XM offers its clients a VPS for MetaTrader, free for accounts that keep enough equity and trade enough volume, and for a monthly fee otherwise. This guide sets out those conditions as XM publishes them, explains what XM does and does not say about where its trading servers are, shows how to find that city from inside your own terminal, and walks through running XM's MT4 or MT5 on a VPS, whether XM's or your own. XM's terms were checked on 24 October 2026 and change without notice, so confirm them in the XM client area before you rely on the free tier.
XM's free VPS: the conditions
According to XM's MT4 VPS service terms and conditions, the VPS is provided free of charge when the client's equity, excluding credit, is at least 5,000 USD or equivalent and the client has traded at least 5 round-turn standard lots, or 500 micro-lots, in the past 30 days. Clients who do not meet both conditions are charged 28 USD per month for the service. XM does not name its VPS partner or the city the VPS runs in on those pages.
Read those two conditions together: a $5,000 account that trades half a lot a day clears them; a $5,000 account running one conservative swing EA may not reach 5 lots in a month and will see the fee appear. The free tier is a volume reward, not a feature of the account, and it is withdrawn in any month the volume dips. That is fine for an active trader and awkward for a strategy whose whole point is patience.
What XM's VPS is good for, and when a paid VPS is the better buy
| Broker's VPS offer | MassiveGRID Forex VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free with $5,000 equity and 5 lots in the past 30 days; 28 USD per month otherwise | From $2.87 per month, no volume or equity condition |
| City | Not stated on XM's pages | Your choice of New York, London, Frankfurt or Singapore; the ping in your terminal tells you which matches XM's server |
| Resources | Not stated in the terms we checked | 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM and 32 GB NVMe on the smallest plan; sliders to 24 vCPUs |
| Other brokers | For XM accounts | Any broker, any number of terminals, one folder per account |
| Uptime | Not stated | 100% uptime SLA on a Proxmox HA cluster with automatic failover |
| Refund | Not applicable | 15-day money-back guarantee |
If you meet XM's conditions every month, trade only XM, and are happy not knowing where the server is, the free VPS costs nothing and does the job. A paid VPS makes more sense when the volume condition is uncertain, when you run accounts at other brokers alongside XM, when you want to pick the city and measure the ping yourself, or when an uptime guarantee with failover matters more than the $2.87 a month it costs. The free versus paid comparison goes through the trade-offs in general.
Where are XM's servers? How to find out
XM 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 XM 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 XM adds one.
Running XM'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 XM's website and download its branded MT4 or MT5 installer; it carries the XM 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.
XM states that Expert Advisors can be used on its MT4 and MT5 platforms, so there is no restriction to work around; the only XM-specific point is that the branded installer is the one to use, because MetaQuotes no longer distributes MT4 itself and the XM build carries the XM server list. Traders with several XM accounts install one terminal per account, each in its own folder, exactly as with any other broker.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the XM VPS really free?
It is free in any month in which your equity (excluding credit) is at least 5,000 USD or equivalent and you traded at least 5 round-turn standard lots, or 500 micro-lots, in the previous 30 days, according to XM's MT4 VPS terms checked on 24 October 2026. If either condition is not met, XM charges 28 USD per month. Confirm the current terms in the XM client area, as they can change.
Where is the XM VPS located?
XM's VPS terms and platform pages do not name a city at the time of writing. The ping shown next to the server name in your MT4 or MT5 login dialog is the reliable guide: a single-digit figure from a given city means XM's server is there. Most retail brokers we have checked publish New York or London, so those are the first cities to test.
Can I use a MassiveGRID VPS with XM instead of XM's own VPS?
Yes. Install XM's MT4 or MT5 on the VPS exactly as you would at home and log in with your XM account; XM allows Expert Advisors on both platforms. Forex VPS 1 starts at $2.87 per month with no equity or volume condition, in your choice of four cities, with a 100% uptime SLA and a 15-day money-back guarantee to measure the ping to XM's server before you commit.
Does XM allow Expert Advisors?
Yes. XM's platform pages state that Expert Advisors can be used on MT4 and MT5. The usual sense applies: a VPS keeps the EA running when your PC is off, but the strategy, the risk settings and the broker's own trading rules are still yours to manage.
A Forex VPS for XM with no volume condition, from $2.87 per month
Pick New York, London, Frankfurt or Singapore, measure the ping to XM's server inside the 15-day money-back window, and keep your other brokers' terminals on the same server. HA failover and a 100% uptime SLA.
See Forex VPS Plans