Forex VPS is a service that helps traders to deploy their expert advisors on a dedicated server that will be running 24/7 without interruptions, independently from the trader’s own computer and without any efforts from the trader’s side. VPS hosting companies usually charge from $10 to $99 per month (depending on the server’s quality and the company’s greed). If you have a working MT4 EA, it’s always better to install it on a VPS, because when an EA is running from your home or office PC there is always a chance for some unforeseeable problems (like internet disconnects, power outages, system errors, etc.)
But how does VPS work in trading? What does VPS serve for? The general scheme of how the VPS is used in trading can be seen below:
All three entities — trader’s PC, VPS with EAs and broker’s MT4 server — are connected to the internet. Trader has still a choice to control the VPS and upload new EAs to it and also to control and monitor its trading account with a Forex broker. Fortunately, none of these actions require a 24/7 uptime from the trader’s PC or connection. EAs installed on VPS are sending orders to the MT4 server 100% autonomously — the actual trading requires a 24/7 uptime and it’s provided by the VPS.
It can be seen clearer by looking at the case when the trader runs an expert advisor on his own PC and thus is required to always maintain a persistent connection to the MT4 server:
The difference is seen when the VPS is used to host the expert advisors. Now trader rarely needs a connection to the VPS (only when some adjustments to the EAs should be made), while the VPS remains always connected to MT4 server and is sending trading orders directly to it:
I hope that now it will be easier for some traders to understand why it’s recommended to opt for a VPS hosting for their EAs when they can afford it. I’ve used “MT4” in the text and in the images but, of course, it can be “MT5” or any other trading platform that supports automated trading using expert advisors (or Forex robots).
Update 2012-10-02: We have prepared a nice infographic explaining the ins and outs of Forex VPS.
If you have any questions or comments regarding the usage of VPS in Forex trading, please feel free to reply using the form below.
Do you allow new traders some kind of demo services no your platform? Secondly does your company accept bank wire transfers as a means of payment?
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Andrei Reply:
June 19th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
What company? I think you’ve asked your question in a very wrong place.
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congratulations on making a simple concept sound very complicated. It’s not surprising that Robert is confused about the product you’re offering.
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admin Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 3:21 pm
It’s surprising, because I’m not offering any product.
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zin Reply:
January 10th, 2017 at 3:52 pm
Thz so much for your post.Can be all online VPS reliable ?Do all VPS work well?How can i get a online VPS? Waiting your reply sir.
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
January 10th, 2017 at 4:04 pm
No, not all VPS providers are reliable. I recommend choosing only the reputable ones or the ones recommended to you by someone whom you know and trust.
You can see a list of VPS providers here: https://www.earnforex.com/forex-vps-hosting/. Registering with one is usually quite easy.
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zin Reply:
January 10th, 2017 at 5:17 pm
Thz so much for your reply sir.
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Hi,
Thanks for sharing pls which VPS would you recomend for me, am in Nigeria and my broker is in kuwait, I also have a signal provider i follow in Florida and he uses trade copier
thnaks
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admin Reply:
October 25th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
I don’t know if it’s possible to follow someone’s signals if you want to trade via MT4 hosted on VPS. Forex VPS is used to host expert advisors… Anyway it’s always better to choose a VPS that’s close to your broker’s location.
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Some EA required that PC and EA shoul be switched on with internet connection during trading hour; If i’m using VPS Do i need to swithced my pc on with internet connection before EA will be taking trade? OR the EA will be taking trade for me even if i’m off line through the help of VPS
Please, send reply to my e-mail address.
Thanks
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admin Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 8:55 am
No, you won’t have to switch your PC on if your EA is hosted on VPS.
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Can I use a VPS from a compnay even if i do not have internet at my house?
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admin Reply:
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:14 am
You’ll need internet connection to buy VPS, to install the needed indicators/EAs and to set them up. After that (if your EAs don’t require constant tuning) you can leave the VPS alone.
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If I don’t want to use a dedicated computer for forex trading only, can I for example run my other programs on my PC such as Outlook etc or use other Internet based programs whilst still having the VPS connection on the same computer?
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admin Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 4:01 pm
I don’t quite understand what you are asking… You can run not only MetaTrader on VPS and you can run other Internet-using programs on your PC simultaneously with MetaTrader.
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do i need the servers ip address when using the vps ?
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admin Reply:
June 9th, 2011 at 8:58 am
Yes, either IP address or domain name.
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thanks a great deal!
pls can recommend a vps for alpari nigeria
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admin Reply:
July 7th, 2011 at 8:03 am
Sorry, I don’t know any VPS providers working in Nigeria.
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I am in US but my broker is in Finland, I want an vpS in ansterdam to reduce latency which my ea is sensitive to.
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admin Reply:
September 25th, 2011 at 10:36 am
HostPlate offers VPS based in Netherlands:
https://www.earnforex.com/forex-vps-hosting/HostPlate
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Plese my broker is trading point in limassol cyprus and am in Nigeria. What vps service will you say is best 4 me? Thanks
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admin Reply:
September 26th, 2011 at 9:30 am
If you own Internet connection is good, then it’s better for you to use some VPS hosting from Europe. Here you will find plenty of them – from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Netherlands, UK, etc.:
https://www.earnforex.com/forex-vps-hosting/
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i think i dont need to pay for any vps company, exness vps is good enough for EA i am using forex signal and is working when am offline now i want to use robot but i dont know if that also will work with my broker vps hosting too please reply me
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admin Reply:
March 11th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
If you are going to trade with EXNESS, then, of course, their VPS will be enough, even if you are going to use a robot (expert advisor).
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Mike Reply:
October 3rd, 2012 at 10:58 am
Dangerous advise. Most commercial VPS provisions are poorly secured, if at all and in nearly every case, the VPS vendor HAS access to your entire configuration and data at all times. One needs to be very careful in determining the correct measures to secure a VPS as well as monitor it for access and intrusion. Most of these disciplines are well outside the technical scope for traders to manage and the degree of written commitment with the VPS vendor is absolutely paramount. VPS is NOT a solution, but an additional potential for “unexpected” loss when due diligence does not include these concerns being well maintained. 10 plus years in server development and administration in trading, I can promise you I’ve seen the horror stories with my own eyes.
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admin Reply:
October 3rd, 2012 at 11:17 am
There is a grain of truth in what you say, Mike. The problem is that the home PC of a trader is not any safer than a server of a professional VPS service.
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Which server’s ip address do i need to provide,and is it just any domain name that i can provide?
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admin Reply:
April 15th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Provide to whom? That depends on the VPS provider you use.
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pls what are the neccessary prosedure to take if i want to use a VPS and besides i live in nigeria and i want to start using the VPS pls if i have 4 trading account with just one broker can i operate on all the account with different ea in one VPS service
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admin Reply:
October 7th, 2012 at 5:43 am
You can definitely use VPS to trade on four different accounts with one broker. You will need either MetaTrader Multiterminal or install the same MT4 four times and enter different login details in each one.
You can start by selecting the VPS service here:
https://www.earnforex.com/forex-vps-hosting/
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I presently am trading using meta trader on my desktop but my internet service says I am exceeding my data usage for the month . If I use meta trader through VPS will that eliminate or greatly reduce the amount of data usage through my current internet provider?
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admin Reply:
December 5th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
That will depend on how much time will you spend logged in to your VPS and managing your MetaTrader platform there. If you just set it up there and forget, then, of course, your bandwidth with the ISP will decrease greatly.
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Pls I am a signal provider on zulutrade, tradency, currensee and I am also a PAMM manager, if I install my ea on vps, will it still be able to send trade signals to my followers on zulutrade, tradency, currensee.
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admin Reply:
December 19th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Yes, that would still work because all those signal services will connect directly to your broker’s trading server, not your PC nor your VPS.
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Hi, I am still keeping my day job wile trading FX. However, I can’t use EA in my work laptop. In this case having VPS will help me for occasional checking of trade signals log in by iPad?
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admin Reply:
January 26th, 2013 at 10:09 am
If your iPad can run some kind of remote desktop connection software, then yes, you will be able to do that.
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Hi there……can I have multipule accounts on a vps server? 5 different accounts with 5 different providers running different EA stratergies?
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admin Reply:
March 9th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
Why not? But the VPS should be powerful enough to handle that. Cheapest package will probably be too laggy for 5 platforms.
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How to join vps for my forex account
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admin Reply:
April 1st, 2013 at 7:02 am
Choose a VPS, go to their website and register an account.
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I’m from sri lanka.so vps supported to me,How i join vps????
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admin Reply:
April 1st, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Yes, it doesn’t matter where you live, though your connection speed depends on that.
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I don’t know any VPS providers working in sri Lanka.Pls tell me?
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admin Reply:
April 1st, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Why? Any VPS listed here will work with a resident of Sri Lanka: https://www.earnforex.com/forex-vps-hosting/
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Oh thanks a lot admin for ur valuable information
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ps can i still manage my Ea on vps,and choose when and when it should trade or not. As in close my trade,stop the Ea from trading anytime i want if it is running on `VPS.
Thanks
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admin Reply:
April 22nd, 2013 at 7:40 am
Yes, Emma, you surely can do that. You may login to your VPS anytime and control your EA they you want.
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I recently wrote a post providing detailed instructions on how to setup a VPS through Amazon Web Services.
What’s more you can use it for the first 12 months for free and the ongoing costs (if you choose to keep it) are much lower than your standard VPS supplier (depending on how hard you make it work).
Either way it’s a great place for newbies to start if the cost of a VPS puts them off initially.
I’ll leave the link to the blog post below (not sure if you have a no link policy) but it’s one of those great finds that I want to share with as many traders as possible.
http://www.camforex.com/how-to-setup-a-free-forex-vps/
Enjoy!
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admin Reply:
May 24th, 2013 at 9:29 am
Thanks for sharing! How does VPS via Amazon AWS compares to yours from SWVPS? Is there any difference between connection speed (terminal-broker, RDC-VPS)? Any difference in VPS performance?
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Well the free one via AWS is obviously of their lowest spec, so you wouldn’t want to run more than 3 terminals trading 2 charts max on it before it started to creak.
My SWVPS servers are all running several terminals and well specked, so it’s hard to gauge unless I ran a specific test.
The beauty of AWS is that you can choose from a handful of Data Centers across the globe, so if they are handy to your broker you should get decent latency.
BTW, not sure if you’re Notify feature is working as I didn’t get an email to say you had placed a follow-up comment.
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admin Reply:
May 24th, 2013 at 7:57 pm
I would also think that AWS customer support on that free plan is nearly absent.
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What is the difference between a Forex VPS provider (eg : UnltraHosting) and a Cloud VPS provider like Interserver? Can I use Interserver VPS for my Forex Robot autotrading or I shlould go for VPS specifically for MT4? Thx
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admin Reply:
September 2nd, 2013 at 7:08 am
Not a big difference if their VPS can run MetaTrader. Specialized service will probably have better support related to trading software, but that is it.
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Thanks for your detailed explanation. I just want to know if an EA or indicator that alerts you by email on mt4 can still send you emails when set-up on a VPS.
Thanks.
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admin Reply:
September 16th, 2013 at 10:45 am
Yes, it can if you configure email settings properly in your MT4.
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I would like to know,when i close my vps system and it says the connection will be on although i closed it,if i have to leave my internet connection on in order that the trades may connect to my mt4 platform(i have a trade copier ea trading for me).
Can you give me a little more information when i log off on my computer how this works and if i have to leave my internet connection on when i log off from my computer.
Thanking you
Andrew Ramcharitar
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admin Reply:
September 27th, 2013 at 5:31 pm
You do not need to leave your home internet connection on, if you have everything set up on your VPS.
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@Cam Forex or anyone else informed, I’m trying to setup a new account at Amazon AWS, but they ask for your credit card. Hw to ha it free for 12 months? thanks
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hello,
I see that most of the vps providers are not free. do you suggest any free and good vps provider which can do the best work with instaforex?
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
January 9th, 2014 at 1:44 pm
Sorry, but I don’t think there are any free VPS. Why would someone offer it for free? On the other hand, as far as I know, InstaForex offers its own VPS to traders who deposit at least $5,000 in their live account.
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can I use more than one vps service on one single forex account?
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
July 12th, 2015 at 8:17 pm
MetaTrader does not allow more than one connection to the same account.
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Hi, I’m new into forex trading. Please suggest me n guide me how to buy VPS n how to operate that? Thank u.
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
September 1st, 2015 at 8:55 pm
You just go to the website offering VPS and go through their checkout process. The operational instructions are usually provided to you after you purchase the service but are normally done via simple Remote Desktop connection.
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Question: how much chances to lose when I’m trading with a VPS?
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
September 8th, 2015 at 7:19 pm
To lose what? Control over your trading account? I think they are close to zero unless you are getting a VPS from some really shady provider or not following some basic IT security rules.
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Thanks for all this, it is invaluable.
You don’t mention Metatrader’s VPS solution.
One advantage it has is simplicity of setup and use.
But I haven’t tried it.
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
August 17th, 2017 at 3:58 pm
It is simple, but has its restrictions – you cannot run anything else other than MetaTrader platform on the Virtual Hosting Service. You also cannot use DLLs there.
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Can you guide me bro for this question suppose if I activated robot trading without vps after that if I shut down my PC and net connection after these all things whether robot trading will work or not
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
May 6th, 2018 at 3:55 pm
No, the robot will stop working after you shut down your PC. However, if it has created some pending orders, they will be stored at the broker’s trading server and could be executed even if your PC is off.
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how many mt4 terminals can i download and save on a normal vps package
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Andriy Moraru Reply:
May 6th, 2018 at 6:27 pm
Depends on what that MT4 does. Normally, the basic Forex VPS plan would support 4 instances of MT4 with moderate load (e.g., 2-3 expert advisors + some indicators in each terminal).
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