It is the most immediate. It doesn't cost us any money and we will have it running from the first minute. Besides, it is a perfect option to test the bot in demo accounts or submit it to a battery of backtestings.

If we are trading with real money, having it on our home computer is risky because there could be different scenarios where the Expert Advisor stops working:

• Connection failure. If for any reason, the connection of the PC - or Mac - where you have installed the investment robot is down, it will stop working, which could jeopardize the profitability of your investment account.
• Unexpected reboots. It is common -and recommended- that your operating system has automatic updates enabled. This helps the security and performance of your personal computer. In the case of a robot that must be connected 24 hours a day, an unexpected reboot due to an update could leave the Expert Advisor not working and this... we don't want it.
• Power outages. I don't know if it happens to you at home, but at mine, from time to time, fuses blow or the switchboard that supplies electricity to the neighborhood goes down. It happens rarely but imagine if this happens while you are on vacation thinking that your trading algorithm is working at its best and generating profits... No, we don't want that to happen.
• Your computer does not meet the minimum memory or security requirements. It is also possible that you run tasks other than trading on it, such as that game you are hooked on and that consumes resources to the point that the bot runs out of the resources it needs.

In the circumstances described as an example, by the time we learn of the problem, it may be too late.

In addition, the working capacity of the investment algorithm depends on various parameters, including the speed and stability of the connection or the amount of available memory. This may cause the bot to work with a certain delay and its operation may not be the most optimal, thus affecting the profit and increasing the risk.

For all these reasons, our recommendation is:

Installing a robot on a VPS 

A VPS - Virtual Private Server, from the English Virtual Private Server- is an online machine that works at the speed we require. It has some advantages over running bots on our personal computer:

• It does not go down. The system is permanently online, unless we tell it to shut down.
• It does not crash because we leave it optimized for use with our investment tool and do not use it for anything else.
• It does not suffer power outages. Since the systems that maintain it are designed to maintain 24/7 connectivity.
• It has no connection failures. It has security systems that guarantee a continuous connection. In addition, its Internet connection speed is very fast.
• It does not consume electricity. Well, it does, but we don't suffer it on our bill.
• It is plug & play. Easy to install, configure and access from anywhere in the world, as it is available from any device with Internet access.

To give you a quick overview: it is like having a clean Windows -which will be the operating system we will use- connected online and with the optimal features to use it with the bot.

With a VPS like Contabo's that we recommend, we will be able to have our beloved Forex trading robot working all day, every market day autonomously. We will get better results and a lot of security.

The only "drawback" is that, as it is a service offered by a company, we have to pay for it. Although they are really cheap prices for what we need. Approximately the price of 6 coffees, depending on the city you live in. Of course, we are not talking about Paris.

Metatrader installation on VPS vs. PC installation

Do you already have the bot? Then we are ready to install it!

One of the first things we have to consider is whether we are going to use our forex robot to trade in the Forex market. on our computer or on a VPS. We highly recommend the second option, although it is not essential. 

Whether to install a MetaTrader on a PC or on a VPS is your decision that should be well considered. 

The first evaluation you should make is the price. The cost of a VPS with optimal characteristics to use Expert Advisors, such as the one from Contactis approximately 12 Euros per month. So the first thing you will have to consider is whether the return on investment you will get from your Forex robot is enough to amortize this investment and make a profit.

Having made this consideration, ve look at the pros and cons of having MetaTrader 4 installed on a PC or VPS running Windows operating system.

In our assessment, we will use for comparison the features and requirements to be taken into account when installing our expert advisor for MetaTrader 4 Ducibus Pro.