Cloud-based trade copier: Copy trades across all your accounts, hassle-free.
A cloud-based trade copier runs your MetaTrader accounts on its own servers, so copying carries on when your computer is off. A local copier is an Expert Advisor in every terminal, on a PC or VPS you keep running. Here's how the two compare for MT4 and MT5 traders.
From $19 a month for 2 accounts, servers included. See pricing
Written by the team behind Algo Trader Tools. Prices checked on .
| Topic | Local | Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Install MetaTrader and an EA for every account | Log in with each account’s details |
| What has to stay on | Your VPS and every terminal on it | Nothing on your side |
| Updates and restarts | Yours to handle | Managed for you |
| Where you manage it | Remote desktop into the VPS | Any browser |
| 5 accounts a month | €29 + $80 | $47 |
How each one works
Your VPS, or our servers.
A local copier on a VPS
- Rent a Windows VPS, because the copier has to run around the clock.
- Install MetaTrader on it once for every account, and log each one in.
- Attach the copier’s Expert Advisor to a chart in every terminal and set it up there.
- Keep Windows, MetaTrader and the EA running and up to date from then on.
Algo Trader Tools, in the cloud
- Connect each account with its number, password and broker server.
- Each account runs in its own MetaTrader terminal on our servers.
- Pick a master and its followers, and set each follower’s rules in one dashboard.
- We keep the terminals running and connected. Your computer can be off.
What it costs
Up to 74% less than a local copier on a VPS.
With a local copier you pay twice: for the licence, and for a VPS big enough to run one MetaTrader terminal per account. For 5 accounts that's €29 plus $80 a month. With Algo Trader Tools it's $47, servers included.
The local side is Local Trade Copier's licence for one machine with any number of accounts, and the smallest Windows VPS sized for that many MetaTrader terminals, by the VPS provider or by Local Trade Copier's own guidance.
| Accounts | Local: licence + VPS | Algo Trader Tools |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | €29 + $40ForexVPS Core, 1–2 platforms | $19 (−74%) |
| 5 | €29 + $80ForexVPS Prime, 3–5+ platforms | $47 (−58%) |
| 10 | €29 + $99.99QuantVPS Pro, 16 GB | $89 (−33%) |
From Local Trade Copier, ForexVPS and QuantVPS. Savings with euros at the ECB rate that day, €1 = $1.1224. The names are trademarks of their owners; we're not affiliated with them.
Speed
46 ms from fill to fill, measured.
Some sellers of local copiers say a cloud copier adds hundreds of milliseconds to every order. We measured ours on the live service: a median of 46 ms from the master's fill to the copy's, brokers included. 0.1 ms of it is our engine; the rest is the terminals, the network and the brokers' fills.
Beyond the price
What the VPS bill leaves out.
Windows updates and restarts
When the VPS restarts, every terminal has to start and log in again before copying resumes, unless you’ve set that up to happen by itself.
One machine for every account
All your terminals share one VPS. When it runs short of memory or goes down, every copy stops at once, and you find out from a missed trade.
Your time
Remote desktop sessions to check on terminals, EA updates, and the evening a copy didn’t happen. None of it shows on the bill.
Why Algo Trader Tools
More than just a cloud copier.
Every account on one screen
Balance, equity and open positions of all your accounts as they move, with growth, drawdown and win rate for each, in any browser.
Settings in one place, not on every chart
A local copier keeps its settings in the EA on each terminal’s chart. Here each follower’s sizing, symbols and trading hours are set in the dashboard.
Lots sized your way
Multiplier, fixed lot, balance ratio, equity ratio or risk per trade, chosen for each follower. Any follower can also copy in reverse.
Equity Guard on every account
Daily loss limits, an equity floor and a profit target for each account. When one is crossed, it emails you, pauses copying or closes every position, whichever you pick.
MT4 to MT5, across brokers
Copy between MT4 and MT5 in either direction and between brokers, with symbol names such as GOLD and XAUUSD and contract sizes matched for you.
An API and an MCP server
Script your accounts and copiers from your own code, or ask an AI assistant about them. Read the docs.
Setup
Copying in five steps. Nothing to install.
Pick a plan
Every account you connect takes a slot, master or follower. Starter is $19 a month for 2 accounts, and you can move up or down at any time.
Connect your accounts
Add each MT4 or MT5 account with its account number, password and broker server. It gets its own MetaTrader terminal on our servers, with nothing to install on your side.
Create a copier
Pick the master and add its followers. Give each follower its lot sizing, the symbols it copies and the hours it trades.
Set limits, if you want them
Equity Guard adds a daily loss limit, an equity floor or a profit target to any account.
Check the first copy
Place a small trade on the master, on demo accounts first if you like, and watch it appear in the copier’s activity.
What you need
- Each account’s number, password and broker server, as your broker sent them.
- The trading password for each follower. For a master, the read-only investor password is enough.
- Automated trading allowed on each follower. Brokers can switch it off for a single account, and such an account can’t follow.
- If an account is with a prop firm, your firm allows a copier.
Do I need a VPS for a trade copier?
Not with a cloud-based one: your accounts run on its servers. A local copier runs inside MetaTrader, so every terminal it uses has to stay open around the clock, which in practice means renting a VPS.
Is a local copier faster?
Where the time goes matters more than where the copier runs. In our published test, copies landed a median of 46 ms after the master's fill, brokers included, and 0.1 ms of that was our engine. Most of the time is the brokers filling the orders, wherever the copier runs.
Is it safe to give a cloud copier my password?
Here your password is stored encrypted and used only to log in the MetaTrader terminal that runs your account. A master can be connected with its read-only investor password. Followers need their trading password, because copies are placed on them.
What happens if your service has a problem?
Every copy carries its master trade's ticket, so the copier recognises its copies when it starts again. Copies whose master trade closed in the meantime are closed. Trades the master opened in the meantime are still copied if they're younger than the follower's limit, a minute unless you change it. You can follow our uptime on the status page.
Can brokers or prop firms see that trades are copied?
Assume they can, with any copier: copies open right after the master's trade, at sizes in proportion to it. Your accounts trade from our servers' IP addresses unless you connect them through your own proxy. Our prop firm page lists what to check with your firm.
How do I move from a local copier?
Connect your accounts here and set up each follower, then turn off the EA on that follower's terminal before you attach it, or every trade arrives twice. Move each follower while its master has no open trades, so no old copy is left behind.
What does it cost?
Every account takes one slot, master or follower. Starter is $19 a month for 2 accounts, with no VPS or licence on top. See pricing for more accounts.
Ready when the market is
Your strategy on every account, by tonight.
Connect your first account in minutes. No VPS to rent, no Expert Advisor to install and no need to keep MetaTrader open.