Trading Through Load Shedding: VPS, Backups and Stop Placement

Eskom ran through 2026 without load shedding, the first clear year since 2018, so this is less of a daily problem than it was. But localised load reduction still happens in many areas, storms take out power and fibre, and a trader with an open position cannot assume the lights and the line will stay on. The fix is a setup that keeps your trades managed even when you are not at the desk. This guide covers it.

The three layers

1. A hard stop on every trade. This is the non-negotiable base layer. If your connection dies, your broker still holds your stop-loss order on its server, so the worst case is a defined loss, not an open-ended one.
2. A backup connection. A laptop on battery plus a phone hotspot lets you manage positions through a power cut if the mobile network is up.
3. A VPS. A virtual private server in London or New York runs your platform continuously, so pending orders, trailing stops and any automated strategy keep working regardless of what happens at your home.

What a VPS is and when you need one

A forex VPS is a small remote Windows machine, hosted in a data centre near the broker's servers, that runs MetaTrader around the clock. You connect to it to check in, but it does not depend on your power or internet to keep the platform running. You need one if you hold trades for hours or days, use trailing stops or partial-close rules, or run an expert advisor. A pure intraday trader who closes everything before leaving the desk needs one less, but it is still useful insurance.

Getting a VPS

• Many brokers offer a free VPS once you maintain a minimum balance or trade a minimum monthly volume. Ask support.
• Independent forex VPS providers charge roughly USD 5 to USD 30 a month depending on specification.
• Choose a location near your broker's servers (often London) for low latency, not one near you.
• Keep it lean: MetaTrader and nothing else, so a small, cheap plan is enough.

The home setup

Even with a VPS, a functional home setup matters for the times you are actively trading. A laptop holds a battery charge through a typical load-reduction slot. Keep the router or fibre ONT on a small UPS or a power station so the line stays up. Have a phone hotspot configured and tested as a fallback. Know your area's load-reduction schedule so you are not caught mid-trade by a cut you could have planned around.

Kabelo held swing trades and used to close everything before any scheduled outage, which meant exiting good positions early and missing moves. He set up a broker-provided VPS running MT5, so his trailing stops and take-profits kept working through power cuts. Now an outage at home is a non-event for his trading: the VPS manages the positions and he checks in from his phone when the power returns.

The order of priority is: stop-loss on every trade, then a backup connection, then a VPS. Load shedding being suspended does not change that order, it just makes the VPS a bit less urgent. Anyone holding trades overnight from South Africa should still have all three.

Frequently asked

Related reading

• The Internet Setup a South African Forex Trader Needs
• The Rand, Eskom and Load Shedding: What Moves USD/ZAR
• Position Sizing on a Rand-Denominated Forex Account