Questions about slippage and latency

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Hello everyone! I've been copying signals in MQL5 for a couple of years and my results have always been very different from the signal providers I've followed, so I've decided it's time to try to better understand how the copying process works to try to find the way to improve performance. So I have a series of questions:

1) How is it possible that there is slippage using exactly the same broker as the signal provider? Furthermore, how is it possible that there is less slippage using a different broker than using the same one?

2) Taking [broker name redacted] as an example, if we go to the "Slippage" tab on any signal we will see how the slippage figures are very different between the different servers of this broker (***-Live06, *** -Live02, ***SC-Live05, ***SC-Live11 , etc.). I don't understand why this occurs.

3) In relation to the above, I must say that I have tried using servers with low and medium slippage to copy signals and, comparing the slippage obtained in my account with the one that appears in the "Slippage" tab of the signal, I have not found a very strong correlation. Does this information really serve as a predictor of the slippage that one will obtain if one uses a broker or is it something completely random on a case-by-case basis? Or perhaps there are variables more relevant than the broker when determining the quality of the signal copy?

4) On many occasions I have found that the main problem in obtaining the same results as the signal provider was not the slippage, but the latency in copying trades, delaying enough seconds to completely alter performance. Since there is no "Delay" tab that provides us with information about which brokers and servers have the highest and lowest latency, my question is what variables determine this delay.

I promise that I have reviewed the forum and have not found satisfactory answers to my questions.


Thanks in advance.
 

Slippage occurs due to the difference in price between broker servers and the delay in trade/copy execution, making it unavoidable. These two factors are always present when copying trades.

Slippage can happen even when using servers from the same broker as the signal provider because the copying delay persists. It may seem surprising that sometimes other broker servers experience less slippage than servers from the same broker as the signal provider, but it does happen.

During high-impact news events and periods of increased volatility, slippage can escalate to significant levels. Therefore, it is highly advisable to avoid copying trades during these events and for signal providers to refrain from opening trades at such times.

Minimizing latency is an effective way to reduce slippage in copied trades. A quick and efficient execution results in a better price for copied trades. However, this method works only for servers with similar or identical prices to those of the signal provider. Therefore, it is essential to check the Slippage tab for the best broker/server setups. Green and upper yellow values indicate the best options.

 

I would like to add a few more details about slippage, which many traders ignore.

Slippage is not only because of delays and any latency between the trader’s computer and the broker’s trade server. One should also remember that the brokers themselves are connected to liquidity and data-feed providers. These connections also suffer latency.

These different servers have to process these transactions and information and this takes time no matter how fast these computers may be.

Forex is not a centralised exchange, making it even more complex.

It can be random and unpredictable, and builds up the more interactions there are, especially during news events.

Put this all together, and it becomes impossible to achieve consistent slippage results.

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