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Risk Parameters Explained in LTC Client EA

In this video, I explain what risk parameters you can find in MT4 Local Trade Copier and how to use them.

IMPORTANT! In Local Trade Copier 2.9.7 risk parameters have been upgraded and look differently. I would say their names are self-explanatory but I created a new risk parameters tutorial to explain them here. Note that the below parameters explained are for the older 2.9.6 version of the software.

With LTC it is possible to determine the risk factor for each slave account separately. LTC can handle different lot sizes for different accounts independent of their balance.

By default, LTC Client EA will use the same proportional volume size in the client account using the RiskRatioServer parameter which is set to 1 by default. RiskRatioServer is like a dynamic Lot Multiplier which is changing based on Account size and continuously adjusting itself based on account size. This risk control mode will generate a proportional gain in client account(s) according to the difference between master and client account size. If you want to increase the volume of each operation by 20%, as an example, simply set the RiskRatioServer = 1.2 in the Client EA.

Another popular configuration that many traders use is to copy the same position size on the client account as on the master. To set the Client EA copy the same lot size always no matter what you need to turn off the RiskRatioServer and use the LotMultiplier.

  • RiskRatioServer=0
  • LotMultiplier=1

Also, you can set Client EA to risk a certain percentage of a client account’s balance/equity using the RiskPercent parameter, just note that this one requires a stop loss to be present. Trades will be delayed and not copied until the stop loss is set on the master trade while Client EA is using the RiskPercent parameter.

Leverage of a client account affects the lot size

The Client EA is always looking at the leverage of the client account and compares it with the leverage of the master account.

If the leverage size match then it won’t affect the lot size.

However, if the leverage size of the client account is smaller than the leverage of the master account, it will affect the lot size by making it smaller as well.

Note that the lot size is affected only if the leverage of the client account is smaller.

This was introduced into the Local Trade Copier version 2.9.6.

Example #1

Master account leverage 1:200
Client account leverage 1:50
Client EA is set to use LotMultiplier=1.0

The master account opens a trade of 1.0 lot, but the client account will have the same trade copied only of 0.25 lot (instead of 1.0 lots). It is because the client’s account leverage size is 4 times smaller and copying a full 1.0 lot trade might damage the account.

If you want a bigger trade size on the client account despite the risk, then increase it by using money management parameters. In this example, LotMultiplier of 4.0 would do the job.

Example #2

Master account leverage 1:5
Client account leverage 1:100
Client EA is set to use LotMultiplier=1.0

The master account opens a trade of 1.0 lot. The client account will have the same trade copied at the same size of 1.0 lot regardless a higher leverage. Even though the client’s account leverage size is 20 times bigger the trade size copied will not be affected to avoid account damage and unexpected results. If you want a bigger trade size in such scenario then increase it by using money management parameters. In this example, LotMultiplier of 20.0 would do the job.

Auto-adjusting lot size between accounts of different currencies

In a situation where Master account and Client account are in different currencies, the LTC trade copier may adjust the lot size according to the current rate to preserve the same percentage risk/gain of a trade.

Let me give you an example.

SERVER Account: 100,000.00 USD
CLIENT Account: 100,000.00 EUR
Client EA is set to use RiskRatioServer=1 to reserve the same percentage risk/gain of each trade.
Master sends 1.0 lot from USD account and Client receives it as 1.18 lot to a EUR account.

Here’s an explanation of why the lot size is bigger even though the size of accounts is the same.

Client account size converted from EUR to USD and in this example when the EUR/USD rate was 1.1773 it looks like this: 100,000 EUR * 1.1773 (EURUSD) = 117,730 USD

Client EA will treat its size as 117,730 USD when calculating lot size for a trade from USD master account. So it turns out the client account is bigger by 1.1773 than the Master account.

This means 1.0 lot * 1.1772 = 1.18 lot for a Client account (rounded to decimal 2 digits).

When the 1.18 lot trade on a client close it will make a profit/loss of the same amount in percentage because MT4 will reverse back the currency conversion on that trade. In other words, many people mistakenly think that the bigger lot size makes higher profit/loss on an account of another currency when it actually does not.

In other words, if we take an example of a trade with a 1% risk when it has to risk $100 on the USD account and €100 on the EUR account, the lot size on the USD account will have to be smaller. It is because it takes a smaller lot size to risk $100 USD and a higher lot size to risk €100 EUR.

What to do if Client EA does not always use a fixed lot size when it is configured to?

If you set Client EA to use fixed lot size then there’s no way for the Client EA to use any other lot size. It’s just not possible. However, there might be a couple of scenarios for misunderstandings.

Broker’s minimum and maximum lot size limitations

The first scenario might be if your broker does not allow the lot size you are trying to use (minimum and maximum lot size limitations). For example, the broker has a maximum lot size limitation of 50 and you are trying to use a fixed lot size of 60 lots. The broker will deny such lot size and Client EA will be forced to use a lot size of 50 (maximum allowed by the broker). Obviously, there’s nothing you can do to override this because this is the limitation on the broker’s side. But you could use the Lot Split function in the Client EA to split that 60 lot trade into two trades of 50 and 10 lots.

Partially closed trades change lot size

Another scenario might be if trades are closed partially (a.k.a. scale-out) on the master account. In this case, Client EA will repeat the same actions on the client MT4 account and when you get back to the computer you might see a lot size that’s smaller than your preset fixed lot size. This is completely normal and interfering with this would usually ruin a trading logic of a strategy you copy.

If you set Client EA to you a fixed lot size then it will always use a fixed lot size always to open a trade, but as the time goes these trades might get closed partially on the master by your account manager or automated trading strategy you use (Forex EA). To copy the trades in a correct way Client EA will also close trades partially the maintain an exact same copy of those trades.

For example, the master opens a 2.0 lot trade, and the client copies it at a fixed lot of 1.0 lot. Master closes half of the position (1.0 lot) and the rest 1.0 lot is left to run. So the client will close half of the position too (0.5 lot) and the remaining 0.5 lot will be left to run. Now when you see 0.5 running on the client you might assume that the Client EA copied it incorrectly when in reality it is all fine because it was copied correctly but then closed partially by the master later.

Rimantas Petrauskas

Rimantas Petrauskas is one of the most well-known programmers among Forex traders. Having more than 20+ years of programming experience, he created two of the most popular trade copiers for the MetaTrader 4 platform—the Signal Magician and Local Trade Copier. Rimantas is also a best-selling author on Amazon after his book "How to Start Your Own Forex Signals Service" hit #4 in the Forex category during the first launch week.

24 Comments

  • Govindan Premnath says:

    Hi

    Can I use another EA to trade along with LTC in the master account ?

    Also please let me know details about your 100% automated currency trading. Cost, minimum invest amount, ROI etc.

    Thanks

  • IOANNIS STAM says:

    Hello, I have one quick question,
    My signal provider (master account) opens positions 20% of the total capital (sometimes can open 15% and some other time can open 30%). Can I choose to a client account to open max 12% of its total capital? and If yes, how can i do it?
    Thank you Rimantas.

  • Shannon Thimmesch says:

    Hello, I have recently purchased this trade copier and would like to know if I can have several accounts work in tandem, i.e., have a master account to trade one strategy that is copied by another master account where I will be trading an additional strategy, and have the second master account be copied by all client accounts. I hope that makes sense!

    • Hi,

      thanks for your comment
      we appreciate it

      Yes it can be done
      It will require some additional setup

      You need:

      On master 1 – attach server ea on any one chart – make sure SPID is set to 1 in settings
      On master 2 – attach client ea on any one chart – make sure SPID is 1
      then attach server ea on another chart and set SPID to 2 (important)

      On all clients attach client ea on any one chart and use SPID 2 (important)
      Hope this helps

      • Michael says:

        If a master account of $500 uses 0.03 lots, would a client account of $5,000 use 0.3 lots ??

        If the client account increases by 20% to $600 and the lot size is increased to 0.04 while profits on the clients account is withdrawn leaving the balance on client account at $5,000. Would the proportionate lot size be used corresponding to the master account ?

        Hope you understand me ?

        • Yes by default copier will calculate lot size for the client based on the difference between account balance. So 0.03 for the master will be 0.3 for the client, correct.
          But If later client profits are withdrawn proportions will change because the master account is no longer 10 times smaller. Master, 600 and client 5000 will mean that 0.03 on the master will end up about 0.28 on client.
          However, you can change proportions and other risk parameters in client ea settings.
          here is a video where all risk parameters are explained:
          https://www.mt4copier.com/risk-parameters/

          Hope this helps.

  • ricardo says:

    How does this software adapt when clients have different leverage than master account. For example, when I have 100:1 and client has 500:1

    • If the client account has bigger leverage than the master account, it does not affect the lot size.
      If a client account has smaller leverage than the master account, then the Client EA will lower the lot size accordingly to protect client capital. This works if you are using auto lot allocation (RiskRatioServer). For example, master leverage 1:500 and client leverage 1:100. Master opens a 1.0 trade, but the client will copy 0.2 (5X times smaller). Of course, additionally the lot size might be smaller or bigger according to the account size differences and it depends what lot-sizing mode you are using on Client EA.
      More info: https://www.mt4copier.com/risk-parameters/

  • franchesca says:

    I have an account with a trader that supply me automated copy trades directly to my mt4 can I use your copier to copy the same trades on my multiple clients account for my friends?? If yes how can I set it up because the copy trade is being copied to my account and I need to set up my own multiple accounts thanks

  • Michael says:

    If a master account of $500 uses 0.03 lots, would a client account of $5,000 use 0.3 lots ??

    If the client account increases by 20% to $600 and the lot size is increased to 0.04 while profits on the clients account is withdrawn leaving the balance on client account at $5,000. Would the proportionate lot size be used corresponding to the master account ?

    Hope you understand me ?

    • Yes by default copier will calculate lot size for the client based on the difference between account balance. So 0.03 for the master will be 0.3 for the client, correct.
      But If later client profits are withdrawn proportions will change because the master account is no longer 10 times smaller. Master, 600 and client 5000 will mean that 0.03 on the master will end up about 0.28 on client.
      However, you can change proportions and other risk parameters in client ea settings.
      here is a video where all risk parameters are explained:
      https://www.mt4copier.com/risk-parameters/

      Hope this helps.

  • Priyank Fadadu says:

    Hello,
    is it possible to set a server on one computer, and all the clients on another computer/vps? If yes, how?

    • The Local Trade Copier can only work if master and clients are running on the same computer/VPS.
      We have another product which can copy trades to other computers anywhere in the world if you set up client ea there:
      http://www.signalmagician.com

      It is a great white-label solution for account managers.
      It is not only a trade copier
      it also manages payments, subscriptions, mailing lists and other important things for signal business

      I recommend you watch these videos:
      https://www.signalmagician.com/videos/

      Feel free to contact me if you have any questions

  • Yusuf says:

    Q1). Can signal magician also serve or use as meta4 copier, can I purchase signal magician to manage my client account that does not av computer?

    Q2). Can Signal magician or meta4 copier also be use as trading strategy incase I don’t av trading strategy?

  • Glyn Horsley says:

    Hello,
    Can you run a trading EA on the master account as well as the signal magician EA? or can you only have 1 EA running on the master account at any 1 time?
    Kind regards
    Glyn

    • Yes, you can run a trading EA on your master account, no problem at all.
      Simply attach SM server ea on any other chart of any pair.
      It will monitor all pairs from one chart.

      Hope this helps.

  • Sherief says:

    Hello,

    Is it possible to work with this risk parameters if the case is master has USD 10.000 and client has USD 500 and let say the master buy 0.1 or 0.01 what happened to the client?

    Thank you

    • 500 USD account is 20x times smaller than the 10,000 USD account.
      This means the trade copier will lower all lot sizes by 20 times before copying the trade. This would work perfectly with a lot size like 30.0 as it would be lowered to 1.75 and copied on the client account.
      However, your question is what would happen if the master opens a trade of 0.1 lot size. Well, mathematically it would become 0.005 which is an invalid lot size for any broker, and the Client EA will round it to 0.01.
      But if the master lot size is 0.01 then lowering it by 20 times would be 0.0005 and the Client EA would again round it to the lowest possible lot size on the client MT4 account which is usually 0.01.
      I think there are brokers that support nano lots or something like that, but never seen any of them in reality, so this might be not true. But if there are nano lots on any MT4 then I suppose 0.005 might be executed.

  • Maren says:

    Please explain how the fixed lot size function operates. My master uses 0.05 lot but I want the client to copy 0.03 lot. How can i set the client to copy at a fixed lot size?

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