# Telegram signal copiers compared: cloud services, Expert Advisors and apps

The three ways a Telegram signal copier for MetaTrader can work (a cloud service, an Expert Advisor inside MetaTrader, an app on your own machine), what each means for running it, your broker login and your costs, named examples as their makers describe them, and when Relay2Trade fits and when it does not.

## Three ways a copier works

Every copier does the same two jobs: it reads the messages of the Telegram groups you follow, and it places orders on your broker account. Where those two jobs happen is what sets them apart.

### A cloud service

The copier runs on its maker's servers. It reads your Telegram there and places orders on your broker account from there, so it needs your MetaTrader login on those servers, either its own connection or one through a connection service such as MetaAPI. You keep nothing running: it trades while your computer is off.

### An Expert Advisor inside MetaTrader

The copier is an Expert Advisor (EA) attached to a chart in your MetaTrader terminal. MetaTrader cannot read Telegram by itself, so most EAs work with a helper program that reads the groups and hands the signals over. It trades only while the terminal (and the helper) are open, which in practice means a VPS kept running.

### An app on your own machine

The copier is a program on your computer, or on a VPS. It reads Telegram through your own Telegram account and places orders in a MetaTrader terminal on the same machine. It trades while that machine is on. This is how Relay2Trade works.

## What each way means for you

| | Cloud service | Expert Advisor | App on your machine (Relay2Trade) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | The maker's servers | Your MetaTrader terminal | Your PC, Linux machine or a VPS |
| Needs a machine kept on | No | Yes, with the terminal open | Yes, or a VPS |
| Who connects to your broker | The service, with your MetaTrader login | Your terminal | Your terminal |
| Setting up | An account on the service | Installing the EA and its helper | Installing the app, or a VPS made from the Desk |
| Costs to check | The plan, and any connection service billed apart | The EA, the helper, a VPS | The plan, and the "VPS: Quick install" if you want it |

None of the three is better for everyone. A cloud service is the least to look after. An Expert Advisor keeps everything in MetaTrader. An app keeps the orders in your own terminal while it does the reading and the checks itself.

## Named examples, as their makers describe them

What each maker says on its own website on October 16, 2026. Plans and prices change often: check the maker's site before you choose.

### trade2sync (formerly Telegram Signal Copier, "TSC")

- A cloud copier: its site says it needs no VPS and no MetaApi, and keeps copying while your devices are off.
- MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, DXtrade and TradeLocker.
- Reads text and images in any language, with no keyword set-up, its home page says. Its pricing page lists "AI-based signal reading" and "Copy signals from images" on the Pro plan only; the Basic plan has "Text signal parsing".
- The group's later commands ("close half", "breakeven") are followed by keywords you enter for each: its help article "Keywords" says to "specify the exact keyword used in the reply message".
- Apps for iOS and Android.

### TelegramFxCopier

- A cloud copier that runs in Telegram, on its servers, 24 hours a day on trading days.
- MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 accounts, linked through MetaAPI. Its pricing page says MetaAPI is "sold separately", and its help puts it at "around $5-$10 per month".
- Reads text and images in any language, with AI in every plan.
- Its help: a signal must be complete, "with both a TP and SL", and a short call such as "gold buy now" is screened out; a change to a trade "MUST be sent as Telegram replies to the original signal", one change per reply.

### Relay2Trade

- An app on your Windows PC (Windows 10 or 11), your Linux machine, or a VPS that runs around the clock.
- The "VPS: Quick install" is made from the Desk in under a minute, with the app signed in: 5.00 € a month on top of a monthly plan, and free in the demo day.
- MetaTrader 5 only, at any broker.
- AI reads each message in any format and language: entries and entry zones, any number of take-profits, stops in price, pips or percent. The AI comes with every plan: no AI account, no API key. A photo's caption is read; a picture with no text is not.
- The group's later messages are understood without keywords: a reply to the signal, or a message naming the symbol, finds its trade. You choose which kinds it follows.
- A signal without a stop-loss gets a default stop for its kind of instrument (or is skipped, if you choose); one without a take-profit is followed as a runner; a short call with no numbers ("GOLD BUY NOW") can be traded at market on a listener that reads them.
- Reads a whole group or channel, or only the topics you choose in a group with topics.
- You choose which of the group's later messages it follows ("SL to entry", "close half"), and every signal keeps its story: how it was read, each rule it passed or failed, and why one was not traded.
- Detailed control over how each trade is placed and how much is at risk: see below.
- A dry run that replays a group's past messages before any money is at stake.
- Works with your AI assistant: connect Claude, ChatGPT or another assistant to your account and it can set things up and run things with you: create the "VPS: Quick install", choose which computer runs the app, create profiles, add and tune your listeners, change your settings, read your signals, notifications and limits, use your items, shop with your Sparks, write to support, and prepare the payment page. Passwords, codes, acting on signals and trades stay with you. See https://relay2trade.com/help/using-an-ai-assistant.md.
- Plans from 9.99 € for 7 days, or 19.99 € a month.
- A free demo day for a new account, while it is offered.

## Reading signals and follow-ups, side by side

What each maker states, on October 16, 2026:

| | trade2sync | TelegramFxCopier | Relay2Trade |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI reading of signals | Pro plan | Every plan | Every plan |
| Signals as pictures | Pro plan | Yes, its home page says | The caption only |
| The group's later commands | Keywords you enter | Telegram replies only, one change each | Replies, or the symbol named; you choose which kinds |
| A signal without a stop-loss or take-profit | Not stated | Not traded: both are needed | A default stop, or skipped, as you choose; no take-profit: a runner |
| A separate service to pay | No | MetaAPI | No |

## How far Relay2Trade lets you tune the trading

Every one of these is a setting of the profile, and a group can have its own ("Settings of its own"):

- **Size:** "Risk % of equity", "Fixed cash" or fixed lots, shared across the signal's take-profits, with "Max lots per signal", per trade and per symbol.
- **Entry:** at market or as a limit at the signal's price, where to wait inside an entry range, stop orders and straddles, and how long a waiting order stays. At the moment of entry, "Max entry deviation", "Max spread (points)" and "Max slippage (points)".
- **Exits:** any number of take-profits with the size shared across them, the stop moved as targets are reached, a "Trailing stop", and runners closed after a time or before the weekend.
- **Stops:** "Require stop-loss", a default stop for each kind of instrument, or your "Own stop-loss".
- **The group's later messages:** follow or ignore exits and stop moves, and partial closes and target moves, each on its own.
- **The account:** "Max open positions" (also per symbol), "Max total lots", "Max margin use %" and "Lowest equity to trade".
- **The day:** "Max daily loss", "Daily profit target" and "Max traded signals per day", counted on your broker's day, with four switches for what happens at the line.
- **When and what:** trading days and hours, "Allowed symbols", "Max signal age (min)" and repeated signals.
- **Several accounts:** each MetaTrader 5 account is a profile with its own settings; your plan sets how many trade at once.

See https://relay2trade.com/help/sizing-and-risk.md, https://relay2trade.com/help/entry-and-pending-orders.md and https://relay2trade.com/help/take-profits-trailing-runners.md.

## When Relay2Trade fits, and when it does not

Relay2Trade fits when:

- you trade on MetaTrader 5;
- you want the orders placed in your own MetaTrader 5 terminal;
- you want to see how a group would have traded before trusting it (a dry run), and why each signal was or was not traded;
- you want limits per group, not only per account;
- you follow a group with topics and want only some of them traded;
- you would like an AI assistant to help you set it up and tune it.

Another copier may suit you better when:

- you trade on MetaTrader 4, cTrader or another platform: Relay2Trade works with MetaTrader 5 only;
- you want nothing running anywhere, not even a VPS, and are content for a service to connect to your broker account from its own servers;
- your groups post their signals as pictures with no text.

## Trying it

Create an account and use the free demo day, while it is offered: the "VPS: Quick install" comes with it, free for the day, so you can connect MetaTrader 5 and Telegram and watch a group without installing anything. See https://relay2trade.com/help/getting-started.md.

## Related

- https://relay2trade.com/help/telegram-signal-copier-what-to-look-for.md
- https://relay2trade.com/help/copy-telegram-signals-to-mt5.md
- https://relay2trade.com/help/run-a-signal-copier-24-7.md
- https://relay2trade.com/help/what-is-relay2trade.md
- https://relay2trade.com/help/using-an-ai-assistant.md