User guide

From installation to the first live copy. Version 1.00.

1. Set up the reader

Download and install TSC Reader for your computer. It opens its page in your browser (http://127.0.0.1:8765).
Login → Step 1: your Telegram API key. Open my.telegram.org, sign in with your phone number (the code arrives in the Telegram app, not by SMS), click API development tools and fill in the form exactly as the reader shows (copy buttons for every field, platform Desktop). Copy App api_id and App api_hash into the reader and click Save and connect.
Login → Step 2. Show the QR code and scan it in Telegram on your phone: Settings → Devices → Link Desktop Device. Or log in with your phone number and code. Accounts with a 2-step password are asked for it.
Channels. Tick the signal channels and groups to copy and click Save. You must already be a member.

2. Attach the EA

In MetaTrader 5 open a chart (any symbol). Drag Telegram Signal Copier from the Navigator onto it.
Tick Allow Algo Trading and make sure the Algo Trading button in the toolbar is green.
The panel shows READER: Connected. In the reader, Status → Doctor should be all green.
Send a Test message from the reader to see the whole chain work.

New channels start in SHADOW mode: they are paper-traded only. Click the mode button of a channel on the panel to switch it to LIVE (and once more for OFF). Test on a demo account first.

3. The panel

Area	What it shows
Reader	Connected / Not running / Not logged in.
Account guard	Today's result and any protection limit that blocks new trades.
News filter	Next release and blackout status (when enabled).
Channels	Mode button (LIVE / SHADOW / OFF), signals, open orders, wins/losses and P/L (shadow P/L marked *).
Parse preview	Each message: time, type, reading and the result. Show messages switches to the original text.
Buttons	Pause copying · Close all copier trades (only the copier's own orders) · Show messages.

4. Main EA inputs

Group	Inputs
Channels	New channels start in (Shadow/Live/Off), channel rules (e.g. `Gold VIP: mode=live risk=0.5 maxlot=1`), only these channels, skip signals older than.
Lot size and risk	Fixed lot, risk % of balance or equity, risk money, lot per balance step; use the signal's lot/risk (capped); max lot and max risk per signal; what to do below the broker's minimum lot.
Stop loss	Signals without SL: wait for it, then default SL or skip; default SL in pips.
Entries and take profits	Entry zone handling (near, middle, far, split), TP allocation (e.g. `50,30,20`), max TPs, market threshold, max slippage, pending expiry.
Trade management	Break-even after a TP, trailing after TP n, actions for “TP hit”, “SL hit”, deleted messages and “cancel”.
Symbols	Symbol map (e.g. `XAUUSD=GOLD.pro; NAS100=USTEC`), prefix/suffix, allowed and blocked symbols. Suffixes like `.a` or `m` are found automatically.
Account protection	Daily loss (% or money), max drawdown (static or trailing), profit target, action on breach, day start hour, max orders, max lots, max spread.
News and trading hours	News blackout (impact, minutes before/after, currencies, optional close), trading hours and days, Friday close.
Strategy Tester replay	Replay file name, server time offset.

Presets for default, prop-firm, conservative and fixed-lot use: TSC-presets.zip (copy the .set files to MQL5\Presets, then Inputs → Load).

5. Template wizard

For a channel with an unusual style: open Template wizard, choose the channel, paste 3–5 messages (or load the latest), click Read examples. Accept proposals or click any grey word and choose what it means — SL/TP/entry label, BUY/SELL word, symbol name, follow-up phrase, line to ignore. Save template; new messages of that channel use it.

6. Replay a channel in the Strategy Tester

In the reader, Export history: choose the channel and dates. A replay file is written to Common\Files\TSC\replay\.
In MT5's Strategy Tester choose the EA, the symbol the channel trades, “Every tick based on real ticks” and the same dates.
Set the input Replay file to the file name and start. Empty = the built-in sample or demo channel.

Telegram's history contains the final text of edited messages and no deleted messages. Replays are simulations.

7. Troubleshooting

The EA does not react to messages

Check that the EA is attached to a chart (its panel is visible) and shows READER: Connected. The EA only handles messages that arrive after it started. Check the Doctor in the reader.

“Telegram does not accept this api_id / api_hash”

Copy both values again from my.telegram.org → API development tools and use Change key on the Login page.

A message is shown as “duplicate”

The same signal (same text or same levels) within 10 minutes in the same channel is ignored on purpose.

“no tradable symbol for …”

Add it to the input Symbol map, for example US30=DJ30.cash.

“lot is below the broker minimum”

Raise the risk per signal, use fewer TPs, or allow the min-lot clamp (input When the lot is below the broker minimum).

Support

Write to us through the product's page on MQL5. Attach the Support bundle from the reader's Status page — it never contains your Telegram session.