Forex.com, the retail brand of StoneX, offers MetaTrader 4 and 5 alongside its own platform and TradingView, and provides Expert Advisor VPS hosting through a partner, Liquidity Connect, free above a balance and volume threshold and for a monthly fee otherwise. This guide sets out those conditions as Forex.com publishes them for its global, UK and US clients, explains how Forex.com assigns MetaTrader servers and what it says about EAs, shows how to find the server city from inside your terminal, and walks through running Forex.com's MT4 or MT5 on a VPS. Forex.com's pages were checked on 24 October 2026 and its terms vary by region and change over time, so confirm them for your entity before relying on the free tier.
Forex.com's EA VPS hosting: the conditions by region
Forex.com states that its Expert Advisor VPS hosting is provided by Liquidity Connect. The conditions differ by the Forex.com entity you hold your account with, as published on 24 October 2026:
| Region | Condition for free hosting, as stated by Forex.com | Otherwise |
|---|---|---|
| Global (MT5 page) | A minimum of $5,000 in your account and at least 10 round-trip mini lots traded per calendar month | $30 per month |
| United Kingdom | As above, with the fee in base currency | 30 units of base currency per month |
| United States | $500,000 notional volume per month | $30 per month |
Forex.com does not name the city the VPS runs in. On MetaTrader servers it says only that servers for MetaTrader 4 accounts are automatically assigned to each trading account, so the server you land on is decided when the account is opened rather than chosen by you.
Two points to weigh. Ten mini lots a month is one standard lot, a low bar for an active account and a high one for a single conservative EA on a small account. And the US condition is expressed in notional volume rather than lots, so check which figure applies to your entity before assuming the free tier.
What Forex.com says about Expert Advisors
Forex.com's help pages state that MetaTrader 4 allows you to run more than one Expert Advisor simultaneously, and also that Forex.com has not reviewed and does not endorse the use of Expert Advisors; EAs are run at the trader's own risk. In practice that means what it means at every broker: automation is allowed, the strategy is your responsibility, and a VPS keeps it running when your PC is off without changing the broker's stance. US clients also have NinjaTrader as a platform option; it runs on a Windows VPS in the same way, with a heavier memory footprint than a MetaTrader terminal.
Forex.com's own hosting or a VPS of your own?
| Broker's VPS offer | MassiveGRID Forex VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free with $5,000 and 10 mini lots a month (global), or $500,000 notional a month (US); $30 per month otherwise | From $2.87 per month, no balance or volume condition |
| City | Not stated; provided by Liquidity Connect | Your choice of New York, London, Frankfurt or Singapore; measure the ping to the server Forex.com assigned you |
| Platforms | MetaTrader for Forex.com accounts | MT4, MT5, NinjaTrader, cTrader and anything else that runs on Windows, for any broker |
| Other brokers | For Forex.com accounts | Any broker, one terminal folder per account |
| Uptime | Not stated on the Forex.com page | 100% uptime SLA on a Proxmox HA cluster with automatic failover |
| Refund | Not applicable | 15-day money-back guarantee |
A trader who clears the volume condition every month and keeps everything at Forex.com can take the free hosting. A VPS of your own is the better buy when the volume is uncertain, when you run a US account against the notional threshold and a global one against the lot threshold, when terminals for other brokers belong on the same server, or when you want to know which city the server is in and measure it. The free versus paid comparison goes through the trade-offs.
Where are Forex.com's MetaTrader servers? How to find out
Forex.com does not name the city its trade servers are in on its own pages, checked on the broker's own pages on 24 October 2026. That is not unusual, and it is not a problem, because MT4 and MT5 tell you the distance themselves.
- On your own PC, open the login dialog in MetaTrader and look at the server list. Each Forex.com server shows a ping in milliseconds next to its name; the connection status in the bottom-right corner of the terminal shows the same figure for the server you are on.
- Note the lowest reading for your account's server. From a home connection in Europe, a reading in the low tens of milliseconds usually points at London or Amsterdam and a reading above a hundred at New York; from the US east coast the pattern reverses.
- Order a MassiveGRID server in the most likely city, log in, and read the same ping from inside the VPS. A single-digit figure means you are in the right city. Under 1 ms is what brokers with infrastructure in New York, Frankfurt or Singapore see from our servers there; under 10 ms is the London figure.
- If the reading is not clearly better than from home, the 15-day money-back guarantee covers a move to the next city. Most retail brokers we have checked publish New York or London, so those two are the places to start.
The latency guide explains how to read the numbers, and the broker matcher lists the brokers that do publish a city, with sources, in case Forex.com adds one.
Because Forex.com assigns the MetaTrader server when the account is opened, two Forex.com clients can be on different servers. Read the ping for the server your own account shows, not for the whole list.
Running Forex.com's MT4 or MT5 on a VPS
- Order the smallest plan in the city you identified; Forex VPS 1 starts at $2.87 per month in New York, London and Frankfurt and runs one or two MT4 or MT5 terminals.
- Connect with Remote Desktop Connection on Windows or the Windows App on macOS, iOS and Android, using the address and password emailed to you.
- Inside the session, open Forex.com's website and download its branded MT4 or MT5 installer; it carries the Forex.com server list, so you can log straight in.
- Copy your Expert Advisors and indicators into the data folder (File, Open Data Folder), restart the terminal, attach the EAs and switch automated trading on. The MT4 setup guide and the MT5 setup guide cover covers every dialog.
- Close the Remote Desktop window without signing out. The terminal keeps running; add it to Windows startup so it returns after any reboot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Forex.com offer a free VPS?
Forex.com offers Expert Advisor VPS hosting through Liquidity Connect, free when the account meets a threshold and $30 per month otherwise. On the global MT5 page the threshold is a minimum of $5,000 in the account and at least 10 round-trip mini lots per calendar month; on the US page it is $500,000 of notional volume per month; UK clients pay 30 units of base currency when the threshold is not met. Checked on 24 October 2026; confirm the terms for your entity.
Where are Forex.com's MT4 servers located?
Forex.com says servers for MetaTrader 4 accounts are automatically assigned to each trading account and does not name a city on its pages. The ping next to your server's name in the MT4 or MT5 login dialog tells you the distance; test from New York and London first, since those are the cities most retail brokers publish, and keep the one that shows a single-digit figure.
Does Forex.com allow Expert Advisors?
Yes. Forex.com's help pages note that MT4 can run more than one EA at once, while stating that Forex.com has not reviewed and does not endorse the use of Expert Advisors, so they run at your own risk. A VPS does not change that position; it keeps the EA online when your own computer is not.
Can I run NinjaTrader for Forex.com on a VPS?
Yes. NinjaTrader, which Forex.com offers to US clients, is a Windows application and runs on a Windows VPS over Remote Desktop. It uses more memory than a MetaTrader terminal, so start from Forex VPS 2 with 8 GB of RAM rather than the smallest plan, and size up from there if you add strategies or chart data.
A Forex VPS for Forex.com with no balance or volume condition, from $2.87 per month
New York, London, Frankfurt or Singapore, with the ping to your assigned Forex.com server measurable inside the 15-day money-back window. HA failover, a 100% uptime SLA, and room for NinjaTrader or other brokers' terminals on the same server.
See Forex VPS Plans