MT4-Best CPU performance with Multiple indicators and EAs

What gets the best CPU performance when using multiple indicators and EAs on a price chart.........

1. Each individual Price Chart gets its very own instance of MT4 ....so you have MULTIPLE MT4 installs running on your computer ...like EUR/USD gets its very own MT4....then another MT4 install runs only GBP/USD.......and those price charts have many indicators and EAs running ...

OR ,

2. Having an MT4 install running MULTIPLE price charts with indicators and EAs.....usually task manager shows this uses about 20-30% of CPU.....


I know its obviously better to run multiple versions of MT4 because at some point too many indicators and EAs will bog down MT4 since its an older program .

But at what point do you start using multiple versions of MT4 and is the extreme case of having a dedicated install of MT4 for each price chart the way to get the MOST out of your CPU ????

I can have like 20 instances of MT4 running . each with a dedicated price chart , or have like 4 or 5 MT4 running with like 5 price charts each ......

Or does it all amount to the same CPU usage in the end ??

Don't worry about the amount of indicators or EAs. MT4 is not an "older" program. 10 years ago it indeed was significantly faster and used less resources than today. But it's still fast enough for any sound setup you can imagine. MT4 is a 32bit program but that doesn't mean it's old. At least 50% of todays Windows programs are 32bit, only a few are native 64bit applications. Look at MT5 where Metaquotes offers a 64bit version. Is that version faster or better in any sense? Theoretically, yes. Practically (means in every day's use) it is not.

What indeed is important is the MetaTrader configuration, no matter MT4 or MT5. The most important speed-related setting is the number of bars you load into a chart. Select 1 million bars and most of freely available indicators/EAs (here and at mql5.com) will bring your PC to a halt. That is because their code is not optimized for heavy computing. On a local PC you are good to go with 50.000-100.000 bars. On a VPS you usually want to run a few EAs and have only limited RAM (1-2MB). There you can go with a number as low as 500 bars per chart. To get a feeling watch the task manager and observe how the allocated memory increases/decreases with changed bar settings.

Does it make a difference to run a single chart per MT4 installation or two/more charts in one setup? No. MT4 can handle parallel processing as good as any other 32bit or 64bit application.

These are 4 MT4 instances on a VPS. Two run 1-2 indicators for account monitoring and signaling. Two run each 2 EAs calling custom indicators via iCustom(), each terminal on a different account. So 4 running EA instances all together. The EAs are scalpers. All terminals are configured to use 1000 bars per chart.

The VPS used to have only 1MB, now it has 2MB. The second MB is not needed. You can also see the CPU consumption.