Trading VPS
for Futures
What It Does and Does Not Do

A VPS, or virtual private server, is a slice of a physical server that behaves like its own computer. It has its own operating system, its own share of CPU and memory, and stays isolated from the other servers on the same hardware. IBM's overview of virtual private servers covers the general model.

A trading VPS is that same machine set up for trading. You rent it by the month, log in by remote desktop or a browser, and install your platform on it. The provider looks after the power, the network and the hardware. You look after everything you install.

The names in search results describe the same thing sized for a job. A NinjaTrader VPS is a VPS with enough resources to run the NinjaTrader desktop platform. A futures trading VPS is usually one hosted in a US data center, often in the Chicago area. The idea underneath does not change. Your trading software runs on a machine that stays on.

If the software you need to keep running is a copier for NinjaTrader accounts, the NinjaTrader trade copier page shows how Tradecopia connects to them.

A trading VPS keeps your software running when your own setup cannot. That is the main benefit, and it is a real one.

Home setups fail in ordinary ways. The internet provider drops for ten minutes. A storm cuts the power. Windows decides to install an update and restart overnight. You close the laptop to take it somewhere. None of that touches a server in a data center.

It helps to be clear about what actually stops when your machine goes down. Your open positions and working orders live at your broker, so they stay in the market. What stops is the software that manages them. That means any strategy placing orders for you, any copier sending trades to your other accounts, and any risk rules that run on your own computer.

That is why a VPS matters most for three kinds of trader.

• Traders running automation, such as strategies or alert-driven orders, that need to act when nobody is at the screen.
• Traders copying one leader account to several followers, where the copier has to be up for every follower to receive its orders. The guide to how futures copy trading works walks through that flow.
• Traders who manage accounts from a phone or a second computer and want one machine that is always running.

A VPS does not bring the exchange to you. CME Globex, where CME futures are matched, runs in a data center in Aurora, Illinois. CME Group's co-location page describes that facility as the home of the trade matching engines for all CME Globex products. Renting a VPS in any city leaves that unchanged.

A VPS also does not skip your broker. Every order still goes from your platform to your broker, and your broker sends it on to the exchange. The VPS is one stop on that path, not a shortcut around it.

It does not promise fills either. Fills depend on the market and on your broker. A server in a data center gives your software a stable place to run. What the market does with your order is a separate question.

Finally, a VPS does not make your setup compliant. If your prop firm has rules about where and how you trade, a VPS can put you on the wrong side of them. That is covered further down, and it is worth reading before you pay for one.

Choose a location by looking at the path your trades take, not at a map of the exchange.

For a trader who copies trades, that path has four stops. You place a trade on your platform. It goes to your broker. Your copier picks it up from the broker. The copier then sends orders to your follower accounts. The copier sits in the middle of that path, so the useful question is where your broker connection's servers are, and how to keep your copier close to them.

• US futures through US broker connections. A US location close to your broker is the natural fit. Chicago is a common default for this reason.
• A broker connection that runs through a server in another region. Some connections let you choose a server outside the US. If yours does, a location near that server keeps your copier close to it.

Where you live is not the deciding factor. A trader in Europe whose broker connection runs through US servers is still connecting to the US. A trader whose connection runs through a server in their own region has a reason to pick a location there. Any of the major locations can work. The point is to sit near the servers you actually talk to.

If you are not sure where your broker connection's servers are, ask your broker or your platform's support team before you choose. Your platform and your prop firm are different companies with different jobs, which the guide to trading platforms vs prop firms explains.

If you trade funded or evaluation accounts, read your firm's rules on VPS use before you rent anything. Firms do not agree on this.

Some firms prohibit VPS use entirely. Others allow it but set rules on IP addresses or on where you trade from. Some ask that the setup you use in the evaluation stays the same once the account is funded. A setup that one firm accepts can break the rules at another.

A few habits keep this simple.

• Read the rulebook for the exact account type you hold, since evaluation and funded accounts at the same firm can differ.
• If the rules are unclear, ask the firm's support team and keep the reply in writing.
• Pick a location once and keep it through your evaluation and funded stages.
• Confirm the firm allows copy trading on your account type before you connect a copier.

Running several accounts across more than one firm multiplies this work. The guide to managing multiple prop firm accounts covers the wider setup, and the prop firm trade copier page shows how Tradecopia handles funded accounts.

There are two ways to get your copying onto a machine that stays on.

The first is to rent a VPS and run everything yourself. You install the platform and the copier, keep Windows updated, check the server is healthy, and log in by remote desktop when something needs attention. It gives you full control, and you are the administrator.

The second is a copier that comes hosted. Tradecopia's plans split along exactly this line.

• Pro is the desktop app. It runs on your own machine and copies only while the app is open and connected.
• Pro+ Lite runs on a hosted server instead of your computer, managed for you and reached from a browser on any device.
• Pro+ runs on a dedicated single-tenant VPS, with CPU and memory no one else shares.

On Pro+ and Pro+ Lite, you choose where that server runs. The options are Chicago, New York, Dallas, London, Frankfurt, Singapore and Tokyo, on ChartVPS or QuantVPS. Which providers are offered can vary by location.

Your follower copy orders are sent from that server. Your leader trades are still sent from wherever you place them, through your own trading platform. So the hosted server keeps the copying side of your setup running, while you trade the leader the way you always have. The futures trade copier guide explains the leader and follower model in more detail.

You pick a location when you sign up for Pro+ or Pro+ Lite. In the portal, under Hosting, choose a Location and then a Provider. The line under the picker shows where your instance will run. Chicago is the default.

You can move later without contacting anyone. Open VM Instance in the portal, select Change in the Hosting row, and pick a new location, a new provider or both. Then choose when the move runs.

• Next maintenance window. The move runs between 4:00 and 5:00 PM Central, while futures markets are closed. This is the recommended option.
• Move now. The move starts within about a minute, whatever the market is doing.

Your instance is offline for the whole move. That is about 3 to 5 minutes on Pro+ Lite and up to about 15 minutes on Pro+. Copying stops while it is offline. Open positions and working orders stay live at your broker but are not managed until the instance is back, so be flat first if you choose to move now.

Your settings, copy groups and broker connections move with you, and the instance keeps the same URL. A Rithmic connection keeps the gateway you chose when you added it, so if your prop firm told you which gateway to use, keep using that one. You can move up to 3 times in a rolling 30 days. The full steps are in the help centre article on choosing and changing where your instance runs.

Plenty of futures traders do not need one. If you trade one account by hand, sit at the screen the whole time, and are flat before you walk away, your own computer is doing the job. A VPS adds a monthly bill and another machine to look after.

The case for one gets stronger as soon as something has to keep running without you. That might be a copier feeding several funded accounts, automated strategies, or alerts from your charts. The guide to copy trading from TradingView covers that last setup.

If you already run Tradecopia on the desktop and want copying to keep going when your computer is off, Pro+ Lite and Pro+ move it onto a hosted server in one of seven locations, and you can change the location later. Plan details are on the pricing page.