One thing you've definitely realized if you've been trading with a prop firm for even a few weeks is that speed isn't just "nice to have"; it's crucial. Slow execution can completely ruin a perfectly solid setup, whether you're trying to catch a clean breakout on indices, stacking positions on gold, or scalping during the London Open. Additionally, milliseconds on MT5 can make the difference between an unpleasant reset and a rewarding review.
The good news? If you know how to optimize it, MT5 is actually a fairly quick platform. The majority of traders never examine the settings or figure out what is causing them to slow down. They simply accept slippage and delays as a part of the game, but with a few adjustments, they might actually reduce every trade's duration by seconds.
For prop firm traders who cannot afford to squander time, margin, or opportunity, let's dissect the true and useful techniques of achieving faster execution on MT5.
Why does speed of execution mean so much in prop trading?
Prop firms expect you to perform under pressure. They don't care how smart your analysis is if your entries are late, your stop-losses slip, or your limit orders trigger miles away from your intended price.
When your execution is slow, you deal with:
- Missed entries on fast markets
- Higher slippage
- Wrong risk-to-reward ratios
- Poor fill prices in news
Challenges that can't be overcome apparently
Since most prop firms judge your trading by its consistency, accuracy, and risk discipline, execution lag becomes a silent enemy. The faster your trades go through on MT5, the cleaner your performance looks and the more control you have with what you're doing.
SECRET #1: Employ a High-Quality, Low-Latency VPS (It's Not Optional)
You might have heard traders say, Get a VPS! but for prop traders, that's not just advice, it's practically required.
Here's the thing:
Prop firm servers – like Eightcap, ThinkMarkets, Purple, etc. – are almost always hosted in specific data centers. For example, a lot of MT5 servers are hosted in New York or London.
If you are trading from Pakistan, India, Africa, or Asia, or generally anyplace far from those hubs, every order you place has to traverse thousands of miles of infrastructure before touching the broker's server. That alone may delay execution by hundreds of milliseconds.
A VPS solves that by putting your trading connection right next to the broker's server.
What to look for in a VPS:
- Ping below 3ms
- 2+ GB RAM
- SSD storage
- Windows Server OS: 2016 or 2019
- A location matching your prop firm's server
Think of it like going from the village road to the highway-it's just faster.
SECRET #2: Choose the Right MT5 Server (Yes, You Have Options)
Many prop firms give you multiple server choices. You may see something like:
- “FirmName-MT5-Demo”
- “FirmName-MT5-Live”
- “FirmName-MT5-Pro”
- “FirmName-MT5-NYC”
- “FirmName-MT5-LDN”
Most traders just click the first one.
Big mistake.
Pick the server that’s:
- Closest to your VPS location
- Matches the account type you're trading.
- Showing the lowest ping in MT5’s login window
This alone can cut your execution time by 20–40%.
SECRET #3: Cut Down Every Indicator That Isn’t Essential
Here's the part traders hate hearing:
- Indicators slow MT5 down.
- All of them. Even the simple ones.
If you run:
- 10 custom indicators
- 3 EAs
- Multiple tick-volume monitors
- Heavy dashboard tools
…your execution speed WILL suffer.
MT5 trading platform processes your indicators in real time. When you hit "BUY", MT5 still has to run through everything that is happening on your chart. The more clutter you have, the slower the processing.
For maximum execution speed:
- Use ONE clean template for trading
- Move your analysis to a separate chart.
- Avoid heavy indicators during active sessions.
- Close unused charts completely
- Remove old EAs and scripts
Think of MT5 like a phone with too many apps open—eventually, something lags.
SECRET #4: Optimize MT5 Settings for Speed-most traders never do this
Surprisingly, MT5 has several built-in settings that can help your platform run faster, but they're buried where most traders never look.
The key optimizations are:
Limit chart history
Go to Tools → Options → Charts
Reduce:
- "Max bars in chart"
- "Max bars in history"
A lower number = faster chart loading and faster execution.
Disable unnecessary objects
- Trendlines
- Fibonacci drawings
- Order line histories
- Old indicators
These things add up and make the platform slow.
Turn off news and other data feeds that aren't needed.
If your prop firm feeds news through MT5, turn it off.
It clogs bandwidth and processor usage.
SECRET #5: Don’t Trade on Slow or Congested Networks
This may sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how many traders do this. They sit on Wi-Fi with:
- Netflix streaming
- YouTube running
- Phones syncing cloud backups
- A VPN running in the background
And then, they blame MT5 for the lag.
If speed of execution is important:
- Use Ethernet, not Wi-Fi
- Avoid VPNs, unless required.
- Close background downloads
- Disable auto-updates
- Use a dedicated internet line if possible.
Your speed of execution is only as good as your connection.
SECRET #6: Use “One-Click Trading” Everything
If you're clicking:
- New Order
- Fill in the volume
- Choose Buy/Sell
- Set stop-loss
- Set take-profit
- Confirm
…you're losing seconds.
One-click trading is the quickest possible way into and out of the market. In prop trading, especially scalping or reacting to news events, seconds count.
Turn on:
- One-click buy/sell
- Quick close buttons
- Drag-to-edit SL/TP
Once you get used to this workflow, you won't go back.
SECRET #7: Use Scripts for Instant Execution
Most best prop firm traders are unaware that MT5 has scripts. A script is a micro-tool, it automates something in an instant with one click.
For example:
- Close all trades instantly
- Close only profitable trades
- Close only losing trades
- Move stops to break even
- Place a pre-set market order
Scripts do not ‘churn' like EAs and run once then complete, meaning they will not slow down your platform.
Want next-level speed, especially with funded accounts? Scripts are the secret weapon.
SECRET #8: Don’t Rely on Web-Based Prop Firm Dashboards While Trading
Prop firms like MyForexFunds-which is no more in operation, FTMO, MFFX, FundedNext, amongst others, have live dashboards where:
- Profit
- Drawdown
- Daily limits
- Equity
- Free margin
But here's the catch:
These are dashboards that refresh constantly, and may slow down your computer or internet connection.
If you are trading actively:
- Keep the dashboard closed.
- Refresh it manually only when needed
- Check your limits using MT5's stats instead
Trust your MT5 and not your browser during execution.
SECRET #9: Update MT5 Regularly—but Not During a Trading Session
MT5 updates often fix:
- Delays in executions
- Memory leaks
- CPU bottlenecks
BUT-and this is important-never update the platform while markets are moving, as updates can break custom indicators or reset settings. Always do it:
- Aftermarket hours
- On weekends
- Well, before a trading day begins,
A well-updated MT5 is a faster MT5.