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Hey, I rarely post and thought I'd try to make some kind of contribution to the community. I have an automated trading system, and spent a couple weeks trying to figure out the best VPS to place it on. After reading some post and doing research, I decided to try Commercial Network Services.
Reason I choose CNS: They do very good job explaining their products, services, and convinced me it would be the most stable, secure, and value packed VPS solution for what I needed. What particular drew me to them, was the 2-Factor security that is a free option to use. They also use a port randomizer for RDP, as well as have a 99.99% uptime, which is an obvious necessity.
My VPS package:
Trader's VPS - Value Edition - NYC
2 CPU cores, 1GB RAM, 30Gig memory, 1Gig circuit
Cost: $42.68/month
Note: There is still room to upgrade this package before going to their next level
First Impression: I was sort of turned off by the novice looking front page, but once logged in, everything looks a lot more updated and polished. It sounds trivial, but its attention to detail which make me feel comfortable with any product(mind of an IT prof).
Experience thus far: I have been using the system for about 2 weeks, and haven't had any issues. The system was built and fully ready for me to login within 15mins of completing registration and payment. I am running an NT automated strategy in Sim trading, with plans to go Live in August. It is running on the CL and GC on a 5min time frame; and the ES and 6E on a 60min time frame. I have a total of 8 charts running, 2 for each instrument. The CPU utilization rarely goes above 4% and the memory rarely goes above 800M during trading and no interaction from me. The memory also drops below 600M, once there has been no interaction from me after some time(ie logged out for more than 30mins). I don't really worry about a bandwidth limit, because its like 25Gigs, though usage is unlimited as long as its legitimate trading traffic.
Other notes: Though they have Microsoft Office document viewers, which I use, you can also buy Office products, a la carte style. There is also a utility to create password-protected backups and one to automatically run programs of your choosing. In terms of my interaction with the VPS, its minimal. I just log in to check it a couple time a day. As you can imagine, its not powerful enough for extensive back testing, but I do that on my personal rig anyway.
Final Thought: Obviously this review will have more merit after I'm Live and have had more time with it, but I'm very satisfied so far and will update the thread accordingly.
@manten808 VPS and Dedicated servers are great when using an automated strat. But some things to consider. Where is your server located and what kind of ping are you getting to exchanges. You can get sub ms if located in Chicago to the CME. From your post looks like your server is located in NYC which gives you no speed advantage when trading things like CL. Also on most VPS they tend to oversubscribe putting to many people on one server. This can lead to many issues. If not done right someone else on your server can cause the whole server to go down. Most VPS are more geared toward things like website hosting and other uses as opposed to the demands and reliability that traders need. If I was you I would take a hard look at this thread as @sam028 is running the only type of VPS I would be comfortable trading
I wanted to provide a quick post regarding some great service. So to prequalify my position, I have no financial interest in the following business nor do I benefit from this posting in any way, only wanted to share with others …
I use a dedicated server which is more expensive but if I was going to do a VPS would not hesitate to use same028.
Just my two cents but most server companies are nightmarish when it comes to trading. Have to be very selective.
"The day I became a winning trader was the day it became boring. Daily losses no longer bother me and daily wins no longer excited me. Took years of pain and busting a few accounts before finally got my mind right. I survived the darkness within and now just chillax and let my black box do the work."
Thanks for your input, and all those things were considered when I made the decision. It is not a generic VPS, and is specifically suited for trading. They claim not to overload or employ an environment that will be susceptible to random crashed or reboots, because of other clients. I say claim, because all companies promise that for trading VPS solutions.
I have looked at speedytraders and many others, and tend to agree with the location point, though this strategy in general seems to perform as expected, without the best latency times. Its possible I may still move it into a Chicago datacenter. With that said, whats the best IP to perform ping test against, is it my brokers?
@manten808 here is what I use to ping rithmic engine 64.202.118.5 I get sub 1 ms using Steadfast Networks dedicated machine which is also what speedytrading gets.
If you are not using rithmic may at least give you an idea of time to Chicago as I believe rithmic servers located in same datacenter as CME matching engine. Your broker might also be able to help you. In regards to speed believe me it is worth whether using limit or market orders to cut your latency. It will save you much more money than cost of locating closer.
As far as a VPS telling you they do not over subscribe. Just realize they all say that
"The day I became a winning trader was the day it became boring. Daily losses no longer bother me and daily wins no longer excited me. Took years of pain and busting a few accounts before finally got my mind right. I survived the darkness within and now just chillax and let my black box do the work."
mmmmm........23ms. Its still half what I get from my home, but point well taken . I also put in a ticket with my broker to try to get their info so I'll see what they say. That's the good thing about this forum, lots of knowledge. Thanks again.
Sure thing. If you are going to pay for server anyway makes sense to take advantage of low latency. My home I was able to get 20 to 30ms and my fills were not anywhere near as good as now have sub1ms
"The day I became a winning trader was the day it became boring. Daily losses no longer bother me and daily wins no longer excited me. Took years of pain and busting a few accounts before finally got my mind right. I survived the darkness within and now just chillax and let my black box do the work."