set for my trades. Can such trades be copied by LTC when I use the “Risk Percent” option, and the SL value is mandatory?
Trades that do not have SL/TP can be copied with a “Risk Percent” option, but you must add a stop loss on the client side. You’ll have to use the StopLossOverridePips option on the Client EA or Server EA.
If you use other risk options like “Fixed Lot Size” or “Lot Multiplier”, then SL value is not required.
Q: There are many open trades on the Server account. I run the Client EA on another account, and all the open trades are copied. I manually close these trades on the Client account while they are still open on the Server account. After that, I remove the EA from the Client account, and I quit and restart the Client MT4 account. If I reload the EA on the Client account, will the EA copy again the same open trades that are still ongoing on the Server account?
When you load the Client EA on MT4, it will automatically ignore all of the running trades from the master account and will not copy any of them. This is the default Client EA behavior.
However, there are two exceptions to that:
- You run Server EA for the first time on the master account while Client EA is already running. In that case, any open trades from the master account would be copied to the slave account if they were within the range of the MaxPriceDevationPips.
- You run Client EA in a special mode to copy old open trades from the master. You can do this using options IgnoreTradesBeforeTimeStamp and IgnorePriceDeviation in the Client EA inputs. Watch this video to learn more.
Suppose the trades were copied in any of those ways. If you close the trades manually on the client account and leave them running on the master account, then restart the Client EA, it will again do the same. Either it will ignore all open trades from the master account (default EA behavior), or copy those old running trades as described in the 2nd scenario above.
So, in conclusion, before copying a trade, the Client EA does not check if the trade was copied before or not. It only checks if the trade is not currently running on the client account.
Q: Question about the Emergency Stop Loss. Say a trade is placed that has no SL. If I configure the emergency stop loss to place an SL of 50 pips in that instance automatically, I understand it will do that. If the original trade has a new SL placed on it at 25 pips, will LTC update the SL to represent the value from the original trade source, or will it keep the emergency SL value in place?
A: Yes, the copied trade will get the 50 pips emergency SL, but as soon as you add an SL on your original (master) trade, it will be replaced on the slave account as well. Emergency SL is replaced with a real SL as soon as that real SL is placed on the original trade. In other words, the Emergency SL will protect your copied trade with 50 pips SL only until the original trade has no SL.
Q: I have two master accounts and want a slave account to use different risk options for each. I want a risk multiplier of 1.0 on the trades from the 1st master and a risk multiplier of 5.0 on the trades from the 2nd master account. Is that possible, and what settings do I need to set?
A: Yes, that is possible. What you need is two LTC Client EA instances running on the same MT4 slave account. Note that both need to use different MagicNumber. When you have two separate Client EA instances, you can set different risk multipliers using the LotMultiplier option. Don’t forget to configure each Client EA to follow a different master account to avoid duplicate trades.
Q: If the master account enters a Buy trade at 1.3200, can the Client EA be configured to enter a Sell trade at 10-20 pips above 1.3200?
A: Yes, the LTC Client EA can be configured to shift the entry price using the ShiftEntryPips option and to reverse trade, you will have to set the ReverseTrades option to true. The ShiftEntryPips will alter the market and pending orders sent from the master account, but once their entry price is changed on the client account, the market orders will become pending orders on the slave account. This is because you cannot enter the market order 20 pips away from the current market price, so that is why Client EA will place that market order as a pending order and at a different entry price than you have configured it to.
Q: If I change the LotMultiplier on the Client EA, while I have some trades open already, will these open trades be unaffected by the changes and still close when I close the trade on the server side?
Yes, no problems should arise from such change. New LotMultiplier value will just be applied to the new trades, and Client EA will follow the master account to close any trades regardless of what lot size, stop loss, take profit, or any other trade parameters they have.
Q: Is it safe to leave the Server EA and Client EA running at night when I am not on the screen?
Yes. LTC software is completely safe to be used that way. Hundreds of my customers and I are using it that way.
Q: Is there a possibility that the LTC Client EA will open an endless loop of trades that will empty my accounts?
This has never happened to any of my customers. However, if you’ll open an endless loop of trades on the master account by yourself or by some 3rd party EA or signal provider, the Client EA will copy those trades too. But this does not happen under normal circumstances.
Q: Is it possible for the Local Trade Copier™ to copy trades from a Demo account into a Real Money account?
Yes. No problems with that. Local Trade Copier™ works on the demo account too. You can copy trades from demo to real, from real to demo, from demo to demo, and of course, from real to real accounts. Any combination works.
Q: Is it possible to remove the SL and TP orders from the master positions?
On the Client EA, if you set the StopLossMultiplier=0 and TakeProfitMultiplier=0, the Client EA will remove SL and TP completely. Then, the copied trade on the client account will be closed as soon as the master account closes it. In other words, the Client EA will wait until the master closes the position, then the slave closes it too.
Q: Is there a setting that allows LTC to receive signals to CLOSE open positions but does not allow it to OPEN new positions?
Yes. Please see the options in the Client EA: AcceptNewTradeSignals, AcceptTradeModifySignals, and AcceptTradeCloseSignals.
Q: I use LTC for my account on my home computer, but I have a VPS server for my friend accounts. Is it possible to copy the trades from my local home PC to the clients on the VPS server(s)?
Yes, that is possible, but an important thing to understand here is that you need to run a MASTER MT4 account with the LTC Server EA on those VPS server(s) too. Remember that this app is called LOCAL Trade Copier for a reason. It copies trades only locally, which means on the same computer. But the same MT4 account can be running on multiple computers/VPS so you can have your MASTER MT4 account:
- Running on your computer where you place trades and
- also running on your friend’s VPS together with slave accounts to copy trades.
Watch this video to understand this process better.
Another option for remote trade copying is my other software, Signal Magician.
Q: Can I keep the copier on my server, or does it stay on your server? Who controls the master?
You get the Server EA and the Client EA. Please note that the Local Trade Copier™ is called that way for a reason. It copies trades only between MT4 platforms running on the same computer. If you want to copy trades from one computer to another, you need Signal Magician – a remote trade copier with a web panel for copying trades to 1000 or more computers remotely anywhere in the world.
Q: How can I keep track of the members? Let’s say I have 100 members. Can your trade copier be connected to a website where we have an API or just a simple list of customers? Can this copier app check our user’s login/pass to see if the member is active or not to get a signal, or is it based on a license only?
LTC does not have any tracking, and using it with no more than 30 clients is convenient. When you reach that number of customers, switching to a Signal Magician remote trade copier is best. This one comes with a web panel where you can manage customers, see who’s online or offline, track their MT4 and MT5 stats, see their trades, etc.
Q: How the Local Trade Copier is different from Signal Magician?
Local Trade Copier™ is a trade copier that copies trades between MT4 and MT5 accounts on the same computer. Your friends and clients must give you their Metatrader login and password.
Signal Magician™ is a white-label advanced remote trade copier platform that copies trades between MT4 and MT5 accounts when they are located on different computers anywhere in the world. It means your clients and friends can be in a different country. Signal Magician™ also has a control panel in the form of a website where you can manage your customer’s access, see who’s online or offline, track the stats of each Metatrader account, see their trade history, etc. I built Signal Magician™ for those who want their independent trade copier service (trading signal service). Signal Magician™ license is white-label, so you will have your company/product name, logo, and domain name (you choose them). Also, Signal Magician™ can send email and SMS trade alerts, notify you by email when Metatrader goes offline, connect with payment systems like PayPal and Stripe, and much more.
Q: Do you have any copiers for Ninjatrader?
I have trade copiers only for the MT4 and MT5 platforms.
