What is a trading proxy?
The short answer
A trading proxy is a server between your trading platform and your broker. Our server in your broker’s city opens a separate local connection to your broker’s trade server. When data drops near your broker, our server recovers it inside that city.
A trading proxy puts a server between your platform and your broker.
Your platform normally connects straight to your broker. With a proxy, it connects to a server in between first. That server opens its own, separate connection to your broker and passes your data between the two.
Why it matters. Data lost on that local connection is recovered by our server inside your broker’s city. Your order waits on a short local link instead of the whole way.
- YouYour city
- Your internet connects you to our server
- Our server near youNearest city
- Our servers connect to your broker
- Your brokerBroker’s city
MetaQuotes calls a proxy server a go-between for your computer and the trade server. The MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) desktop terminals have a proxy setting built in.
Open Tools → Options → Server, tick Enable proxy server and press the Proxy button. So you set it up without installing anything.
Traders Proxy is our trading proxy. Only the trading app you set up uses it, and everything else stays on your normal internet.
So your plan’s data goes on trading, not on streaming or downloads. A system-wide or browser proxy would send more through.
A proxy, a VPN and a VPS each fit a different job.
The table shows where your platform runs with each, so you can see which one fits how you trade.
| Question | Trading proxy | VPN | VPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is it? | A server between your platform and your broker | A tunnel that sends your computer’s traffic through a server | A virtual computer that an internet host sells as a service |
| Where does your platform run? | On your own computer | On your own computer | On the remote computer |
| Does your platform keep running with your computer off? | No | No | Yes |
| What it means for you | Your own screen, charts and hotkeys stay as they are | Everything on your computer goes through it, not only trading | You trade on a remote desktop |
The VPN and VPS cells follow the definitions in Wikipedia’s articles on each.
A VPS is the right tool for an expert advisor that must keep trading with your computer off. A proxy can’t do that job, and it suits trading by hand from your own screen. The comparison page sets the VPS and the VPN side by side.
The full comparisons are proxy against VPS and proxy against VPN.
A trading proxy recovers lost data inside your broker’s city.
A backtest runs on your own machine, so no internet link can lose a piece of data during a news release. In live trading, one lost piece holds up every price update and order behind it. Everything waits while your computer sends it again across the world.
Sometimes the internet loses a piece of your data. Your platform then waits about as long as data takes to go there and back, and sends the piece again.
If that try is lost too, the wait doubles, and everything behind the lost piece waits as well. The farther you are from your broker, the longer each wait. In a busy moment, this is what delays price updates and holds up your next order.
The maths of ping
01
Your broker’s distance sets a minimum time for every order
Light in a cable travels about 200 km every millisecond. Your order goes there and back, so every 1,000 km adds at least 10 ms.
What it means for youPhysical distance dictates your latency floor. Fibre travel times remain constant regardless of routing tools.
minimum there and back (ms) = distance (km) ÷ 100
02
One lost piece of data makes everything wait
When a packet drops, your platform pauses while requesting a retransmission across the full distance. Consecutive drops double this waiting penalty. Incoming price ticks stall during the exact seconds volatility peaks.
wait 1× → 2× → 4× → 8×
03
Our server in your broker’s city recovers lost data locally
Our server in your broker’s city opens the final connection to your broker. On a quiet connection, a repeat loss doesn’t double the wait.
What it means for youWhen a piece is lost near your broker, our server recovers lost data inside that city instead of from your computer.
distance set by physics · recovery in your broker’s city is ours
Try your own distance
Singapore to London is about 10,850 km in a straight line, so at least 108 ms there and back. No order can reach your broker and hear back in less. Real routes are longer.
We don’t promise lower ping because distance sets the minimum. Local recovery in your broker’s city covers only the connection between our server and your broker. The repeat-loss fix covers the first few tries on a quiet connection, after the first repeat try.
Our server in your broker’s city opens a separate local connection to your broker. If data drops on that link, our server recovers it inside that city. Trading ports go first when a server is busy, and broker addresses stay warm in memory.
That helps only on the connection between our server and your broker. Data lost between you and our server is recovered between those two.
You cannot paste four values into your platform while your chart is already frozen in a live trade. Set it up today while the market is calm. Then time it on your own screen during the next release.
It does not shorten the distance. Your ping, the time data takes there and back, depends on that distance. We don’t promise lower ping. Distance sets the minimum.
A trading proxy is the wrong tool in three cases.
- Your broker’s terms rule it out. If your broker prohibits proxies, don’t use one.
- An expert advisor must run with your computer off. That is a job for a VPS.
- The trouble starts on your own internet or at your broker. A proxy can’t fix either.
We never open your trading data, and your broker sees one shared address.
We never record what’s in your trading traffic, and we never decrypt it. Whatever encryption your platform uses stays intact from your computer to your broker.
So your trades and account details stay between you and your broker. This covers the connection your platform makes through its proxy setting.
Your broker sees one steady address, our server’s, shared with other Traders Proxy customers. So moving from home Wi-Fi to your phone’s hotspot doesn’t show your broker a new address.
That address changes if you switch city or we replace a server. If our server in your broker’s city is unreachable, your platform shows an error. Your dashboard asks before using another city.
Warning. Check your broker’s terms
Some brokers restrict proxies. If yours does, don’t use one on that account. Traders Proxy doesn’t change what your broker allows.
It works with any platform that has a proxy setting, so you install nothing.
Traders Proxy works with any trading platform that has a proxy setting, such as MetaTrader 4 and 5, TradingView Desktop and Optuma. Your dashboard gives you four values to type into that setting. The setting must accept a login and password.
Voice and video calls don’t go through Traders Proxy. On Android, use an app that can send other apps through a proxy, such as AdGuard, and choose only your trading app. MT4 and MT5 then go through Traders Proxy.
Count your phone as one of your plan’s devices. Trading from an iPhone is untested. Each platform’s maker decides which of its connections use its proxy setting, so read your platform’s guide first.
We wrote the software ourselves, so no one else’s proxy sits in between.
We wrote the software that runs your trading connection ourselves. Nobody else’s proxy sits between you and your broker.
Our own software runs on our servers in each city we list. How Traders Proxy works covers what it does for you, and how we built it covers the software.
Frequently asked questions
Is a trading proxy the same as a regular proxy?
Same idea, narrower job. It passes your trading platform’s connection on to your broker, and only the app you set up uses it. The page on how the proxy setting works has more.
Does a trading proxy encrypt my traffic?
No. It adds no encryption of its own and never decrypts yours. Whatever encryption your platform uses stays intact from your computer to your broker.
Can I use it with any broker?
Not necessarily, so check your broker’s terms first. If your broker prohibits proxies, don’t use one. Traders Proxy doesn’t change what your broker allows.
Do I still need a VPS?
Only for an expert advisor that must run with your computer off. A VPS runs your platform for you, and a proxy can’t. For trading by hand on your own screen, a proxy is the tool that fits.
Will it change my ping?
We don’t promise lower ping. Distance sets the minimum. Instead, our server in your broker’s city connects locally to your broker and recovers lost data inside that city.
Do I get my own IP address?
No. Your broker sees one steady address, our server’s, shared with other Traders Proxy customers. It changes if you switch city or we replace a server.
Field reports · Verified forum threads
Real forum reports, what our system does, and where it stops.
Every quote below links to the forum thread or vendor guide where it appeared. Underneath each quote, see which parts of our system work together on it and where our server stops.
Remote desktop is laggy on a Mac or a very wide screen (client-side rendering, not distance)
“It is however only over Remote Desktop Gateway. RDP directly to machines over VPN works with no issue.”
How local trading avoids it. Your platform runs on your own computer, so there's no remote-desktop window to lag.
- Platform stays on your own computerPrimary
Where it stops. Needs a version of your platform that runs on your computer. Anything you still reach by remote desktop is as laggy as before.
cTrader picks a far or 'wrong' Spotware proxy and the trader cannot choose (Sydney-3, Netherlands, Jakarta-2, London-6 from Korea)
“For the moment we do not have plans to set up a datacenter in NY.”
Why a proxy can backfire here. cTrader for Windows has a proxy setting and Traders Proxy supports it over HTTP. cTrader still chooses its own servers.
- Built-in
HTTPproxy loginBoundary
Where it stops. In cTrader on Windows, the Connection proxy setting routes your connection to Spotware’s cloud. Spotware still picks its own cloud node on the far side.
Broker and firm rules on proxies, VPNs and shared addresses
“Do not use a VPN. VPNs, proxy services, TOR, geo-location obfuscation, and other identity-masking services are not permitted at Topstep.”
Why a proxy can backfire here. Your broker sees our server’s steady address in the city you pick. Check your broker’s or firm’s rules before connecting.
Where it stops. Check your broker’s or firm’s rules before using a proxy. If your broker prohibits proxies or shared addresses, do not use one.
cTrader stuck on 'Reconnecting' after a release, outage or weekend maintenance
“Yes, we usually perform server updates and maintainance almost every weekend.”
Why a proxy does not change this. Traders Proxy doesn't fix faults inside your platform or on its maker's servers. It only changes the route between your platform and ours.
Where it stops. Never mention 'Reconnecting' as a symptom we cure.
Sources
- MetaQuotes, MT5 help, Platform settings (Options window, Server tab)Checked
- MetaQuotes, MT4 help, Server (client terminal settings)Checked
- IETF standard 6298, computing the wait before lost data is sent againChecked
- M2 Optics, latency in single-mode fibre (light covers about 200 km each millisecond)Checked
- Wikipedia, Virtual private networkChecked
- Wikipedia, Virtual private serverChecked