Broker & VPS review
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Not sure if anyone is interested but off the back of developing an EA that requires rapid execution speeds, I am busy trialling the exact same set up with three different brokers (Pepperstone, IC Markets and FP Markets) and three different VPS providers. I'll stop here but reply if you're interested enough for me to keep posting.
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@Tulefi Hola, tu ya creaste el EA para operaciones rapidas o necesitas crearlo?
Me interesa este tema mucho, tu EA funciona con cuentas ZERO SPREAD o con todos los diferentes tipos de cuentas?
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@Tulefi I'm interested. Please keep posting.
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@DragonZueloTrends said in Broker & VPS review:
Hola, tu ya creaste el EA para operaciones rapidas o necesitas crearlo?
Me interesa este tema mucho, tu EA funciona con cuentas ZERO SPREAD o con todos los diferentes tipos de cuentas?Hi, spread isn't a great issue but execution speed paramount.
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Still early days but the first important but obvious conclusion is that trying to execute quickly from a home pc is a waste of time. Your broker may be the quickest in executing your trade but if the order arrives via your home broadband provider, exchange and general internet pathways (no technical knowledge so forgive the terminology) then you will get big slippage. The assumption here is that your strategy involves trading when markets are highly volatile and and therefore price is moving quickly - slippage can destroy your strategy to the point where backtesting shows big profits but in reality you lose big. That is what was happening to me.
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The next essential point is VPS location. This needs research. For example, IC Markets server that my account is linked to is in New York. It is therefore pointless me trading on that account from a lightning quick VPS server based in London. No matter how quick that London server is, the order has to cross the Atlantic. So you need to ask your broker (easier said than done) exactly where the relevant server is physically located. Then find the two or three VPS providers with servers ideally located in the same data centre. Most of the VPS providers will give you a free trial or a 14 day refund policy. Use these (that is what I am doing right now). When you load up the remote connection and you login to your trading account, in the bottom right hand corner you will be able to check ping speeds from where your account is located (so on the VPS) to the broker's server. You want 0.x ms. Note that from home I was on anything from 70-150ms. So 0.xms is a HUGE difference. My current ping speed to PepperstoneUK is 0.3ms. The Pepperstone server is in London and LiquidityConnect's London server has a cross-connection with the Pepperstone server. No idea what cross-connection means but the proof is there on my screen.
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MT5 is a no-brainer. I am not technical but a bit of reading told me that MT5 processes trading instructions much faster than MT4. I had always traded on MT4 and when I read this I converted my EA to MT5 and the difference is noticeable. It is down I think to the fact that MT4 is a 32-bit programme whereas MT5 is 64-bit. Look at where your PC stores your relevant expert advisor. MT4 stores them in Program Files (x86) whereas MT5 in Program Files. The x86 means it's for 32-bit programmes. I remember from computer science 101 that more bits the better. Anything you can do to get that extra processing speed
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I am also testing NYCServers. I am not that keen on ForexVPS, mainly because everyone uses them as they seem to be the free VPS choice for a lot of brokers. I like NYCServers and LiquidityConnect. The speeds are exceptional with LiqC edging it so I am probably going to end up going with LiqC.
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On the broker side - there is a lot of noise about execution speeds. My research says the top performers are BlackBull, FP Markets, Pepperstone and IC Markets. Right now I can't really comment as I am only two days in to my fortnight of testing. I can say that I am not testing BlackBull because they want $2,000 deposit to get an account that executes quickly. Over the next few days I am testing all of the others on the exact same set up. FP and IC Markets are on a New York server so I am using a LiqC New York server (0.6ms ping) for these two and the Pepperstone is London so using a LiqC London server for Pepperstone (0.3ms ping).
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On the EA programming, I have read that a broker is more likely to fulfil an accepted stop or limit order at the accepted price compared to a market order. This is nuanced and if you are programming your own EA you need to understand all of this really well. For my strategy I could do something like this: when time is 16:45 and price goes up, open a buy. This would be a market order. Another option would be: when price is 16:45 place a pending buy order 0.5 pips above the period open price. Now if in the pending buy box I choose 0.5 pips above the Ask price, this creates a buy stop order. In other words, the broker should convert the order to a trade if the price moves from below to the price. However, if I choose the Bid price, this creates a buy limit order and the broker will only convert the order to a trade if the price moves from above to the price. Similar with sells - if you choose the Bid price for a sell, you get a stop order and Ask gives you a limit order.
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@Tulefi
Fast VPS is costly. Better run EAs using home PC.Marketings often over-emphasize on execution speed, and is even misleading.
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@Tulefi Yo he intentado hacerlo para US30, solo en apertura de NY que es la hora de mayor volatilidad.
A continuación les compartire lo que tengo...
Por favor revisar estos prototipos en cuentas DEMO, elegir cul es el mejor EA y ayudar ha crear Set para cada broker: -
@sktsec From a lot of painful experience, a home VPS is not great if your strategy relies on swift execution.
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Hola mis amigos, aqui les comparto mi corta experiencia en este tema, en el pasado he logrado superar las fases de varias pruebas de fondeo que aceptaban HFT como son el caso de NOVA funding, Next Step y Quantum con VPS normal usando US30 en apertura de NY, aqui les comparto el EA que usaba, Sets y las indicaciones.... (Por favor usar el traductor)
Link EA:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nKmo1AVvHLKlgazY8RpjYYPZ7VGBFNBQ?usp=drive_link -
@Tulefi said in Broker & VPS review:
@sktsec From a lot of painful experience, a home VPS is not great if your strategy relies on swift execution.
Only an Ad would say so
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If your strategy relies on a quicker connection to what you have in your home, you either need a new internet provider, or a new strategy.
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Slippage is a real issue. Not repeating here but a simple Google will explain there are three factors - the time taken for your home MT4/5 to process the EA instruction, the time taken for that instruction to travel to your broker's server, and the time taken for your broker's server to process the instruction.
Moving on to the test I am doing - another observation is that even for the major forex pairs I am seeing minor price differences across leading brokers. This can lead to surprisingly different outcomes with orders and trades opening / closing at different times and at different price points - the exact same EAs on the same VPS but with different brokers. I am hoping to find out over the next 7 trading days which brokers are opening in favour of them and which open equally either way i.e. not disadvantageous to the trader. -
@Tulefi Impressive information so far. Thank you very much for sharing.
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I have logged all my trades today and compared with the ideal my EA was aiming for. The first conclusion is that both brokers I am testing on (IC Markets and FP Markets) are taking a consistent 0.05 on Gold buys (quoted spread) with a further slippage of 0.05. This is way better than anything I have had off my home pc on a 300mps connection. One big advantage is that I can now properly test a scalping strategy on back-tester by 1. feeding into it the real seen spread at the times I'm trading and 2. by adapting my EA for back-test to show true realised equity, because I know what the price differential is for each trade between theory and reality, and I know the commission rate. This is crucial as if you get outside of acceptable parameters your strategy can fall over like a house of cards. In my case, if my broker was giving spreads of over 0.20 my strategy would just not work. Very quickly commission adds up and swallows any profit. But perhaps the biggest advantage is that I can now optimise my EA for the real world.
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My preferred VPS set-up is with LiquidityConnect. Their ping speeds are really good and the service is first class.
