I am very interested in using Bisq to purchase Bitcoins, which is a decentralized, blockchain-powered cryptocurrency exchange. I am wanting to remain as anonymous as possible and please wondered would it be okay to use a VPN to mask my real IP address when using Bisq please, would this still work please?
As it was already mentioned in this thread Bisq client installed on your machine connects to the given network via TOR automatically, as the relevant software needed to do this is distributed with Bisq packet but I use VPN to mask my TOR traffic having in fact TOR via VPN connection. Works perfectly, regarding to Bisq.
Lastly i have heard about people setting up there own nodes on Bisq, would this make the transaction more anonymous or is this basically to keep the transaction more secure so you do not get scammed please? The transaction i am making is only $40 would my own node not my required please?
Probably you meant your own node of Bitcoin Core as Bisq node will be launched automatically as soon as you launch Bisq software on your machine.
Though " Bisq users can still choose to connect to arbitrary public nodes" the use of your own Bitcoin Core node is preferable if you care of your privacy
Quote from: https://docs.bisq.network/btcnode
I run my own Bitcoin Core node a long side with bisq.