What Is Forex VPS And How Does It Support Forex Traders?

This article will explain you what a Forex VPS is. It provides you with solutions and ideas for keeping your trades running while you are at work or if you can't use your computer to manage your trades.

Note: You will be able to run Metatrader 4 (MT4) and any program that runs on Windows through the VPS, using your Apple System. 

The Potential Trading Problems

You might already be familiar with the following situation: suddenly, your internet doesn't work, and your Metatrader disconnects from your Forex broker. In this case, your positions will stay open without your 'take profit' or "breakeven" orders would no longer exist.  As a consequence, you could potentially suffer from a bigger loss.

Unlike orders in the market, such as take profit or stop-loss orders, an expert advisor is not a fixed order. It needs to be triggered by your price, moving into profit. However, when you set normal take profit or stop-loss orders at the start of a trade, you place them into the market. The broker can see it. It does not matter whether you turn your computer off or interrupt your internet connection. The order is placed and ready to be triggered.

As mentioned above, the biggest issue is that when trading using an expert advisor (EA) that runs on auto, you are often required to have your MT4 charts running to adjust orders to break even or lock in profit. Many factors influence running MT4 charts from a laptop or a computer, and a few of the significant issues that could become a problem, should they not work correctly, are:

• Computer failure
• Laptop Overheating
• Internet failure/Outage
• Electricity outage
• Wear and tear on computer/laptop – explained below in the solution

Trading with an expert advisor is not just as simple as turning on your computer or laptop and running the indicator.

If you are running a desktop computer, then power is vitally important. Any power cuts will be a significant issue.

Laptops can be prone to overheating with long work-loads. If your computer is not very powerful, and you would like to run the expert advisor on it, this is something to think about.

The other tricky part to consider would be the internet connection, which you have no control over at all.

Since 2015, the internet has been getting better and better all the time. However, networks often have  15 to 30 minute downtime periods for various reasons, such as technical issues or system upgrades.

Electricity is something that is truly out of your hands, and while outages are rare, they can and do happen. All it takes is a storm or a power line going down, and your house could be out of electricity, which would result in your expert advisor not functioning for a while.

Of course, this is acceptable if you know about it and are there to deal with it.

The Solutions

What are the potential solutions?

There are two solutions to this problem.

You can decide on either solution that you feel fits you best with your trading.

1. Using Your Computer

The first solution is to run your computer 24 hours a day, five days per week, keep the expert advisor working, and ensure that your trades are executed.

This way, you are keeping your MT4 charts live, and your EA will be able to adjust the orders when triggered (move to breakeven or lock in some profit). This is far from an ideal solution, however.

As we just described above, the risk of running MT4 charts on a computer or laptop 24/7 is that your device would get damaged over time.

These are all the issues you will have to consider when using this method.

2.  A Virtual Private Server

We are currently using a Virtual Private Server (VPS).

As we will explain in more depth below, the VPS is doing my computer's job for us. You don't have to worry about having my laptop on. You can access your EA from any computer or smartphone anywhere in the world at any time.

Instead of running your computer or laptop all night, you choose to use someone else's computer hardware. He has a system that is built precisely for the job. He has backup systems in place so that if anything does go wrong, there are other servers to keep my EA up and live in the market.

While your trading laptop is powerful and more than enough for trading, it just does not have enough backup systems in place should anything go wrong. The truth is, it just wasn't built to run 24 hours per day, five days a week.

So, the most crucial question is:

What is a Virtual Private Server or VPS?

Whether or not you're using a Forex robot or EA, you'll need a computer if you want to trade currencies. Using your home PC might seem like an obvious choice, and indeed, many people trade through their personal machines. Some traders, however, prefer to use a Forex VPS.

A Forex VPS is a virtual private server with its own operating system, guaranteed hardware resources, and a dedicated IP. The difference is that Forex traders use the virtual server to place orders on the currency market.

They install an electronic trading platform of their choice and either manage their portfolios manually or set up robots/EAs to follow their automated trading strategies. Some of you are probably wondering why.

The Advantages of a Forex VPS When Trading

Virtual servers have proven to be the perfect platform for hosting Forex trading applications, robots, and EAs. Traders wouldn't invest in a VPS for the fun of it. A VPS can give you several advantages, which we will explore in more detail.

Lower latency and slippage

The hardware that powers your virtual server is located in a data center – a state-of-the-art facility with a lightning-fast internet connection and built-in redundancy. As a result, your orders are delivered to the broker much more quickly. A VPS can reduce both latency and the subsequent losses due to slippage.

Non-stop trading

The Forex market works 24 hours a day, five days a week. If you host your Forex robots on your home computer and you turn it off for the night, you could miss out on some great trading opportunities.

By contrast, a VPS runs 24/7. A team of system administrators is responsible for keeping downtime to a minimum, meaning your Forex robot can work around the clock executing the most profitable possible trades.

No downtime and connectivity issues 

In addition to a blistering internet connection, data centers also use enterprise-grade components for both the servers and the network. You get high-quality, reliable hardware maintained to the highest possible standards by a team of experienced system administrators. Connectivity and hardware issues are extremely unlikely, and you can be sure that if they do occur, there is someone to address them in a matter of minutes.

Constant access to your trades

Although the automated trading applications don't run on your computer or mobile device, you can manage them whenever you want, wherever you are. All you need is an internet connection. You get 24/7 remote access to your server, meaning you can monitor your Forex robots and even make changes to your trading strategy on the move.