What would recommended PC specs be for running 80 MT4s at the same time/is there a better way of doing this altogether?

 

Hello,


Basically I was wondering, which way would it be best to run 80 MT4 accounts, with the main EA being running on 1 account, and the rest 79 accounts, copying the trades. There are usually no more than 20-30 trades open at the same time, the average, usual amount being at about 10 open trades.


Gonna try to divide the overall question into smaller parts:


1) What kind of PC specs would be most optimal for running 80 MT4s simultaneously?

2) Would something with 16 GB of RAM and a 6 core CPU do the job, if only 80 MT4s are running and nothing else?

3) Is there perhaps a better way of doing this altogether?


Kind regards,

Aleksandr

 

Check this thread:  https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/59293

Max Number of Running Systems on MT4
Max Number of Running Systems on MT4
  • 2015.05.25
  • www.mql5.com
Hi I'd like to know if someone know how many system can be active on a single MT4 platform and how they affect a PC/VPS. Thanks...
 

I am not sure about 80 MT4 instances ... but you can look at the following thread (because they are talking about the same thing but for MT5 for example) - 

Forum on trading, automated trading systems and testing trading strategies

I want to build a PC to work with MT 5, what advice and why?

Vladimir Pastushak , 2019.02.11 18:37

It's time to completely upgrade your PC.

The main task of PC testing and optimization of programs for MT 5

Cost does not matter.

Since I am far behind the current trends, then expert recommendations are needed, I hope the MT 5 developers will give a couple of tips.

Which processor to choose?

What RAM, frequency, how much is preferable?

Motherboard?

On the disks is a separate question, will the increase in SSD on Pci expres give?

Maybe something else must be taken into account?


 
William Roeder:
Maximum terminals is 32
          Max Number of Running Systems on MT4 - Trading Systems - MQL5 programming forum - Page 2

Should've tied my other thread on https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/316756, into this, my bad  🤦‍♂️

Ability to run more than 32 terminals through certain options
Ability to run more than 32 terminals through certain options
  • 2019.06.28
  • www.mql5.com
Hello, I was wondering, could it be possible to run more than 32 terminals through any of the following options below...
 
Sergey Golubev:

I am not sure about 80 MT4 instances ... but you can look at the following thread (because they are talking about the same thing but for MT5 for example) - 


Interesting find, thanks!

 

I run 5 VPS, each with 4 or 6 core, and have tried a lot of VPS hosters.


Each VPS runs with 8 MT4 instances each, also some MT5s. On each MT4, there are between 5 and 32 EA charts .

So, a VPS has 8*10 = 80 EAs, roughly.

My VPS have 4 cores and 8 GB of RAM. Basically 2 MT4 instances per core. RAM should not be a factor for most EAs.

The number of EAs  heavily depend on the performance of the EA's code. You can get a feeling if you backtest with ticks and it takes ages; then the EA will also be "slow" in reality.

MT5 is preferred, since it's 64 bit and thus runs faster and is more parallel.


When selecting VPS, there is one thing that is most important, I realized: the VPS hoster and more specific the Hypervisor software.

Examples:

- Some use VMWare and have excellent performance. Not cheap and not much RAM, but really fast and handles lot of MT4s nicely.

- Others (uses KVM, but I have the same impression.

- Yet others  use KVM; great price but performance drops during the day when forex is hot. Example: Tuesday afternoon; I connect to VPS and want to look at windows of MT4. It does not open nor react in any way  (Windows says "... does not respond"). CPU load according to Task Manager is < 30%, but this cannot be not real. KVM has a hard time handling the IO (I assume), maybe it's also that these hosters "overload" the physical CPU cores (like airlines do with seats; thus the cheap price).  It's kinda OK if the EA is not a scalper and just operates on H1 or above. But for scalpers, you want to look elsewhere (as I do).

In summary, with VPS hosters, CPU cores are not always the same.

Note: Just my experience, maybe subjective. Please try for yourself.

 
Addition:  some use OpenStack (in combination with KVM as hypervisor). Maybe this explains the difference to others in practical performance/responsiveness during forex trading hours.
Reason: