Copy Trades (MT5) — review, price and free alternatives

Copy Trades is built to mirror a Master account exactly on a Slave account, preserving entry, exit, stop loss, take profit, and partial close events. The developer, Aleh Piatrenka, implemented trade mirroring without independent trade decision logic on the Slave, which reduces unexpected behavior and simplifies backtesting.

What makes Copy Trades unique is its explicit design for one-way replication with selectable close behavior and partial closes that match the Master account's lifecycle. The algorithm listens for order events on the Master and issues equivalent orders on the Slave, maintaining lot ratios and optionally scaling position sizes. It handles common MT5 order types and preserves SL/TP values, which is critical when testing or running identical strategies across accounts. Copy Trades performs best in liquid forex and major CFD markets where execution slippage is minimal.

Risk controls are procedural rather than predictive: the utility offers settings to limit maximum copied lot size, require minimum account equity, and optionally reject trades beyond specified symbol lists. Expected performance characteristics include near-identical trade outcomes when accounts have similar spreads and execution policies, with deviations primarily introduced by differing broker conditions, latency, and minimum volume constraints. For traders who need deterministic replication on MT5, Copy Trades offers a transparent, low-complexity solution.

The overall risk level for using Copy Trades is moderate because it inherits the Master account’s trading risk rather than introducing new market exposure. Stop loss strategy is preserved from the Master account, ensuring that exits remain consistent across accounts, while the app provides options to cap maximum lot size to control exposure. Position sizing is typically proportional to the Master account unless you enable scaling adjustments, so users should calculate required equity before deploying. Vulnerabilities include divergent broker spreads, requotes, and different margin rules that may cause partial fills or rejected orders. For reliable operation, a recommended account size is at least four to ten times the average single trade risk to absorb drawdowns and maintain margin.

Install Copy Trades by placing the expert advisor files into the MT5 Experts and Libraries folders, then restart the MT5 terminal. Attach Copy Trades to a chart on both the Master and Slave accounts and enable automated trading and DLL imports in MT5 settings. Key parameters to configure include Master ID, Slave mapping, lot scaling, maximum allowed lots, and symbol filters. Use brokers that support similar instruments and provide low latency; ECN or STP brokers are recommended. Test in a demo environment first with identical symbol settings and run a week of live demo replication before transitioning to a funded account.