1. Choose the Plan and Location
Pick a plan with at least 4 GB of memory for Windows and a few terminals, and the location nearest your broker's trade server. Your broker can tell you where it is, and the server name often hints at it. Choose Windows Server as the operating system when you order.
2. Connect and Secure Remote Desktop
Connect with Remote Desktop as Administrator, using the password you set when ordering. Before anything else, install Windows updates and restrict Remote Desktop to your own address with the firewall on the server's page in the dashboard. An open Remote Desktop port is found by password-guessing bots within minutes. Connecting to a Windows VPS covers both.
3. Install MetaTrader
In the VPS, open Edge and download MetaTrader from your broker's website. The broker's version comes with its servers already listed. Install it, sign in with your trading account, and load your Expert Advisors and indicators into the terminal's MQL4 or MQL5 folder (File → Open Data Folder).
Turn on Tools → Options → Expert Advisors → Allow algorithmic trading (MT4: Allow automated trading) and the Algo Trading (MT4: AutoTrading) button on the toolbar.
For more than one account, install each terminal into its own folder (the installer's Settings button lets you choose), or copy an installation and start the copy in portable mode so it keeps its data in its own folder:
"C:\MT5-Account2\terminal64.exe" /portable
4. Check the Ping to Your Broker
The connection indicator at the bottom right of MetaTrader shows the round-trip time to the trade server. In MT5 it is shown directly; in MT4, click the indicator and choose Rescan servers to see the ping to each. Compare it with what you get at home. If it is much higher than you expected, ask your broker which data centre its server is in.
5. Disconnect, Don't Sign Out
Closing the Remote Desktop window disconnects you and leaves everything running. Sign out from the Start menu closes every program, MetaTrader included. Close the window when you leave.
6. Start Again After a Restart
Windows needs a signed-in session to run MetaTrader, so after a restart nothing trades until someone signs in. Two changes fix that:
- Sign in automatically. Microsoft's free Sysinternals Autologon tool stores the password encrypted and signs in at startup. Keep Remote Desktop restricted to your address, since the server now opens a session without a password prompt.
- Start MetaTrader on sign-in. Press Win+R, type
shell:startup, and put a shortcut to each terminal in the folder that opens.
7. Keep Updates to the Weekend
Windows installs updates and restarts on its own schedule, which can stop an EA mid-week. On Windows Server, set updates to download but wait for you. Open PowerShell as administrator and run:
sconfig
Choose Update setting, then Download only. Install the updates yourself when the markets are closed (Settings → Windows Update) and restart. Do not leave them for months: the server is on the internet, and security updates matter.
If Something Goes Wrong
If Remote Desktop will not connect, open the browser console (VNC) on the server's page in your dashboard. It shows the server's screen whatever the network or firewall is doing, so you can check whether MetaTrader is still running.