Copying Between MT4, MT5 and cTrader: What Actually Changes

Copying runs in every direction across MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. The order action is the easy part — symbol names, volume steps and account mode are where it goes wrong.

28 Sept 2026 · 6 min read

A trade copier's job doesn't change with the terminal: something happens on one account, and the same thing should happen on the others. So when traders ask whether they can copy between MetaTrader and cTrader, the real question isn't whether the copy runs — it's what the two platforms disagree about either side of it. That's a short list: instrument naming, account mode, volume steps, and how each platform is reached in the first place.

Every direction is the same problem

There is no special cross-platform mode in copying. A copier watches one account — the source account — and repeats the order actions it sees onto the follower accounts. Whether those accounts run the same terminal is incidental to that loop, so all four combinations behave alike:

• MT4 to MT5, MT5 to MT4. The classic pairing, usually because a broker moved a product line onto MT5 and the older account stayed where it was.
• MetaTrader to cTrader, and cTrader to MetaTrader. Neither is harder than the other; the source's platform decides only how its fills are observed.
• cTrader to cTrader. Still a cross-broker problem the moment the two accounts sit at different brokers, because brokers name and size instruments their own way.

Mixing platforms among one source's followers is ordinary too. The platform is a property of each account, not of the link between them.

What carries across unchanged

The order action. A position opens on the source, so a position opens on each follower; the source closes it, in full or in part, so the followers close in the same proportion. Direction, instrument and the fact of the trade all carry. Size does not carry literally — it is recalculated per follower, because two accounts of different sizes shouldn't trade the same lot.

Instrument naming: the difference that actually bites

cTrader brokers tend to spell index CFDs with spaces: US 500, US 30, US TECH 100, GERMANY 40, JAPAN 225. MetaTrader brokers write the same instruments closed up and abbreviated — US500, US30, USTEC, GER40, JP225 — and some decorate whole families with a leading hash, so the DAX arrives as #Germany40. One index, three strings, none of which a plain comparison matches.

Within MetaTrader alone it's the same problem wearing a different hat: suffixes. The same pair is EURUSD on one account, EURUSDm on a micro account, EURUSD.r on a raw-spread one, XAUUSD.i for gold at a third — and gold is plain GOLD at a fourth, sharing no characters at all with XAUUSD.

A copier repeats the instrument it observes. If the follower's broker doesn't list that exact string there is nothing valid to place, so a faithful copier skips the copy rather than send an order it knows will be rejected. Crossing platforms doesn't create a new failure mode here — it makes the existing one far more likely, because two vendors' naming conventions diverge harder than two MetaTrader brokers' do. The fix is a symbol remap: a rule translating the source's name into the follower's before the order is placed.

One caution while reading those lists. Near-identical names are not always the same instrument — a symbol list can carry an index and an exchange-traded fund tracking it within a word of each other, and mapping one onto the other is a wrong-instrument copy, not a naming fix.

Volume steps differ by instrument, not just by platform

Every symbol carries a minimum tradable volume and a step it increments in, and those numbers belong to the broker and the instrument — not to the platform. FX majors commonly step in 0.01 lots, which is why this stays invisible for so long. Index and crypto CFDs frequently don't: a 0.1, 1.0 or larger step is normal, and the minimum moves with it.

That matters the moment sizing produces a fraction. Scale a source index position down to a smaller follower and you might arrive at 0.4 lots on a symbol whose step is 1.0. Round down and there is nothing left to place; round up and the follower takes more than the proportion you asked for. Neither outcome is a defect — it's the granularity of the instrument, and a copier can only snap to it and be honest about which way it went. So check the follower's specifications, not the source's: the follower's broker is the one that accepts or refuses the order.

cTrader adds a wrinkle: it expresses volume in units of the instrument rather than in lots, and how many units make a lot is a per-symbol figure, not a constant — which is why a copier has to read each symbol's specification from the broker instead of assuming a lot size.

Hedging and netting: the follower decides

A hedging account keeps every position separate, so several positions — even opposing ones — can be open in the same symbol at once. A netting account keeps a single net position per symbol: a second order in that instrument adds to, reduces or flips what is already there. MT4 behaves like a hedging account; an MT5 account is one or the other, set when it's opened; a cTrader account is likewise hedged or netted.

Copiers generally track one follower position per source position, because that's the only model letting a partial close on the source map onto something specific on the follower. A netting follower can't honour it. The first copy on a symbol looks perfect; the moment a second lands on a symbol the follower already holds, the broker merges them, and one source position stops corresponding to one follower position — so closing one leg on the source no longer has an obvious counterpart.

That's a shape to know in advance rather than a blocker: if your strategy only ever holds one position per symbol, a netting follower behaves like a hedging one; if it scales in, they diverge immediately. The broader platform comparison is in MT4 vs MT5 for copying.

How each platform is reached

The last difference is connection, and it's the one traders notice first. A MetaTrader account is reached with its broker's server name, the account number and a password. cTrader has no password to hand over at all: you sign in with your cTrader ID on cTrader's own site and grant access to the trading accounts you choose, and you can withdraw that access from the same place later. One cTrader ID often covers several trading accounts, so a single sign-in can surface a handful at once.

What to check before you set this up

• Both symbol lists, side by side. For every instrument you actually trade, compare the names character for character — spaces, a leading hash, a trailing suffix. This is where cross-platform setups fail.
• The follower's account mode. Hedging or netting, and whether your strategy ever holds more than one position in a symbol.
• Minimum and step on the follower's side. Especially indices, metals and crypto, and especially if the follower is much smaller than the source.
• The deposit currency of both accounts. If you size followers relative to account size, a ratio between two different currencies isn't a ratio — it's off by the exchange rate.
• That the instrument exists at all. A broker on one platform may simply not list what the other does. A symbol allowlist is the clean way to keep those trades out rather than watching them fail.

Where Trepeat fits

Trepeat connects MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader demo accounts from one dashboard, and a repeater's followers can sit on either platform in either direction — demo accounts only on both platforms; live real-capital accounts aren't supported for now. Naming is handled per repeater by a symbol allowlist and symbol remapping, and Trepeat reads each account's symbol list when you add it so it can propose the matching name — a proposal only, which you confirm or replace, because choosing the instrument an order lands on is the account holder's call.

Sizing is snapped to the follower symbol's own step and minimum as its broker reports them, and a copy falling below that minimum is skipped rather than sent as an invalid order. Position tracking is hedging-native — one follower position per source position — so a netting follower is flagged at the moment a copy is about to stack on a symbol it already holds. Connection detail per platform is in connecting MetaTrader and connecting cTrader; for why two followers can fill at slightly different prices on the same copy, see why follower fills differ.