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Running LongRunner on a VPS: Times, Restart Safety and Setup

Last updated: 08 October 2026

Two fixed moments a day

LongRunner buys a stock index once a day and sells it before the broker's daily rollover. With the US set files that is 01:05 and 23:50 server time; with the DAX set 09:05 and 22:55. Between the two, the EA only watches. At these two moments, however, the terminal has to be running, connected and allowed to trade – every trading day.

The two moments are not equally important:

  • Missing the entry costs little. If the terminal comes back after 01:05, LongRunner buys straight away as long as the latest entry time has not passed, and logs late start - buying at … instead of 01:05. You get a later entry price and a shorter trade, not a lost day. With the set files the latest entry is the close time; if you do not want late entries, set "Latest entry" to a time shortly after the start.
  • Missing the close is expensive. If the terminal is offline at 23:50, the position is held over the rollover – with swap and the overnight gap, the two things LongRunner exists to avoid. As soon as the terminal is back and the market is open, the EA closes the overdue position and does not open a new one until it is flat.

That is the whole case for a VPS here: not latency, but a terminal that is reliably online at 23:50.

Restart safety

Windows updates, a provider's maintenance, a frozen terminal – a VPS restarts now and then. LongRunner is built for that:

  • After a restart it checks the open positions and the day's deals and knows whether today's trade was already made. In our demo forward test at BlackBull, re-attaching the EA on the same day logged today's entry was already made - next entry tomorrow and did not buy twice.
  • A timer runs the logic even without new prices, so the close time also works in a quiet market.
  • Requotes, connection problems or a closed market lead to retries within the entry window; a failed close is retried every 30 seconds while the terminal runs.

What makes this work is the magic number: LongRunner recognises its own positions and deals by it. Keep the set file's magic number and do not change it while a position is open.

One chart per index

Each index gets its own chart with its own LongRunner and its own magic number. The set files already use different ones (NAS100 20260521, US30 20260520, DE40 20260519), so all three can run side by side in one terminal. Two rules:

  • Never two LongRunners on the same symbol with the same magic number. They would count each other's trades.
  • Reduce the size when you run several US indices. The Nasdaq-100 and the Dow move together (correlation 0.84 to 0.96). For NAS100 and US30 on one account, use about 0.38 × balance each instead of the set values of 0.5 and 0.7.

The chart timeframe does not matter for the trading; M15 or H1 are easy to watch. A hedging account is recommended – on a netting account LongRunner skips the day if another EA already holds a position on the same symbol.

Time zones: the VPS clock does not matter

All times in LongRunner are broker server time, not the clock of the Windows machine. A VPS in New York with a US clock and a VPS in Frankfurt trade at exactly the same moment. You do not have to set the VPS time zone.

What matters is the broker's server time. The set files assume UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer, so that the New York close falls on midnight. Such a server moves with New York's daylight saving time, so 01:05 server time is always 18:05 in New York. With a different server time, shift the start and close time by the difference – on start, LongRunner warns in the log if one of them lies outside the symbol's trading session. For the DAX set, keep in mind that the server follows New York: in the weeks when Europe and the US change their clocks on different dates, the set's times move by an hour relative to Frankfurt.

Which VPS

LongRunner is light: one market order a day per chart. One MetaTrader 5 terminal with one to three charts fits into the smallest class from our VPS guide for EAs (1 vCPU, 1–2 GB RAM). Latency hardly matters at a fixed entry time; reliability does. Choose a provider with a solid uptime record and a location reasonably close to your broker's servers – where they sit is listed under broker server locations.

Free broker VPS. Several brokers give a VPS to active clients, but the threshold is usually monthly volume, and LongRunner trades little. In our BlackBull test the US30 set traded 0.10 lot on a 10,000 USD account – about two lots a month. The conditions at the brokers we tested on:

  • BlackBull: yes (from 2,000 USD deposit & 20 lots/month, otherwise 25 USD/month)
  • RoboForex: yes (from 300 USD equity + 3 lots/month; otherwise 5 USD/month)
  • IC Markets: yes (IC VPS from 15 lots FX/metals per month, Global entity) – the threshold is stated for FX and metals, so LongRunner's index trades would not help reach it.

So with LongRunner alone you will often pay the fallback fee or rent your own VPS. Independent providers start at $6.50 a month; our forex VPS comparison lists the current picks by latency and price, and brokers with a free VPS has the conditions of every broker we reviewed.

Setup checklist

  1. Install your broker's MetaTrader 5 on the VPS and log in with the trading (master) password. Running each terminal from its own folder in portable mode makes a later move to another VPS a matter of minutes – see MT4 & MT5 portable mode.
  2. Log in to your MQL5 account in the terminal and install LongRunner from the Market tab. Every new computer or VPS uses one activation of your purchase – check how many you have left.
  3. Copy the set files from the product page's comments section to MQL5/Presets (File → Open Data Folder).
  4. Open one chart per index, attach LongRunner, tick "Allow Algo Trading" and load the matching set.
  5. Switch on "Algo Trading" in the toolbar and read the start report in the Experts log: lot size, position value, the cost of a 10% index drop, and any session warnings.
  6. Make the terminal start by itself after a reboot, with the login saved and algo trading on.
  7. Put Windows updates and provider maintenance into a fixed window away from 01:05 and 23:50 server time – the hours around the close are the ones to keep free.
  8. Close the remote desktop session without logging off, so the terminal keeps running.
  9. Check from outside that the account is alive, for example with a portfolio tracker, so a frozen terminal does not go unnoticed until the next morning.

The daily check

Once running, a look at the chart is enough. The dashboard shows the status (before the start, in trade, done, or skipped with the reason), a timeline from start to close with a countdown, today's result and the recent trades. In the Experts log each trading day should show the purchase after 01:05 and position #… closed at the close time at 23:50. If a close line is missing, look at the VPS first.

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Further reading

Frequently asked questions

Does LongRunner need a VPS?

Not strictly, but the terminal must be online on every trading day at the entry time and, above all, at the close time – 01:05 and 23:50 server time with the US set files. If the terminal is offline at 23:50, the position stays open over the rollover. A home PC that sleeps, updates or loses its connection will miss that sooner or later; a VPS will not.

What happens if the VPS restarts during the day?

Nothing bad. After a restart LongRunner checks the open positions and the day's deals and knows whether today's trade was already made. In our demo forward test, re-attaching the EA on the same day did not lead to a second purchase.

What if the terminal is offline at 01:05?

When it comes back, LongRunner buys straight away as long as the latest entry time has not passed, and logs a late start. With the set files the latest entry is the close time. If you do not want late entries, set 'Latest entry' to a time shortly after the start, for example 02:00.

What if the terminal is offline at 23:50?

Then the position is held over the rollover, with swap and the overnight risk. As soon as the terminal is back and the market is open, LongRunner closes the overdue position and does not open a new one until it is flat. That is why the close time is the moment the VPS must not miss.

Does the VPS time zone matter?

No. LongRunner works with the broker's server time, not with the clock of the Windows machine it runs on. A VPS in New York with a US clock and a VPS in London trade at exactly the same moment.

Can I run NAS100, US30 and DE40 in one terminal?

Yes, one chart per index, each with its own magic number – the set files already use different ones. But the US indices move together, so reduce the position value per chart: for NAS100 and US30 together about 0.38 times the balance each instead of the set values.

How big does the VPS have to be?

Small. One MetaTrader 5 terminal with one to three charts fits into the smallest class from our VPS guide (1 vCPU, 1–2 GB RAM). Reliability matters more than speed: one market order a day at a fixed time is not latency-sensitive.