An EA only works while its terminal is running. A Windows VPS keeps MT5 online through reboots, power cuts and your laptop's sleep mode.
Why not run it at home?
- Windows updates restart your machine mid-trade.
- Home internet drops; a VPS sits in a datacenter with redundant connectivity.
- Latency: a VPS near your broker's servers executes in 1–5 ms instead of 50–150 ms.
Choosing a VPS
- RAM: 2 GB minimum for one MT5 terminal; 4 GB if you run several.
- Location: pick the datacenter closest to your broker's trade server (most brokers are in London LD4, New York NY4 or Amsterdam).
- Uptime SLA: look for 99.9%+.
Setup steps
1. Order a Windows Server VPS and connect via Remote Desktop (RDP).
2. Install MetaTrader 5 from your broker's website.
3. Log in to your trading account and verify the connection indicator (bottom-right) is green.
4. Install your EA — see our installation guide.
5. Disable automatic Windows restarts: set active hours and defer updates.
6. Close the RDP session with the X button — do not log off, or the terminal closes with your session on some configurations.
Monitoring
Check in daily. Enable your EA's alerts (email or push) so a disconnection or drawdown pause reaches your phone. License-validated EAs such as Apex Drawdown Zero log validation status in the Experts tab on every start — glance at it after each VPS reboot.