VPS is becoming popular among leading brokers, to bring requisite low latency and always-up service to automated MT4 traders.
Leading forex industry broker FxPro has announced that it is partnering with BeeksFX VPS to offer a new VPS for MT4 service. VPS (see explanation below) is essential for forex traders who prefer to use automated trading strategies. For forex traders who want to use EAs on the MT4 platform, trading using a VPS can make the difference between a profit or a loss, as VPS reduces latency (the time it takes for an order to be routed to the servers for execution) to between 1 and 5 ms — and lower latency results in a higher chance of an order being filled at the most competitive price.
Other BeeksFX clients include forex brokers FXCM, AxiTrader, Alpari, LMAX, and Forex.com.
So what is VPS, or Virtual Private Server? A Virtual Private Server is a dedicated piece of a server in a high specification data center. It is built to never fail, providing automated traders comfort that their MT4 platform will always be on, taking and closing trades as it should.
The VPS runs on high end servers, has multiple networks feeding it, has no single point of hardware failure and so will be more reliable and secure for forex trading. If you combine that with the reduction in latency (see below) achieved by using a VPS, it is a must for people trading forex using EAs.
And what exactly is Latency? Latency is the measure in time that it takes a message to go from a VPS to a broker or liquidity provider, usually measured in milliseconds. If you are trading using a popular EA, then there are literally tens of thousands of people trying to place the same trade as you at the same time. There is a finite amount of liquidity up for grabs to these traders before slippage occurs. The lower your latency, the greater the chance you have of getting filled at the best price — and the greater the chance of making money on the specific trade.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.