Forex VDS — MT4 and MT5 Server Hosting
An Expert Advisor trading automatically on MetaTrader runs only while the terminal is open. On your own computer a power cut, a dropped connection or a Windows update stops the system mid-trade. A VDS keeps the terminal open continuously so your strategy keeps running while your computer is off.
What does a server actually do for Forex / MT4 - MT5?
MetaTrader 4 and 5 are Windows clients that connect to your broker's server; order routing, charting and automated trading logic all run inside that client. An Expert Advisor (EA) is written in MQL4 or MQL5 and fires on every incoming price tick — which means that with the terminal closed there is no strategy at all. The only job of a forex VDS is to keep that terminal open: a power cut, a dropped line, a Windows update that reboots on its own or a laptop lid closing can stop an EA in the middle of a position. As a technical detail, MT4 is a 32-bit application and MT5 a 64-bit one, and each installation runs exactly one terminal; to use several broker accounts you either install into separate folders or start the terminal in portable mode. That is precisely what sets your resource needs: how many terminals, how many charts and how many indicators.
Why does Forex / MT4 - MT5 need a server?
What decides a server choice in forex is not how much resource you buy but latency and continuity. A single MT4 terminal uses very little; what matters is how quickly your order reaches your broker. Geographic proximity to your broker's servers therefore makes more difference than the amount of RAM. The second factor is uptime: if the strategy trades overnight, the server has to be up overnight.
Recommended resources
These values match the VDS plan tiers in our catalogue; the exact price is calculated in the configurator.
| Scenario | RAM | vCPU | Storage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2 terminals | 4 GB | 2 | 60 GB | One broker, a few Expert Advisors, light charting. |
| 3-6 terminals | 8 GB | 4 | 80 GB | Several broker accounts and strategies running in parallel. |
| 7+ terminals | 16 GB | 8 | 160 GB | A multi-account setup with heavy indicators and backtesting load. |
What latency actually depends on, and how to measure it
In forex, low latency circulates as a marketing phrase when it is in fact a measurable quantity. The connection indicator in the bottom-right corner of MetaTrader shows the round-trip time between the terminal and your broker's server in milliseconds; that is the first number to look at. The second is your broker's own execution time, which is independent of the network — a 5 ms line will not speed up a broker that takes 200 ms to fill an order. For a trend strategy working on hourly or daily charts, the difference between 40 ms and 90 ms is invisible in practice; for a scalping strategy that trades the news or closes positions within seconds, the same gap is billed to you as slippage. Datafex servers are in the DGN data centre in Bursa. Rather than guessing where your broker's server is and what the real round trip looks like, confirm it with the number the terminal shows you — and your strategy type already tells you whether that number matters.
How many terminals fit: RAM, CPU and backtesting
A single MT4 terminal with a few charts settles at around 300-500 MB of RAM; what makes it grow is the number of charts, the number of loaded indicators and the cached price history. Budget 1.5-2 GB for Windows Server itself and add roughly 0.5 GB per terminal on top: a four-terminal setup is cramped on a 4 GB plan and comfortable on 8 GB. The setting that most often breaks this arithmetic is leaving the maximum bars per chart unbounded, which pulls years of history into memory. On the CPU side it is not command handling that is heavy but two things: indicators recalculating continuously across several charts, and the MT5 strategy tester. The tester spawns as many local agents as there are cores, so test time shrinks directly with core count — but if those cores are shared with a terminal that is trading live, the test degrades the live strategy's response time. Run backtests either on a separate server or during hours when you are not trading.
Setup steps
- 1Install the server with a Windows Server template; MetaTrader is a Windows application.
- 2Connect over Remote Desktop (RDP).
- 3Install MetaTrader 4 or 5 and sign in to your broker account.
- 4Load the Expert Advisor and enable automated trading.
- 5So the terminal comes back after a reboot, put its shortcut in the startup folder or create a scheduled task that runs at sign-in.
- 6Move Windows Update's active hours into a window when you do not trade; an unattended restart closes the terminal.
- 7When you finish, disconnect rather than sign out so the terminal stays open.
Common mistakes
- Signing out instead of disconnecting. Signing out closes the terminal and stops your strategy; disconnect instead.
- Sizing by RAM rather than by terminal count. What decides is how many terminals and indicators are open.
- Leaving the maximum bars per chart unbounded. The terminal pulls years of history into memory and your RAM plan stops holding.
- Running backtests on the server that trades live. The MT5 tester saturates every core and degrades the live terminal's response time.
- Ignoring where your broker's servers are. Latency directly affects the outcome of a strategy, especially for scalping and news trading.
What is included at Datafex
Fexwall L3/L4 DDoS filtering is included free on every plan. Traffic with forged source addresses is stopped at the network edge while legitimate traffic passes.
Every plan uses NVMe SSD. In most of these scenarios the database runs on the same machine as the application, so storage latency shows up directly in response time.
Servers are in Türkiye, at the DGN data centre in Bursa. Transit is 100 Gbps domestic and 10 Tbps international.
Setup completes automatically within minutes. Extra IPs, rDNS, backups and firewall rules are managed from the customer panel.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much RAM does MT4 need?
- A single terminal can run in under 1 GB, but with Windows itself 4 GB is a comfortable starting point. The requirement grows roughly linearly with the number of terminals and indicators.
- Do my trades stop when I turn off my computer?
- No. Because the terminal runs on the server, your own computer does not need to be on; you can disconnect and leave.
- Does the terminal come back on its own after a reboot?
- Not by itself; you have to set that up. Putting the terminal's shortcut in the startup folder or creating a scheduled task that runs at sign-in is enough. Close the terminal with automated trading enabled so the setting is remembered too.
- How many terminals can I run at once?
- A practical rule: 1.5-2 GB for Windows, then roughly 0.5 GB per terminal. Three or four terminals run comfortably on a 4 GB plan, six to eight on 8 GB. The number drops as the charts and indicators open in each terminal grow.
- How many cores does MT5 backtesting need?
- The tester spawns one local agent per core, so test time shrinks directly with core count; an 8 vCPU server finishes markedly faster than a 2 vCPU one. If you only trade live, you do not need that many cores.
- My broker is abroad — is a server in Turkey a good fit?
- Your strategy type answers this. For strategies on hourly and daily charts, a few tens of milliseconds are irrelevant. For scalping and news trading, do not decide without measuring: check the value in the terminal's bottom-right corner after setup.
Configure your server
Pick the resources that fit and start the setup within minutes.