From 2008 to 2026: My 18-Year Journey Building a Trade Copier (and Why I Rewrote Everything)

From 2008 to 2026: My 18-Year Journey Building a Trade Copier
(and Why I Rewrote Everything)

I started working on RS Trade Copier back in 2008. At that time, there were very few tools that could reliably copy trades between MetaTrader terminals. So I built one.

For years, that first version served traders well. It was stable, it worked, and it earned trust. The last release of that old architecture was RS Trade Copier v7.3 for MT4.

But looking back, I have to be honest: it was not what I truly wanted it to be.

The Old Way: What v7.3 Looked Like

If you've ever used a trade copier that feels like a chore, you know the experience:

• No graphical interface. Just a long list of input parameters in the EA properties window. You scroll, you type, you hope you didn't miss something.

• Global settings only. Every symbol, every source — the same rules. No flexibility.

• Manual symbol correction. If your brokers used different names, you had to map them yourself.

• No tooltips. No guidance. You either knew what a parameter did, or you guessed.

And yet, despite all that, v7.3 was used by many traders for years. Because at the time, it was still one of the most reliable options available.

But I knew it could be better.

The Realization That Changed Everything

At some point, it became clear to me: a trade copier should not force the user into a one-size-fits-all setup.

What if you have multiple signal providers? What if you want to copy EURUSD from one source with 0.1 lot, but from another source with 0.5 lot and a different risk setting? What if you want to treat gold differently from forex pairs?

The old architecture couldn't handle that. It wasn't designed for that level of control.

So I made a decision: start over.

The Hard Part: Building the Interface

I knew what I wanted: a real graphical interface, flexible per-symbol settings, and a design that actually helps the user instead of confusing them.

What I didn't know was how long it would take.

About 90% of the entire development time went into the interface. Not because I'm a perfectionist (though maybe I am), but because I believe that a professional tool should feel professional to use.

I wanted:

• A clean, modern GUI with dark, light, and classic themes.

• Tooltips for every control — so you never have to guess.

• Full support for multiple languages.

• The ability to select sources visually, choose symbols per source, and configure each one individually.

Year after year, I worked on it. Sometimes I wondered if I'd ever finish.

The Engine: What Runs Beneath

Once the interface was finally ready, I turned to the trading logic. This time, I built it from scratch with a single goal: 
speed and reliability without compromise.

The result is something I'm genuinely proud of:

• Asynchronous trade execution. When you close a batch of 50 positions on the provider side, the receiver doesn't process them one by one. They all close in a fraction of a second.

• Smart data structures. Finding the right settings for a specific source and symbol is instant, even if you have hundreds of sources and thousands of symbols.

• Reliability built in. If something goes wrong — a disconnect, a restart, a crash — nothing is lost. The system remembers.

I don't usually talk about the technical details, because most traders don't care about algorithms. They care about results. And the result is simple: it just works, and it's fast.

The Present: RS Trade Copier v8.x for MT5

A few days ago, I finally released the MT5 version of RS Trade Copier.

It includes everything I dreamed of years ago:

• Two modes: Provider and Client.

• Automatic provider discovery. No manual typing of account numbers. The client finds the provider automatically.

• Per-symbol, per-source settings. Every symbol from every provider can have its own rules.

• A real interface. Clear, organized, with tooltips in 11 languages.

• Protection strategies: safe stop loss, breakeven, trailing stop.

• Filters, trading sessions, profit/loss targets, notifications.

And yes — the speed. When I tested 50 positions closing at once and saw them disappear from the receiver terminal instantly, I knew the rewrite was worth it.

What I Learned

Building a product for 18 years teaches you a few things:

1. Traders don't want complexity. They want control, but they don't want to fight the software to get it.

2. Speed matters. When you're waiting for positions to close, every second feels like an eternity. A copier should never make you wait.

3. Good design is not a luxury. It's the difference between a tool you tolerate and a tool you enjoy using.

The old v7.3 was reliable. But the new version is what I always wanted it to be.

Try It Yourself

If you're currently using a trade copier that feels like a chore — endless parameters, slow batch closing,
no flexibility — I invite you to try RS Trade Copier.

Download the free 24-hour demo (it works on demo accounts, so no risk). Spend a minute setting it up. Open a batch of orders and close them.

Then decide if you want to go back to the old way.

I know what my choice is.

Boris Sedov
Developer of RS Trade Copier

Full Version: mql5.com/en/market/product/7666

Free Demo: RS Trade Copier v8.7 Demo.ex5