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Will a VPN slow down the speed of my short term futures trading?
Is anyone using a VPN on their desktop PC that they trade from?
I'm considering installing a VPN for more online security in general BUT I don't know if it will significantly, noticeably, slow down my transaction speeds as I am a short term, in and out day trader in futures markets.
The VPN's I'm looking at are NORD and Express VPN's. If anyone has personal experience with this and has tried it, can you kindly give me a heads up yeah or nay.
I'm using a good Falcon Trading PC, and I trade using Think or Swim Platform, trading foreign currencies and the Euro, sometime the grain markets as well.
Any feedback will be most appreciated!
Stay Healthy and Happy,
Mike
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
There is no direct VPN between your trading PC and TD Ameritrade server, unless it is provided by Ameritrade. If you are using a public VPN provider, it only secures the transport between your PC and the VPN provider, which doesn't have any value since the backplane traffic from VPN provider to Ameritrade only have security provided by ameritrade transport , usually SSL. Besides all your traffic will be routed via VPN provider, there were few instances where public VPN provider itself was compromised and users lost credentials and personal info etc. Usually such services are used to bypass restrictions imposed by certain countries using certain services, hide location and ip address etc.
Some VPN providers provide additional capabilities like malware detection etc which may involve SSL decryption to inspect encrypted traffic. Without strict auditing standards, this could expose your application credentials via their log files etc. Based on the services enabled, public VPN services may add significant latency and security risks to normal transport.
Before I became a daytrader, I was a networking specialist for 30 years.
I would not recommend using a VPN while trading for the following reasons:
1) The VPN will add an additional point of failure. You should aim for the most reliable setup possible and eliminate anything that isn't 100% required.
2) If the VPN fails, it adds complexity to diagnose. If you're trading and you lose connection, you want to diagnose and fix quickly. Having a VPN adds another layer to check.
3) Unexpected shutdown or failure of the VPN can cause packets to be dropped. This can cause errors or some other unexpected failure with your trading platform.
4) Unexpected IP changes (which may happen more frequently when using a VPN) can require your trading software to disconnect and re-login, and this can take some time.
5) VPNs need to encrypt and decrypt all data, and this uses resources on your local PC.
6) VPN egress IPs are often flagged by service providers (e.g. Google) as 'dodgy' and you'll find yourself entering "I'm not a robot" captchas quite frequently, and some websites won't want to talk to you. If you're doing research while trading, e.g. going to News sites, this can become frustrating.
Regarding network performance: You will add a small amount of latency if the route is sensible, or a large amount of latency if the egress servers are not optimal. You need to find out where your data provider is located and choose a VPN endpoint near there. As well as routing, it depends on how congested the VPN servers are and if your ISP does different traffic shaping on VPN traffic.
Valid reasons to use a VPN:
1) You need a static IP address; your ISP can't give you one but your VPN provider can.
2) You need to punch through a firewall that is blocking access to what you need.
3) You don't want your ISP or anybody upstream to see what you are doing.
4) You need your data to egress from a different location (e.g. appear that you are in another country, or hide your own IP address).
5) Your ISP performs traffic shaping, but allows VPN traffic at full speed.
My Hearty Thanks to these well educate IT guys for enlightening me about VPN's!!!
There was more information than I ever anticipated that is extremely helpful for my situation.
Overall I am choosing to NOT use a VPN.
I will continue to use a good AV program, screen my emails carefully, and surf the net as safely as I know how, change my PW's periodically...all that good stuff.
I also don't indulge in any social media. I'm not sure if that helps, it's mainly cause I don't have the time for it!
Lastly, I do subscribe to a ID Theft Protection Program just in case.
I cover a lot of bases to insure safety, more than most ,I think?
I trade using Renko Bars of 3 different sizes and I've developed a style that suites my personality which is very important. I could never trade using candles or bar charts again. It's similar to surfing where a good sell comes in BUT within that swell lives a couple of subsets of swells consisting of small and medium waves, and typically there will be a clean up wave or set that moves thru and then there is a calm period (ie small range-bound sideways movements in price). It's hard to explain but I thought I'd throw it out there to see if anyone thinks similarly and has developed a similar philosophy on trading and has translated it into some charting method that they use to trade the markets.
Thanks again to the 2 fellas that helped me to understand the pros and cons of VPN's
When using native Fios.....line is very fast 500 dnload 900 upload......always losing connections....constantly.....switch on the VPN secureline thru Avast...rate goes down to 60 dnload and 90 upload.....never lose connection and data is fine....Im a scalper...very little slippage....very fast turnaround using NT8......NinjaTrader.....I trade MNQ....very volatile....hundreds of contracts a day.....very satisfied with the VPN
