Ping is a crucial factor in the success of trading strategies. It refers to the time it takes for a MetaTrader platform to connect to a broker's server. Simply put, the lower the ping level, the faster the connection.

The speed with which a trader can access market information, place an order in the market and execute it is paramount to achieving sustainable profits.

Therefore, it is an important part of trading to gain a competitive advantage, and every trader strives to find high performance trading platforms with low latency.

Importance of the ping

Price movements on trading platforms can fluctuate in a matter of seconds. Those few moments can make the big difference between a successful trade and a losing one.

It is not always the trader's fault, the delay can hinder every step of the way until the trade is closed. Unfortunately, an order that enters the market late is likely to be executed at an unfavorable price, increasing the potential for losses.

The main factors that affect the ping speed are:

• the physical distance to the server;
• connection speed;
• network equipment;
• connection to the internet;
• the number of devices sharing the connection;
• traffic from the nearest clients on the network.

How do I know my ping speed?

In order to determine the cause of the server lag, you need to understand whether it is the Internet connection, your device or the broker's platform that is lagging.

1. Internet connection

The steps to perform a network check will depend on the operating system you are using.

If you are running Windows 10 - go to Search in the taskbar and type "cmd" to open the command line. After that, type "ping" in the black field, press the spacebar and paste in the IP address you want to check.

If you are using Mac, follow the same sequence by opening a network utility and entering the hostname or IP address to check.

For Linux, open a terminal first. Type "traceroute" followed by the IP address or URL you want to trace. Press Enter and review the results.

2. Your device

Many customers have complaints about unstable and slow servers. Modern PCs are more reliable than ever, but that does not mean that they are error-free. Hardware failures still occur, albeit rarely, and even the most powerful computer components are not always reliable.

Resource-intensive tasks can cause an unstable system, which in turn will fail or even shut down during load, which is a serious cause for concern.

3. Broker platform

A Forex VPS can be a good solution for trading with minimal latency and a stable internet connection. Everything is virtual, so traders don't have to worry about traditional hardware issues that could interfere with trading results. You can rely on a dedicated server in a convenient location and at any time.

With ping-test you can quickly check the ping of the desired broker from the drop-down list. To test another platform, open MetaTrader. In the bottom right corner you will see the selected broker's server and the latency in ms.

If you found the IP address of the broker's server, you can use the "cmd" command line we described earlier to check the ping manually.