FAQ

What are Signals?

The special "Signals" section at MQL5.community website allows all registered users to broadcast their own trading operations from their MetaTrader 4 trading accounts, as well as to subscribe to copy deals into their trading accounts from Signals of other traders. Each trading signal has its own page in the Signals section, where you can see a detailed trading statistics of deals history, charts of growth and balance, number of subscribers, etc.

How are transactions copied if the Provider has 4-digit quotes for a Symbol and the Subscriber has 5-digit quotes for the same Symbol or vice verse?
All transactions copied to the Subscriber's account are executed at current market prices considering the deviation set in the terminal settings and contract specification of the given symbol. Thus when copying deals the number of digits doesn't matter.

How can I find out what Signal I am subscribed to in the terminal and how can I cancel the subscription?
First, when establishing a connection to the account, the terminal connects to the signal server and checks for any available subscriptions. If the account is subscribed to a Signal, a relevant message will be written to the Journal. In addition, the name of the Signal to which the account is subscribed is displayed in blue in the first line of the Signals section of the terminal settings.
Second, there is an alternative simple way that allows you to instantly view all your current and expired subscriptions on the Signals page of My Subscriptions. To be able to use this option you should be logged in to your MQL5.com account.

Can I copy trades from MetaTrader 4 to MetaTrader 5 or vice versa?
No, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms have differences so, you should select signal from the same trading platform as your account to be able to copy trades.

How paid subscriptions are charged? What will happen if a free subscription becomes paid?
When subscribing to a paid signal, the required amount of money for the entire subscription period (week or month) freezes on Subscriber's account. But these money are not transferred immediately to Provider's account - provider receives money automatically when subscription is expired. If Provider cancels his Signal, frozen money are returned to subscribers.

If Provider decides to make a free Signal paid, then all existing subscriptions remain active and free until the end of subscription period. After subscription is expired, you will be offered to pay to renew this subscription, which you can accept or reject. Thus, converting free subscription to paid one will not charge your account if you have previously subscribed to free signal.

Can I cancel a paid subscription?
If Subscriber cancels his subscription, frozen money will be transferred to Provider. In this case, Subscriber will receive a clear warning:

In what cases subscription can be canceled automatically?
To correctly copy trades from Provider's account to Subscriber's account at least the same trading symbols are required. When you subscribe to a signal, the client terminal checks if symbols on both accounts match, i.e. if Subscriber has all the symbols used by Provider to trade and open positions. Only if this check is passed, the client terminal will allow you to copy trades.

If at some point Provider will trade symbol that Subscriber does not have, copying of trades will be automatically canceled and the terminal will display the corresponding dialog box and log to the Journal.

Provider is trading symbol called GOLD, and my broker has the same instrument, but it is called XAUUSD. Can I map symbols with different names by myself? In other words, is it possible to copy GOLD trades to XAUUSD?
No, you are not allowed to specify rules of mapping Provider's and Subscriber's symbols.

The client terminal automatically maps Forex trading symbols like EURUSD*. If Provider has symbol EURUSD! and Subscriber has symbol EURUSD (or vice versa), client terminal automatically detects similarity of such trading instruments and replaces their names when copying trading signals.

I want to copy trades with fixed volume of 1.0 lots. Is it possible?
No, the volumes of copied trades are calculated automatically by the client terminal on the basis of specified settings and balance ratio of Subscriber's and Provider's accounts. You can not specify fixed volume of deals.

On Provider's account all trades are performed with volume of 0.1 lots. I want to copy these trades with larger volume, for example 0.3 lots. Can I raise the volume somehow?
All volumes are calculated automatically. Subscriber can copy trades with volume larger than on Provider's account only in one case - if Subscriber's account balance reserved for signals copying is greater than Provider's account balance (Subscriber_Balance * Load > Provider_Balance).

What rounding scheme is used for Provider's and Subscriber's percentage ratio of deals volume?

The following step-by-step algorithm is used for percentage rounding:

  1. If the value is less than 1%, it is rounded up to 1%, i.e. assumed to be 1%. Example: 0.25% => 1%
  2. If the value is greater than 1% and less than 10%, it is rounded down to the nearest whole number. Example: 6.25% => 6%
  3. If the value is more than 10% and less than 100%, it is rounded down with step of 5%. Example: 29.7% => 25%
  4. If the value is more than 100% and less than 1000%, it is rounded down with step of 10%. Example: 129.6% => 120%

How are volumes calculated?

Let's consider a specific example of using the volumes management system:

  1. Provider: balance 15 000 USD, leverage 1:100
  2. Subscriber1: balance 40 000 EUR, leverage 1:200, deposit load percentage 50%
  3. Subscriber2: balance 5 000 EUR, leverage 1:50, deposit load percentage 35%
  4. EURUSD exchange rate = 1.2700

Calculation of Provider's and Subscriber's position volumes ratio:

  1. Balances ratio considering specified part of the deposit in percentage terms:
    Subscriber1: (40 000 * 0,5) / 15 000 = 1,3333 (133.33%)
    Subscriber2: (5 000 * 0,35) / 15 000 = 0,1166 (11.66%)
  2. After considering the leverages:
    Subscriber1: the leverage of Subscriber1 (1:200) is greater than Provider's one (1:100), thus correction on leverages is not performed
    Subscriber2: 0,1166 * (50 / 100) = 0,0583 (5.83%)
  3. After considering currency rates of the deposits at the moment of calculation:
    Subscriber1: 1,3333 * 1,2700 = 1,6933 (169.33%)
    Subscriber2: 0,0583 * 1,2700 = 0,0741 (7.41%)
  4. Total percentage value after the rounding (performed using a multistep algorithm):
    Subscriber1: 160% or 1.6 ratio
    Subscriber2: 7% or 0.07 ratio

Thus under the given conditions, Provider's deal with volume of 1 lot will be copied:

- to Subscriber1 account in amount of 160% -  volume of 1.6 lots

- to Subscriber2 account in amount of 160% -  volume of 0.07 lots

Why there should be no open positions and pending orders on my account in order to subscribe to a signal?

Open positions and pending orders do not allow Subscriber's account to correctly copy Provider's signals.

  • Subscription to a signal means that you completely rely on Provider's trading strategy. Positions and pending orders created by you or any other signal are not part of the current Provider's trading strategy.
  • The volume of copied trade operations is calculated based on the value of account balance. Subscriber's positions opened manually or by any other signal increase the deposit load and may also prevent signal copying due to insufficient free margin or lead to Margin Call.
  • In MetaTrader 5 you can have only one common position for one symbol at the same time. If Subscriber's account and Provider's account have open positions for the same symbols, signal copying can lead to reverse of the final position or to a significant change in its volume.

Why manual trading leads to problems with copying of signals (accounts out of sync)? Why I cannot simultaneously subscribe to a signal and trade on one account?

Manual intervention in trading on account subscribed to a signal, prevents correct copying of Provider's signals and complicates the analysis of signal copying results.

  • Subscription to a signal means that you completely rely on Provider's trading strategy. Positions and pending orders created by you or any other signal are not part of the current Provider's trading strategy.
  • The volume of copied trade operations is calculated based on the value of account balance. Subscriber's positions opened manually or by any other signal increase the deposit load and may also prevent signal copying due to insufficient free margin or lead to Margin Call.
  • In MetaTrader 5 you can have only one common position for one symbol at the same time. If Subscriber's account and Provider's account have open positions for the same symbols, signal copying can lead to reverse of the final position or to a significant change in its volume.


Should the synchronization reveal any inconsistencies, i.e. positions different from those of the Provider or any pending orders set, a standard pop-up window will appear to prompt you for permission to synchronize.

Who can create a trading Signal at MQL5.com? Should I pay for this?
To create a signal you only need to register at MQL5.com. You can create signals with free and paid subscription - in both cases, you don't need to pay anything to create a signal.

When a free Signal will become available for subscription?
Free signals become available to subscribers as soon as the signal server can connect to a trading account from which the signals will be broadcast.

I created a signal, but it is not available for subscription on the website. Why?
Go to the "My signals" section to view the status of your signal. There may be problems with its connection.

When you open your signal page you will see the error message. You can correct account number, password and the name of trading server using the "Edit" command.

How paid subscriptions are charged? What will happen if a free subscription becomes paid?
When subscribing to a paid signal, the required amount of money for the entire subscription period (week or month) freezes on Subscriber's account. But these money are not transferred immediately to Provider's account - provider receives money automatically when subscription is expired. If Provider cancels his Signal, frozen money are returned to subscribers.

If Provider decides to make a free Signal paid, then all existing subscriptions remain active and free until the end of subscription period. After subscription is expired, you will be offered to pay to renew this subscription, which you can accept or reject. Thus, converting free subscription to paid one will not charge your account if you have previously subscribed to free signal.

How to disable your own Signal? I do not want to broadcast it anymore.

In the "My Signals" section open the signal you want to delete and click "Edit". Turn off the "Enabled" option and click "Save".