Okay so you want to start day trading!
You need to make sure you have the right setup (Make sure you read our blog, The 5 Best Tools for Day Trading). As you have probably already realized, you can’t make a living trading from your iPhone.
If you are serious about learning how to trade you need to setup a proper trading platform with a powerful day trading computer.
When it comes to setting up a multi-monitor trading computer you can get as complex as you’d like. I try to keep it simple, but my system has grown over the years. I would suggest starting with a great core system that you add onto when you want to expand.
It started very simply with one laptop and one external monitor. I slowly added additional monitors as I needed more space until I had a 9-monitor layout!
The Day Trading Computer
I started off using a Lenovo Laptop as my day trading computer. It had a solid-state drive and 16GB of RAM. I picked out a gaming spec laptop thinking if it could handle video games it would be more than sufficient for trading. That computer lasted about 5 years, so I think I got my money’s worth from it.
I realized that in general, if you look for any gaming computer it will be well suited for day trading because it will have good amounts of memory plus advanced graphics cards.
As a personal preference, if I could only afford one computer, I would always choose a laptop vs a desktop computer. There are two reasons for this preference. First, I often work 12-14hr days and I like to be able to move around the house while I’m working. Second, one of the incredible realities of trading is that you can do this from anywhere in the world so long as you have an internet connection. So why tie yourself down with a bulky desktop computer?
Now, I will say laptops are generally a little more expensive and usually aren’t as easy to upgrade over time, which means you may need to replace them more often than a desktop computer. They also tend to run hot and overheat, especially when you get the high-powered gaming spec models.
My personal preference has always been to use a Windows machine, but that’s because when I learned to trade they really didn’t have trading software available for Apple. Today that’s different. So if you have an Apple that wouldn’t be a problem.
Several years ago, I made the switch from Lenovo to Falcon Computers. Falcon Computers are custom-built for day trading. At this point I’ve had 5 different computers they’ve built for me. On my desktop machine in my home office, I have 12 outputs for external monitors, and there is room to add more. As you can imagine, these computers aren’t cheap, but they are well worth it!
I am currently using the Falcon F-30 laptop when I’m traveling and at home I have the Falcon F-1 Blue Ice Desktop machine.
The Falcon F-30 specifications are as follows:
- Up to 64 FB DDR5 RAM
- Up to 4TB Solid-State Hardrive
- Supports 3 External Monitors
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX Graphics Card
The Falcon F-1 Blue Ice specifications are as follows:
- Up to 128GB DDR5 RAM
- Up to 4TB Solid-State Hardrive
- Up to 24 Processor Cores, 24 Threads, 5.7 GHz Turbo
- Up to 12 Monitor Connections
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX
The F-30 Laptop starts at about $2,700 and the F-1 Desktop starts at about $3,000. As you can see, you get a lot more power from the desktop for a similar amount of money.
Picking The Right Processors
A good day trading computer needs to be able to process a large amount of information very quickly.
Sometimes you will need to have multiple windows open at once all streaming a large amount of real-time data, all while you are executing lightning fast trades where every second (or less) counts.
Your computer’s ability to process all this information depends on its central processing unit, or CPU. Your CPU’s performance, or clock speed, is a measure of how quickly it can perform assigned tasks, and is measured in gigahertz, or GHz.
Some CPUs have multiple cores allowing them to process different tasks separately, which can dramatically improve their performance over single core day trading computers.
For day trading you want to go for a quad-core setup, with at least 2.8 GHz, though 3.3 GHz or more is recommended. This is one of our favorite Intel Processor for day trading but there are also more expensive options that may be better as well.
Hard Drives
The relatively recent introduction of solid state drives, or SSDs, has made hard drives another area where you can maximize your day trading computer’s performance.
Hard drives are where your computer’s data is stored.
While the standard hard drive will have more than enough data storage capacity for day trading, a SSD has overall better performance and much faster boot times, which can be a life-saver in the event of an accidental shutdown.
RAM
RAM, or random access memory, is essentially your computer’s short term memory, which allows it to run multiple processes efficiently.
Obviously you will want your RAM to be on the high end for your day trading computer. RAM is measured in gigabytes, or GB. It is recommended that you have at least 8 GB of RAM for your day trading computer, though 16 GB of RAM is ideal.
Graphic Cards
The right graphic card for your day trading computer comes down to how many monitors you run at the same time.
While some day traders manage with only one or a small number of monitors each running multiple windows or split screens, most successful day traders eventually graduate to a large number of screens so that they can effectively follow more stocks at once.
Your graphic card runs on GPU, which is basically RAM for processing graphics. Your day trading computer should have a graphic card with at least 2 GB of GPU.
The Monitors
I’m going to give you a tip that will save you headaches. Don’t get a glossy monitor! I always choose laptops and monitors that are matte display. The gloss screen is what you’d see on an iPad or on some Apple products. Yes it’s durable, but the glare is difficult for when you’re looking at fine details in charts and scanners.
Now, when it comes to the number of monitors that you will need for your day trading computer, I would say it’s a personal choice based on experience of what works for you.
Personally, I think the perfect number of monitors for day trading is three. I use one monitor for my brokerage window for execution trades, the second monitor for scanning and charting, and the 3rd monitor is for my watchlist of other stocks I like but I’m not currently trading. When I travel, I use my Falcon F-30 Laptop and 2 external Asus USB monitors. These portable monitors connect to the laptop via a USB cable. They are lightweight and easy to bring with me, but I’ll tell you that they are a bit fragile. Don’t drop them!
In my home office although I have 9 monitors in total, I’m only using 5 of them for trading. The extra two beyond the three monitors that I would say is perfect are useful for keeping additional stocks on watch, monitoring extra scanners, and keeping an eye on the day trading chat rooms here at Warrior Trading.
When you first connect your monitors you may see that the monitor is mirroring what is on your primary display. On a Windows machine, you’ll need to go to System Settings, then Display, and Extend the monitor instead of Mirror the monitor.
Where your monitor choice does matter, however, is in terms of their resolution. The resolution of a monitor will determine the quality and clarity of any images that are displayed.
For your day trading computer you want your monitors to display crisp, high-quality images, so that you can quickly process the large amount of real-time information on your monitors.
It is recommended that your day trading computer monitors have a resolution of at least 1080p, which will provide you with some of the sharpest images available on a retail monitor. Fortunately high quality monitors are generally inexpensive, so you will not break the bank getting the perfect monitor setup for your day trading strategies.
For more than 10 years I used Asus 24″ monitors connected via HDMI cables. They are relatively inexpensive, at about $125 each.
However, I recently upgraded to Asus 27″ 4k Monitors and I love them. They are more expensive, but I have a lot more screen real estate. In order to keep the font size easy to read, the resolution is scaled to 150% so it’s not too small.
The USB to HDMI Adapters
I always have people asking me how I can run so many external monitors from a laptop. I use Diamond USB to HDMI adapters. These cost about $50 each.
You can find them on Amazon or NewEgg They add a bit of a cost to each monitor but it just makes it easier for me.
Whether you are using a laptop or a desktop, you need video card adapters to run external monitors. I’m happy to use the USB style adapters.
Since most laptops won’t have 8 USB ports, I use a simple USB Ports Hub that will let you connect up to 10 USB devices. These are only about $15.00 and you’ll only need one.
The Monitor Racks
I don’t get a lot of questions about this but it’s actually really important. A lot of the cheaper monitor racks are basically 2 big arms that allows you to mount 6 monitors on it, 3 on each arm. The problem is these arms typically have a very slight bow, which means from end to end they can be as much as 6 feet long.
I find this difficult to use because I don’t like having my monitors spread over 6 feet. I prefer to tilt my Left and Right monitors in towards the center, so I’m surrounded my monitors.
This means you want to make sure you get a monitor rack that has ELBOWS! The Elbows allow you to point the Left and Right monitor in towards you. I highly recommend this. I ended up buying the regular style and replacing it with an elbow style rack.
Putting It All Together
Thanks to the widespread use of gaming computers that share most of the specifications that make a good day trading computer, it should be cheap and simple for you to put together a high quality setup.
Take the time to shop around, and remember that you can save hundreds of dollars if you buy your day trading computer in its component pieces, and then either put it together yourself or pay your local computer specialist to do it for you.
If you’re looking to buy a pre-made computer and have the money, we definitely recommend checking out Falcon Trading Computers.