Your prop firm switched to TradeLocker. You do not have to abandon MetaTrader
Funded on TradeLocker but your strategy lives on MT4 or MT5? Keep trading where your tools are and copy the trades across through the official API.
Short answer: you do not have to choose between the funded account and the tools you built. Keep trading on MetaTrader and copy the trades into the TradeLocker account through its official API. The one thing you must get right is position sizing, because the two accounts are rarely the same size.
Why this situation is so common
Several prop firms moved to browser platforms, TradeLocker among them, for reasons that have nothing to do with you: nothing to install, nothing to support on a trader's machine, and an account that can be issued in minutes. The result is a lot of traders whose strategy, EAs and years of chart work live on MetaTrader while the account that actually pays lives somewhere with no Expert Advisors at all.
The three options, honestly
| Option | Reality |
|---|---|
| Rebuild the strategy on TradeLocker | Not possible for anything automated — there is no programming language to rebuild it in. |
| Trade the funded account by hand | Possible, but you give up the consistency that automating bought you, and you are trading two accounts at once. |
| Trade on MetaTrader, copy to TradeLocker | Keeps your tooling and your funded account in step. This is what the rest of this article is about. |
Check the rulebook before the software
This matters more than any setting. Firms differ: copying between your own accounts is widely accepted, while copying another person's trades or running the same trades across several accounts at the same firm is restricted at many. Some firms also have views on where your trades originate. None of that is a platform question or a software question, and none of it is something a blog post can answer for your firm.
Sizing is the part that ends challenges
A funded account is rarely the same size as the account you trade for yourself. Copy the same lot size onto a smaller account and you are taking a much larger percentage risk on the side with the rules attached — which is exactly the side where one oversized loss ends everything.
Use balance-ratio sizing so the percentage risk matches across both accounts rather than the lot size. Then check the arithmetic against your firm's daily loss limit before going anywhere near a live challenge: if your normal worst day is larger than the firm's daily limit, the strategy has already failed the challenge once, on an account with no rules attached.
What the setup looks like
- Your MT4/MT5 master runs as it always has, with the Sender EA writing its trades locally.
- A small free program sits in a folder beside it and reads that feed.
- It places the matching order on your TradeLocker account through the official API, sized by the rule you chose.
The walkthrough, including the symbol mapping you will probably need, is on the MT5 to TradeLocker copier page.
Two limits to know before you rely on it
Pending orders and partial closes are not copied in this version — they are logged and skipped. And the copier has to run on the same machine as your MetaTrader terminal, which in practice means a VPS if you want trades mirrored while you sleep.
Where to go next
- MT4 to TradeLocker copier — the tool and its setup
- Daily, maximum and trailing drawdown — the three rules that break funded accounts
- Copying during a challenge — the protections worth switching on
- MT5 vs TradeLocker — what actually changes
Trading foreign exchange and CFDs carries a high risk of losing money. Prop firm rules vary by firm and change; your firm's own rulebook is the only authority. Nothing here is a statement about what any particular firm permits.
Frequently asked questions
My prop firm uses TradeLocker but my EA is on MT5. What are my options?＋
Keep the EA on MetaTrader and copy its trades into the TradeLocker account through TradeLocker's official API. Rewriting a strategy for a platform with no programming language is not an option, and trading the funded account by hand defeats the point of having automated it.
Is copying into a funded account against prop firm rules?＋
It depends entirely on the firm. Copying between your own accounts is widely accepted; copying another person's trades, or running identical trades across several accounts at the same firm, is restricted at many of them. Check your own firm's rulebook — a general answer is worth nothing here.
Will copying break my daily drawdown limit?＋
Copying does not change your risk, but sizing does. If the funded account is smaller than your master and you copy the same lot size, you take a far larger percentage risk on the funded side. Use balance-ratio sizing so the percentage risk matches rather than the lot size.
Does the copier need to run on the same machine as MetaTrader?＋
Yes. It reads a local file the Sender EA writes, so it has to be on the same PC or VPS as the master terminal. It does not need to be anywhere near TradeLocker, which it reaches over the internet.
What happens if my PC goes to sleep?＋
Copying stops until it wakes. Trades already open on TradeLocker stay open with whatever stop loss and take profit the broker holds, but nothing new is copied and changes are not mirrored while the machine is asleep. Anyone copying seriously runs it on a VPS.
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