Here is a situation that plays out every week in copy-trading groups: your strategy runs beautifully on MetaTrader 5, but the accounts that need to follow it live on MetaTrader 4. Maybe your prop-firm challenge is an MT4 account, maybe your subscribers signed up before MT5 existed, or maybe your own long-standing account at another broker never moved. The trades are on one platform; the money that should mirror them is on the other.
MT5 and MT4 do not talk to each other. They are separate programs built on different code, and nothing inside either terminal reaches across to the other. A trade copier is what bridges the gap – it watches the master account and reproduces every order on the follower. Copying from MT5 to MT4 works well once it is set up correctly, but it carries one wrinkle almost every guide skips: the two platforms do not even represent a position the same way. Get that part right and the rest is routine. Miss it and your follower drifts out of sync in ways that are maddening to debug. This guide walks through the whole thing.
Why copy from MT5 to MT4 at all?
It sounds backwards – MT5 is the newer platform, so why feed trades down to MT4? Because the real world is messy, and the account that generates the signal is rarely the only account that matters. The common reasons:
- Your strategy lives on MT5, your followers are on MT4. A signal provider or money manager running an MT5 master still has subscribers whose brokers only offer MT4.
- Prop firms mix platforms. You might trade your funded MT5 account while mirroring to a personal MT4 account, or run an MT4 challenge that must shadow your live MT5 book.
- Broker availability. Some brokers and some instruments are still MT4-only. If your execution broker is MT5 but your preferred hedging or withdrawal broker is MT4, a copier keeps both in step.
- Legacy accounts and EAs. A tool you rely on – an older expert advisor, an account with a payout history you do not want to reset – may be stuck on MT4 while your new research happens on MT5.
- Diversification across brokers. Splitting the same strategy across an MT5 and an MT4 broker spreads counterparty and execution risk.
In every one of these cases the direction is the same: one MT5 master, one or more MT4 followers, possibly at different brokers. That is exactly what a copier is for.
Can MT5 and MT4 actually copy to each other?
Yes – but never natively. There is no button inside MT5 that sends trades to MT4, and no setting in MT4 that pulls them in. A copier sits between the two accounts: it reads what the master does (opens, closes, modifies, partial closes) and places the matching action on the follower within a fraction of a second.
How that bridge is built matters more than people expect. A large share of the MT5-to-MT4 copiers on the market are expert advisors – small programs that have to run inside both terminals, on a machine or VPS that stays on, and that break the moment a terminal is closed, logs out, or updates. A direct-connection copier such as the HFT Forex Copier links the two accounts with far fewer moving parts, which is one less thing to go wrong on a setup that has to run unattended. Whichever route you choose, the logic below applies the same way.
The part everyone gets wrong: netting vs hedging
This is the single most important concept in MT5-to-MT4 copying, and it is the reason copied accounts quietly fall out of sync. The two platforms keep positions in fundamentally different ways.
MT4 is always “hedging.” Every order is its own ticket. If you buy 0.30 lots of EUR/USD and then buy another 0.20, you hold two separate positions – you can see both, and close either one independently.
MT5 can be “netting” or “hedging.” On a netting account – the default at many brokers, and mandatory under some regulators – a symbol has exactly one position. Buy 0.30 then buy 0.20 and you hold a single 0.50 lot position; there are no separate tickets to see.
What happens on a partial close
Here is where netting-to-hedging bites. Say the MT5 master holds a net +0.50 EUR/USD and the MT4 follower is carrying it as two tickets, 0.30 and 0.20. The master then reduces to +0.30 by closing 0.20 of the net position. On MT5 that is one clean operation. On MT4 there is no “the 0.20 position” to close – the follower has two tickets, and something has to be trimmed by 0.20. A good copier keeps its own internal map of how the net position was built on the follower side, so it can close the right volume (close ticket #2 entirely, or trim ticket #1) and leave +0.30 standing. A weak copier loses that mapping and either closes the wrong amount or ignores the partial close altogether. This is the number-one cause of “my MT4 follower doesn’t match my MT5 master” complaints.
What happens on a reverse or opposite trade
On a netting account, selling when you are long simply reduces or flips the single position – buy 0.50, sell 0.70, and you are now net short 0.20. On a hedging MT4 follower those could become offsetting tickets that both stay open unless the copier is told to net them. The practical rule: decide up front whether the follower should mirror the master’s net exposure (the safer default for MT5 netting masters) or its individual tickets, and make sure your copier is configured for the former when the master is a netting account.
Other cross-platform differences to plan for
Netting vs hedging is the big one, but a handful of smaller mismatches can block or distort copied trades if you ignore them. Walk through each before you go live.
| What differs | MT5 master | MT4 follower – what to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol names | EURUSD | May be EURUSD.pro, EURUSDx, etc. – needs symbol mapping |
| Minimum lot / step | 0.01 step typical | Follower broker may use a different min lot – small sizes can round to zero |
| Pending order types | Includes Buy/Sell Stop Limit | MT4 has no Stop Limit – copier must convert or skip |
| Fill policy | FOK / IOC / Return | MT4 handles fills differently – usually transparent, but note partial fills |
| Instruments | May list symbols the MT4 broker lacks | Trades on a missing symbol can’t copy – map or exclude them |
Every copied order effectively runs a short gauntlet before it lands on the MT4 side. The symbol has to be matched to the follower’s naming, the lot size has to be re-rounded to the follower broker’s step and minimum, the order type has to be something MT4 supports, and the fill has to go through. A trade that passes is placed; a trade that needs adjusting is sized or re-typed; a trade that cannot be represented at all is skipped and logged.
How to set up MT5-to-MT4 copying, step by step
The exact screens differ between copier products, but the sequence is always the same. Follow it in order and test before you risk real size.
- Identify your master and follower. The MT5 account is the master (the one that generates trades); each MT4 account that should mirror it is a follower.
- Connect the copier to both accounts. Provide the account details the copier needs and make sure it is running and reachable for both sides – typically on a VPS so it stays live around the clock.
- Pair the accounts. Tell the copier which MT5 account sends and which MT4 account(s) receive, and confirm the link shows as active.
- Map the symbols. Match the master’s symbol names to the follower broker’s names (EURUSD to EURUSD.pro, and so on). Anything unmapped will not copy.
- Choose position sizing. Decide fixed lots, a multiplier, or balance/equity-proportional sizing, and set a minimum-lot floor so small trades don’t round to zero.
- Set the netting rule. If the MT5 master is a netting account, configure the follower to mirror net exposure (see the netting section above).
- Test on demo or micro lots. Open, partially close, and fully close a position on the master and confirm the MT4 follower matches at every step before scaling up.
- Go live and monitor. Watch the first live sessions, keep the copier’s log open, and check that followers stay in sync.
Sizing and risk when the platforms differ
Cross-platform copying makes correct sizing more important, not less. The MT5 master and the MT4 follower can sit at brokers with different minimum lots, different leverage, and different account balances, so a blind 1:1 copy rarely reflects the same risk on both sides. Proportional sizing – scaling each trade to the follower’s balance or equity – keeps the exposure comparable, and a minimum-lot floor stops tiny copied trades from rounding away to nothing. We cover this in depth in our guide to copy-trading lot sizing and risk management; the short version is to size to risk, not to raw lots, whenever the two accounts aren’t identical.
Prop firms, MT5 masters and MT4 followers
If either side is a prop-firm account, read the rules before you connect anything. Many firms allow copy trading between your own accounts but restrict copying between different owners, and some only permit it on certain platforms or with specific disclosures. Confirm your firm’s stance – our list of prop firms that allow copy trading is a good starting point – and remember the copy can run either direction. If your situation is reversed and you need to push an MT4 strategy up to an MT5 book, the same principles apply in our MT4-to-MT5 copier setup.
Frequently asked questions
Can MT5 copy to MT4 automatically?
Not on its own – the platforms have no built-in link. With a trade copier running between the two accounts, copying is fully automatic: every open, close, and modification on the MT5 master is reproduced on the MT4 follower in a fraction of a second.
Why won’t my MT5 trades copy to MT4?
The usual culprits are an unmapped symbol (the follower broker names it differently), a lot size that rounds below the follower’s minimum, a netting-account mismatch that confuses partial closes, or an order type MT4 doesn’t support. Check the copier’s log – it normally tells you which gate the trade failed.
Do the MT5 and MT4 accounts need to be at the same broker?
No. A copier works across different brokers entirely, which is one of its main uses. You only need to map the symbol names and account for any lot-step or instrument differences between the two brokers.
What happens when my netting MT5 account closes part of a position?
The copier has to translate that partial close onto the MT4 follower, which holds the position as one or more separate tickets. A capable copier tracks how the follower’s position was built and trims the correct volume; this is exactly why netting-to-hedging behaviour is worth testing before going live.
Can I copy from MT4 to MT5 as well?
Yes – the same copier handles the reverse direction. Copying up from MT4 to MT5 is actually simpler, because MT4’s ticket model maps cleanly onto an MT5 hedging follower. See our guide to copying in the opposite direction for that case.
Is MT5-to-MT4 copying allowed by prop firms?
It depends on the firm. Copying between your own accounts is widely allowed; copying between different people’s accounts is often restricted. Always confirm your specific firm’s policy before connecting a funded account.
The bottom line
Copying trades from MT5 to MT4 is reliable once you respect the one difference that trips most people up – the netting-versus-hedging gap – and take a few minutes to map symbols, set sensible sizing, and test a partial close before going live. Choose a copier with few moving parts, configure the netting rule when your master is a netting account, and keep the log in view for the first live sessions. Do that, and your MT4 followers will shadow your MT5 strategy as faithfully as if they were on the same platform.
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