If you run an EA on your laptop, every reboot, sleep, Wi-Fi drop or Windows update is a gap where your strategy isn’t watching the market — and that’s exactly when a position can go wrong unmanaged.
A cheap VPS fixes that: the EA runs 24/5 near the broker, low latency, no babysitting. The downsides are a small monthly cost and the initial setup hurdle.
That said, for testing or a strategy you actively supervise, a home PC is fine. Where’s the line for you — at what point did you move to a VPS, and which one are you happy with?