1) The VM are for trading only.

2) No non trading apps to be installed.

here is why. We need to maximize resources of the entire physical server to give all users the fastest possible execution.

3) If you get a virus, and it sends spam, the entire range of IP addresses used might get blocked. This could affect all users.

4) No pirate software. Using pirated software is illegal and gives very high chances of malware.

5) Servers and data centers can and do fail. Keep a backup machine running in-case this happens.

A data center can fail due to one of its upstream data providers failing. This is not the data centers fault.

6) No liability is accepted of losses due to outages. A lot of time and money has gone into this service and there are many links in the chain that can break.

Failures are not limited to but could be the exchange, data providers, Tradestation, ISP, data center, monitoring software, human error etc.

However Alertmon was needed for my own trading, as I trade decent volumes of contracts while I sleep for nearly 20 years. It has saved many execution issues before they occurred.

7) Make sure futures contracts are rolled over each month / quarter.