Running two prop-firm accounts on MetaTrader 5: a practical guide

Many traders end up with accounts at two prop firms — a different rule set, a different account size, or simply not wanting everything to depend on one firm. Running gold (XAUUSD) on both at the same time is possible on MetaTrader 5, but it needs a little order. Here is how to set it up, what to watch, and how it works with Spectar FX Gold.

First: read both rule books

Two firms means two sets of rules, and they rarely match. Before anything technical, compare:

• Daily and maximum loss — how each is measured and when the day resets.
• Automated trading — whether external tools are allowed, and on which account types.
• Trading across accounts — some firms forbid holding opposite positions on accounts at different firms (hedging across accounts), and some restrict trading identical signals on several accounts or copying trades. Read these clauses carefully; a breach can void an account.
• News and weekends — one firm may allow trading through high-impact news while the other does not.

If the rules of the two firms differ, the stricter rule is the one to plan around for any setting you share between the accounts. Compliance with each firm’s rules is your responsibility.

Two terminals, two folders

One MetaTrader 5 terminal is logged in to one account at a time. To run two accounts at once, install MetaTrader 5 twice, into two different folders — for example the installer each firm provides, or the same installer pointed at a second folder. Each terminal keeps its own login, its own Market Watch and its own settings. Name the folders clearly, because you will point software at them later.

Check in each terminal:

• the gold symbol name exactly as that Market Watch shows it (XAUUSD, GOLD, or a suffix);
• the contract size in the symbol specification;
• “Allow algorithmic trading” ticked in Tools → Options, and the Algo Trading button green.

Two terminals use more memory and network than one. A Windows VPS with enough memory is a common choice if your own computer is not on all day.

Two clocks, two days

Each broker server has its own clock, and the two firms’ servers do not have to agree. If one server runs on UTC+2 and the other on UTC+3, their trading days start an hour apart. A daily limit therefore belongs to one account and one server clock — never add the two days together in your head. We explain the clock in detail in Daily loss limit and broker server midnight.

Two sets of numbers

It is tempting to copy one account’s settings to the other. Do it consciously, not by default: if the accounts have different sizes or different limits, the same lot and the same daily stop mean different things on each. Each account should carry numbers you chose for that account and that firm’s rules. We do not recommend any figures.

Also remember that two accounts trading gold at the same moment are exposed to the same market move. Having two firms spreads the dependence on one firm; it does not spread the market risk, because gold moves the same way on both servers.

How it works with Spectar FX Gold

A Spectar FX Gold licence is bound to one MetaTrader 5 account number. For one more account — for example an account with a second prop firm — there is the additional MT5 account add-on for the plan you already have:

• It works only together with an active main licence of the same plan. At checkout you enter the number of the additional MT5 account and the key of your main licence.
• You get a separate licence key for that account and the same package as your main plan, with its own broker configuration: the path to that account’s terminal, the account number, the broker name and the gold symbol as that terminal names it.
• You set the numbers for that account yourself, just as for the first one.
• When your main licence ends, the additional account stops working with it; cancelling your main plan cancels the add-on automatically.

Separately from accounts, one licence runs on up to three of your own computers, and moving between them is free and immediate. Details are in the Questions & Answers (“Can I run it on two accounts?”) and in section 9 of our Terms of Service.

Related: Trading gold on a prop-firm account with an MT5 tool · The Lot Panel