The following guide will help you understand how powerful your PC or Virtual Private Server (VPS) needs to be to run your Automated Trading Systems (ATS) and also when you backtest and optimise them.
Why RAM is Important
The most important specification that a machine should have to run the cTrader platform is the RAM, CPU is also important, but RAM is No.1. Any software that has to crunch a lot of data will consume the memory space. This is also very important if you intend to run backrests and the optimization module as this will use a lot of memory space (RAM) and if you're using a low specification machine like a VPS it will run very slow and almost grind to a halt.
VPS Servers
These are low specification machines that are not powerful enough to backtest or optimise your ATS, but perfect for letting them trade for you 24/7. when you sign-up for a VPS always choose the RAM first, the CPU speed and other server components will increase as you increase the RAM.
Recommended RAM: 2 GB, Minimum RAM: 1 GB
DO:
- Run your automated trading systems (cBots).
- Minimise cTrader when exiting the remote connection, do not close the trading platform or the server.
- Live trade if you have no choice, but get a higher spec VPS.
- Use the cTrader Memory Manager Tool.
DON'T:
- Run a backtest.
- Run the optimisation module.
Usual Specification
The standard specification for a VPS that most traders start with is around 1-2 GB of RAM, this is the most important
Shared CPU Resources
Most of the VPS hosting companies offer both a shared and a dedicated server option, the majority of traders opt for the shared package as it is the cheapest, a dedicated server can cost up to $200pm where a shared package can be $25.00pm. When you attempt to backtest or optimise using shared resources, you may experience a massive reduction in speed as other customers who are sharing the same resource as also running intensive processing requests. This is why you should only ever use shared VPS hosting for running your automated trading systems only.
- A 2-core shared processor is fine.
Home PC or Servers
We recommend that traders use their home or office PC for backtesting and optimisation as these are much more powerful for the job, follow the article below for more information about the recommended specification for these machines.
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