It seems like a trivial thing, but the quality of the connection between you and your MetaTrader broker can dramatically affect the quality of execution. When the markets move rapidly, delays in milliseconds make the difference between execution at a requested price versus heavy slippage. It is a wise idea to ensure you do everything in your power to minimize trading risks.
The steps to check the latency to your MT4 broker are simple.
1) Figure out their IP/Domain address. It is not the obvious “mbtrading.com” or whoever your broker is. You’ll have to look it up inside of your MetaTrader installation. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\YOUR BROKER HERE\config. The example below shows the list of servers for Alpari.
2) Double click on the server that your live account is linked to. If you’re not sure which server you connect to, you’ll find it when you log on to your account inside of MetaTrader.
3) Double click on the appropriate .srv file that you found in step 1. When you do so, a box will come up. Select the “Select a program from a list of installed programs.”
4) Choose Notepad and push OK.
5) You’ll see a lot of gobbledy-gook come up. Only a few words are obvious. You’re either looking for an ip address (as shown on the Alpari image) or a web address (as shown in the Forex.com image).
6) This step is the only one unique to your operating system. If you have Vista or Windows 7, just click on the button in the bottom left corner, then type in “Command”. If you have XP, you’ll need to push Start. Select Run, then type in “cmd” and push enter.
7) Now type in “ping SERVERNAME” without the quotes, as you see near the top of the image.
You can see that my connection is on the bad side. This is not surprising. The broker, GO Markets, is in Australia, while this test was done from Dallas, TX. It’s not realistic to expect a blazing fast connection halfway around the world.
Your options for improving connectivity are rather limited.
1) Move your computer closer to your broker. If you are not familiar with trading using a VPS, I strongly recommend reading that link. I can resolve my slow connection to Australia in this example by finding a reputable VPS provider in that country.
2) Try switching ISPs. Upgrading your plan is not likely to help. If you live outside of a major city, your only option is probably VPS.
Emanuele says
Hello I did as above to test the latency of 4xp but I got this:
Packhets: sent = 4 Received = 0 Lost = 4 (100% loss)
How can I get and see the right latency from this broker?
this is the IP 46.51.199.236 or mt4prod3.4xp.com
thank you
Shaun Overton says
Some brokers may change their server settings to refuse ping requests. In such a scenario, you won’t be able to use this method.
Thomas says
@shaun,
do you have any other idea, on how to test broker latency than pinging them? and does pinging really show the real latency. it doesn´t show how fast a broker is executing your order. it just shows how fast the server COULD send an answer.
brgds
Thomas
Shaun Overton says
Hi Thomas,
Pinging is the only option short of opening an account with the broker and testing the live execution. You are correct in that the ping merely shows you the best case scenario.
Oliwand says
Hi,
MellyForex has developped a test script to do that work. It’s very well and efficient.
Shaun Overton says
Thanks, Oliwand. Do you have a link to download the script?
alright says
I think Oliwand was refering to this http://www.mellyforex.com/reviews/how-to-test-your-broker-s-latency
jeanphi says
hello,
latency of execution broker server is more important than the ping server.
Shaun Overton says
Hi Jeanphi,
Yes, the execution latency is definitely more important than the ping. However, you cannot do anything about execution latency – that all comes from the broker. The best you can do is to minimize the round trip time between yourself and the broker.
jeanphi says
If there is a choice of broker, which is more important than the choice of ping.
Reduce ping is good, but does nothing if the broker exuction time is great.
I think the order is
1-choice of broker
2-choice vps server closest to the broker
3 – if mt4 used, then reduce the build-in delay via fix
4-take a copy account 0sec if duplication
total delay = delay broker server execution time +
MT4 build-in delay (about 0.6 sec) +
delay of copying scripts +
time course
With Lmax example, I negotiate with a time around 5ms (total). On mt4 platform max90ms. In this case, yes ping very important for me
good luck
Shaun Overton says
That’s excellent feedback. I totally agree.
myBrokerStats.com says
Ping time measurement is just one (out of many steps) to optimize your trading platform and trading experience.
While ping times giving you important information about your ISP, network, connection speed…
The thing you will be probably be most interested in is the speed of your trading as a whole- means improving execution times. “How long does your orders need to get through”.
Our MT4 suite is built exactly for that reason. Take a look and enjoy!
Joris says
I have googled a lot, but find no reasonable explanation to the following:
quote
3 – if mt4 used, then reduce the build-in delay via fix
4-take a copy account 0sec if duplication
unquote
Can someone enlighten me?
Shaun Overton says
Hi Joris,
Where did you grab that quote from? I don’t see it anywhere in the article.
xxx says
If you do not know do not say. There’re more ways to measure. Start googling, I am sure you’ll find websites, how IT Eng./Administrators and technicians measure health/performance of their networks.
xxx says
The biggest problems are with brokers SLOW executions on their servers. The “ping” will not tell you the whole story! I think they are not willing to upgrade their hardware/servers to decrease slippage as much as possible. They will lose what they earn now, the extra money by the slippage
Shaun Overton says
I agree – some brokers intentionally delay execution to cherry pick the prices that their clients receive.
Davy says
How to test your broker’s latency with NinjaTrader?
Ed says
Try this:
Go to file menu on MT 4 then click open account and scan the servers listed or use the add broker option then click scan!
Shaun Overton says
Good idea. Does that show the live servers, too? Most brokers segregate demo servers from the live ones in case of trouble, so the results may vary. There’s no reason for a broker to pay for a co-located demo server.
Pat says
Time for Shaun to do an update U.S. broker review anyway. Autochartist might not like it….eh?
Shaun Overton says
There’s not really too much to review. GAIN, FXCM and Oanda… that’s what we’re down to.