In this post we will show you what you need to set up Ducibus Pro, either on-premises or on a VPS.
If you have already decided and the choice is the VPS we recommendTake a look at this video of our dear Edu Alonso.
If, on the other hand, you are still not sure, we invite you to continue reading this post.
In the next post we will go in depth into the installation of the bot, but first you need to make a couple of decisions. Here we tell you what you need.
In this entry we will see...
Where your bot will work
Ducibus Pro is a software programmed for MetaTrader 4 platform, so this is the first thing we will need.
You can download MetaTrader 4 from a link from the broker itself to install it. You can also use any other MetaTrader 4 that you already have installed.
The features of our bot require you to keep the MetaTrader platform open during the whole time you are trading Forex. MetaTrader runs on Windows, if you use Mac you could run it from Wine, but it is an option that we advise against in principle.
If you use Ducibus Pro on your desktop PC, you could have a power failure - for example - that would disconnect the equipment. An Internet service provider outage would also cause your Ducibus Bot to stop working.
For this reason we recommend that you contract a VPS -Virtual Private Server o Virtual Private Server.
VPS vs. on-premise installation
Remember Shakespeare's "To be or not to be"? Well, this is the same - or similar. Installing a MetaTrader on PC or doing it on a VPS is your decision that should be well evaluated.
In case it wasn't clear, here is a small graphic we have prepared for you.
We have to decide, so these are the pros and cons in more detail.
Installing an Expert Advisor such as Ducibus Pro on site
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.
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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 we will be able to have our beloved Forex trading robot working all day, every market day autonomously. We will obtain 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.
How to contract a VPS and how much does it cost?
As we have already told you, a VPS will help your bot to be permanently connected. There are many virtues of using this type of tools to trade with investment platforms, but to sum up, it is as easy as signing up with a VPS provider and contracting one of their services.
The operation of a VPS is very simple, since in the end it is nothing more than a Windows operating system -usually Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2019- in the cloud and accessible through a username and password connection.
If you have decided to work with a VPS, we will explain you how to choose the most suitable one.
Choosing a VPS
Questions about which VPS to choose are very frequent. In principle, you should have a VPS that gives you a minimum assurance that your trades can be kept alive 24 hours a day, 5 days a week that Forex markets are open.
Is it possible to choose a free VPS? You can, although they usually do not offer more than 512Mb of Ram memory, which could compromise the proper functioning of the bot. Ours is particularly demanding - the power of our tool requires a bit more processing power. We do not recommend it because we think it will be short of resources, although we know that many of the captains are making use of this type of servers.
Our recommendation is to use the Contabo VPS. They have an excellent quality/price ratio and for only 10€ per month, you will be making use of a really powerful machine in the cloud.
VPS Installation
If you didn't see it at the beginning, here it is again. This video explains in a very simple way how to hire and set up a new VPS.
As you can see, it is very simple.
We are now ready to install Ducibus Pro and get up and running!
Tell us, do you use a VPS or do you prefer to have your Expert Advisors installed locally?
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