Did you knew you can open the same positions on your friend’s MetaTrader 4 account simultaneously even if it’s located in another country?
When you open trades in your MT4 account you can have the same trades opened on other MT4 accounts at the same time. And the best part of it is that you can set this up in like 5 minutes.
In this tutorial I will explain how it’s done.
Preparing to trade multiple MetaTrader 4 accounts
Here’s what you’ll need to do in order to open the same positions on two or more MT4 accounts at the same time.
- Install multiple MT4 platforms on your computer
- Open all MT4 platforms and login into different accounts
- Install special software for trading multiple MT4 accounts
- Start that special software and set some basic settings
- Open your first position on the main MT4 account and have the same position transferred to all other MT4 accounts immediately
Installing several MT4 terminals on the same computer
If you want to trade multiple MT4 accounts it is obvious that you need to have several MT4 platforms installed on your computer. This is quite easy and the process is the same as the regular MT4 installation. The only difference is that you’ll need to set different installation destination folder for each of your MetaTrader platforms.
In the picture below you can see the SETTINGS button, which will take you to a page where you can choose different installation location.
Below is the image showing changed installation folder name.
Personally I like to add numbers at the end of each folder. That way I end up having all MT4 platforms installed and numbered, so it’s easy to access the right one when I need.
Now you need to repeat the MT4 installation process twice, or five times, ten times, or whatever number of MT4 instances you need. Even if you’re installing MT4 from the same Forex broker, you can still have multiple instances installed and running on the same computer.
Login to all MT4 accounts
Next you need to open all MT4 accounts you want to trade at the same time and log in to each of them.
Now it’s a good time to decide which MT4 account will be your main account. In other words, which account you choose to be the Master. This is the account that you will be trading and all positions that you open on this account will be transferred to other MetaTrader accounts automatically.
Now that you have decided which account is the Master, note that all other accounts will be Follower accounts.
So the Master account is the account you will be trading on, while Client (or Follower) account is the account receiving the same positions you open on the Master.
Important to mention, that you can use Main or Investor (read-only) password to log in to the Master account. But it is mandatory to use the Main password when you are logging into all subsidiary (Client) accounts.
It is possible to have multiple Master accounts on the same computer too, but let’s not rush things and first start with one Master and several Client accounts.
When you open MT4 account it will ask you to login or create a new account. If you already have an account you can close the registration window and enter your account login information.
Once you are logged into the MT4 account you can minimize the window and open the next MT4 platform.
You repeat the same step for each MT4 you want to trade on your computer. This means you log in to different account on each MT4 platform.
Basic MT4 configuration
All MT4 platforms by default are ready to be used for trading, but if you want to trade many accounts at once you need to enable one option.
You will have to do this for each MT4 account you will be trading.
Open the Tools -> Options window from the top menu.
Then go to the Expert Advisors tab and enable “Allow automated trading” and “Allow DLL imports“.
Repeat the same for each MetaTrader 4 platform you will be using.
Install special software for trading multiple accounts
The software we need to use in order to transfer the same trades to other MT4 accounts is a special type of software which can copy trades between multiple MT4 accounts. Among Forex traders this type of computer program is usually called “trade copier” or “account copier”. Others call it “trade duplicator” or simply “mirror software”.
The main purpose for a trade copier application is to mirror your trading from the Master account and make sure all subsidiary Client accounts have the same open positions with the same parameters like stop loss and take profit. It’s kind of linking several Client MT4 accounts to your Master MT4 account so that when you open positions on the Master, the same positions will be replicated on all Client accounts.
Such account mirroring software will repeat the same trading operations on all Client MT4 accounts. This means when you open, modify or close a trade on the Master account, the same will be done on Client accounts immediately.
We will be using Local Trade Copier from mt4copier.com.
Let’s begin the installation.
There are two stages of LTC installation.
- Install LTC Server EA on the Master MT4 account
- Install LTC Client EA on all Client MT4 accounts
Installation process is relatively the same for Server EA and Client EA, the only difference is which MT4 platform you will select during the installation.
Installing LTC Server EA
When I start the LTC Server EA auto-installer it will scan my computer to find all MetaTrader 4 instances.
When scan is finished the auto-installer is ready to begin installation as soon as the user clicks NEXT button.
In the next step auto-installer shows the list of all MT4 platforms found on the computer. In this window you need to choose where to install the LTC Server EA. You can choose multiple destinations, but in this tutorial we will be using one Master account so let’s select just one MT4 from the list.
After you click NEXT the Server EA files will be installed and then you can choose whether you want this particular MT4 platform to be loaded or not. I will un-select this option, because my Master MT4 is already running. Note, that by selecting this option MT4 would be loaded with Administrator privileges.
If you ever need to re-install the Server EA or install it in to additional MT4 platforms, just run the auto-installer again and follow on screen instructions.
Installing LTC Client EA
Installation of the LTC Client EA is relatively the same, except that you need to choose different MT4 platforms from the list. You need to select those platforms which will act as Client MT4 accounts and receive trading positions from your Master MT4.
Here’s how I select multiple Client MT4 platforms from the list.
Once you click NEXT, the LTC Client EA is installed into all MT4 platforms selected. On the last step of installation process you get to see the list of platforms where Client EA was installed.
Making LTC EA appear on MT4 platforms
If installation of any Expert Advisor (including LTC Server EA and LTC Client EA) is done while MT4 is running, you will not see them appear in the Navigator window. You need to restart MT4 platform or refresh the list of Expert Advisors. I prefer the 2nd option, because it’s faster and I do not need to restart MT4.
Repeat the “Refresh” command on all MT4 instances you will be using.
When I refresh the EA list and expand it, I see my LTC Server EA or LTC Client EA, depending to which MT4 platform I am looking at.
And this is my LTC Client EA on one of the Client MT4 accounts I will be using.
Now that the LTC installation is finished we can start using it.
Starting Local Trade Copier software
To start the Server EA or Client EA you will have to open a chart first. It can be chart of any symbol and any time frame, but I recommend EURUSD.
So let’s open the EURUSD chart on each MT4 platform. From the top menu select File -> New Chart.
You will see the list of symbols appear. Find and choose the EURUSD symbol. In the picture below you see this particular MT4 offers quite a big list of symbols and EURUSD appears under FX category. Other MT4’s might have it right at the top or listed under some other category.
Alternative way to open the EURUSD chart is to find it in the Market Watch window, right-clicking on it and choosing “Chart Window”.
Repeat this step for each MT4 platform you will be using.
So we have EURUSD chart open now on all MT4 platforms.
Next you need to attach LTC EA on that EURUSD chart.
I will remind that the LTC Server EA must be used on the Master MT4 account while LTC Client EA must be used on the Client MT4 account.
Running the LTC Server EA
There are three ways to start an Expert Advisor in MT4 platform.
- “Attach to a chart” method. Right click on the EA and select “Attach to a chart”. EA will be attached to the currently active chart window.
- Double-click method. Double-click on the EA in Navigator window. EA will be attached to the currently active chart window.
- Drag’n’Drop method. Click and drag the EA from Navigator window to the chart you want to attach it to.
Here’s where the “Attach to a chart” is located.
When LTC Server EA is attached to a chart, immediately you will see the “EA Properties” window that looks like this.
To ensure that the EA runs properly switch to the “Common” tab and double-check if the following options are selected:
- Allow live trading
- Allow DLL imports
Next, switch to the “Inputs” tab where you will have to enter the license key of the software (yes, it’s a commercial software) and be able to set any other settings.
There are a lot of settings available in LTC, and usually you won’t need them all. So do not freak out. The only thing you need to enter is license key.
When you click OK the EA will start working and that’s how it should look like on the chart. The first “server send” counter should be growing continuously which indicates that EA is working.
Okay, you have the Server EA running. Let’s run the Client EA.
Running LTC Client EA
To run the LTC Client EA you will have to repeat the same steps as for the Server EA, except that the Client EA has different settings.
There are much more settings in the Client EA than in the Server EA, but again, you do not need them all, for now.
Enter the license key for Client EA the same way you did for Server EA.
In most cases Client EA will work with its default settings, but in some cases you might need to set the currency suffix if your broker use any. For example if your broker has EURUSDfx symbol instead of the regular EURUSD, you might need to set the following in your Client EA if it does not detect this automatically.
- Set CurrencyNameSufix to fx
- Set TurnOffAutoSufixDetection to TRUE
But in most cases Client EA will detect this automatically and you won’t need to go through this suffix setup.
If it happens so that you do not want Client EA to use symbol suffix (in case your broker has two symbols, with and without suffix), you might need to set the following:
- Leave CurrencyNameSufix empty
- Set TurnOffAutoSufixDetection to TRUE
When Client EA starts working that’s how it should look like on the chart. The first “server read” counter should be growing continuously which indicates that EA is working.
Okay, you have the Client EA running. Now repeat the same on each Client MT4 account you have.
Note that all Client MT4 accounts must have the Client EA attached and running in order to mirror the same positions you open on the Master account.
If you run into any problem, use this checklist to solve any issues with the Expert Advisor. In many cases it is very easy to find the cause of the problem and fix it yourself if you just take a look at the MetaTrade 4 log files.
Opening your first position on all MT4 accounts at once
Open the trade on Master MT4 account now and the same trade should be replicated to each of your MT4 accounts. In the picture below you see the trade was copied to the Client MT4 account with the same trade parameters.
Once the trade on the Master account is closed manually, automatically, or by hitting SL/TP, the Client EA will close it immediately on all Follower accounts as well. Any stop loss or take profit changes are mirrored as well, so this makes all Client accounts to have exactly the same trades as on the Master account.
Conclusion
By implementing this technique you can trade multiple MetaTrader 4 accounts at once from just one MT4 account. This is the easiest and fastest way to transfer your trading positions to your friends, family members or your clients. This is the type of software that can make you an independent account manager, if you will.
Usually account managers need to go through a lot of paper work and sign many documents before they can have a so called PAMM account with the Forex broker, which allows to trade many MT4 accounts at the same time. Not everyone is eligible to have a PAMM account and usually you will need a minimum fund of thousands of dollars to get such account.
Now that you know how it’s done you can even do this on a VPS server which would allow your MT4 platforms to run all the time 24/7 uninterrupted.
CLICK HERE to try the Local Trade Copier yourself
Have you ever traded more than one MT4 account simultaneously? Tell us how did you do it?