Creating an Effective Computer Setup for Day Trading
Believe it or not, your trading computer setup can have a big impact on your success. Not all stock trading computers are created equal. By paying attention to a few specific criteria you can increase your abilities to make successful transactions.
First, the trading computer setup needs a good, powerful processor to insure it can handle the vast amounts of data that you use to make decisions. Generally a laptop trading computer is optimized for size and does not have the benefit of an extremely powerful internal processor. We like to think that anything that can stream a movie makes a good trading computer setup, but movies and other high volume data transfers can buffer the information so that it is not so processor intensive like your day trading streams. You risk too much information lag with a less than optimal processor in a computer for traders.
In addition to the processor, you should also consider the display capabilities in your trading computer setup. Using dedicated graphics cards, or graphics processors, allows your computer to more accurately render graphs, images and streaming data in real time. A second monitor will also enhance your ability to view real time data in relation to all of your trading information and research.
It does not matter how frequently you day trade, an effective trading computer setup will provide the advantages to use all of your tools more effectively. Plus, your trading computer setup can make a difference in profitability in regards to your ability to gather information quickly.