Trading Station Hardware

Hey guys,

Hoping someone can help me out here. I am just about to buy a new computer for trading station. I scalp, so need as fast as I can get for the money I am willing to spend (which is not much). I am looking at a pentium 4 with 2.4GHtz, 512MB RAM for AU$300. Is this sufficient.

Thanks,
Agro

you will need at least 2gb ram for timeframes less than 1 minute... the rest is less important

I have 1.25GB of RAM and I am using < 1 min charts perfectly fine. I would certainly not recommend less than 1GB though.

What operating system will you be using? Get at least twice as much as RAM as what the OS itself uses. Make sure you have a reliable high speed internet connection also.

Pentium 4 still available?for budget user,you can choose AMD X2 3800+.cheap and able to do multitasking

The fastest internet speed in Australia is prolly the equivalent to the slowest in the rest of the world!!!!

Quite honestly, gobs of ram and processing power shouldn't be your first priority. That should be your internet connection. The most basic Dell these days is still far and away able to outstrip even the fastest home internet connections.

After you have your connection sorted out, then I would say that the system you have proposed would be more than enough. If you were to take a system and pare it down to just the bare essentials needed to be a scalping terminal you could get away with using a Pentium II - 450mhz with 512mb of ram. The real question is, what is your all encompassing use for this system?

From 2GB RAM to P-II 450 and 512MB
When I see this types, I can only add: even in NASA guys uses old good 486 ATs.
So the purpose is the goal!

Thanks
&
Good day!

With all due respect, 512 GB of RAM ??? When RAM is so cheap? That is the worst piece of advice one can give someone.

I cannot see such a portion anywhere
With all respect, sameone can misstipe, yet you should consider it.
On the other hand, someone can overlook as well, doesnt he?

Thanks
&
Good day!

I have no idea what you are trying to say. My point is simply this -- with today's super low prices for RAM, coupled with the increasingly resource intensive programs we use, it just doesn't make any sense to try to save money on one's system by equipping it with minimal RAM. 512 MB of RAM won't cut it. To suggest otherwise is a disservice to the thread originator.

Hello All

I have a 5 yr old Dell, and was thinking about getting something new that would just run something like MBT Navigator.

My questions are:

---> is an AMD chip OK? I don't believe Navigator specifies that it needs an Intel. If you could recommend an AMD processor I'd appreciate it

---> I assume 2 G of RAM is fine? (assuming I won't be running other apps)

---> My ISP is Time Warner Cable and I have roadrunner internet. There are several levels of this service. Can someone let me know what up/download speeds should be for this application to function ideally?

thanks

Philip

build yourself a core2duo using a E6300 processor, 2 gbs of ram, and a 80-100$ motherboard. then overclock it. it'll last for a while

Thanks for the reply-

I recently found a site, magicmicro.com and I'll take a look.

Can you recommend a motherboard that will be able to handle 2 monitors?

I won't ask what overclock is, I'll look it up

BTW, total newbie, but I have the demo and with a 19 in wide screen LCD I feel like I need more space. If I want a 15 min, a 5 min, and a 3 min chart, just for arguments sake, it "aint happenin" with this monitor

im running on a 15" monitor right now. planning to get the dell 24" and then use my 15" monitor in a dual setup. i like asus, abit and evga motherboards together with corsair xms2 or ocz ram.

You will outgrow whatever configuration you initially construct.

This is coming from someone who started years ago on an an old (but stable)
486-50DX machine and a dialup connection w/ a single 14" CRT monitor.

Fast forward to 2008:

Even with a Dual Pentium IV processors clocked at 3.06 GHZ, 4 Gigs of RAM,
6 (count 'em) SIX Samsung flat panel monitors (takes 3 video cards to do this),
High speed internet, and for backup: a Toshiba laptop with it's own broadband connection -
separate from the main bandwidth connection......guess what ?


IT'S NOT ENOUGH !!!!!


I could run 3 more computers with 10 more screens and still wouldn't be satisfied.

So, what to do ? You work with what you have and what you can afford and
do not attempt to trade live money unless and until you can see your limitations.

Your latency issues, your backup system/connection, your contengency plan(s),
your list of phone numbers, your real (not cordless/wireless) hard-wired telephone,
back-up power suppply, and about a dozen other things should be addressed
well before the time comes when you find out the hard way that you should
have thought about what would happen if.........

Now, I didn't have, nor could afford any of this stuff at the begining.
If I had a profitable month, I'd take $500 or so and throw it into tech/hardware.
If money was tight that month, I made do with what I had, which I soon came
to realize that I had it quite good compared to some of the other people I
would meet who traded, or attempted to trade with their home computer.

I NEED SIX MONITORS. Actually, I think I need SIX more. It almost looks rediculous.
I dont care. I would build a building to house all this crap if it became so
profitable that a 10X12 room could no longer contain it, wouldn't you ?

Either way, you can make it with what you've described, just max out your RAM,
(remember, XP has limits it can recognize, VISTA may recognize more)
be sure to know your internet connection and how bad it its when it's bad,
and most of all, Trade your trades according to your account size,
not your monitor size .

I hope to have those problems
I need to learn how to pick enties and click on various windows without freezing up, and personally want to do it with a live account, with .1 lot USD/JPY. I think that's the best way for me. Maybe I'll do some more demo trading and post some charts for some feedback

thanks all,

Argo, are you currently a TS user? Are you just going to scalp Fx?

Speaking as a former TS user who traded mainly in futures (never traded Forex, though I did have active Fx charts running as a cash market indicator), TS did have lots of connectivity issues as early as 5 months ago. (I'm speaking from a US experience, TS may work fine in AUD country). They were supposed to address that problem (which they always denied) in the latest release, but I've since moved on from TS, so I can't verify this. Not uncommon for the quote server to go down 3-4 times a day, especially in the early morning, and sometimes take HOURS for the servers to get back up and running. And the heavy volume days in January just brought the quote server to it's knees. Again, I don't know if they resolved these issues, but be aware. Keep the phone number of the trade desk nearby, in case you get stuck in a trade.

As for a system, again, I don't know what the new platform requirements are, but any dual or quad core system with at least 4 gigs should do. 512 ram won't come close, especially if the computer is running Vista. The important thing is to have as little running in the background as possible. If you can, dedicate the new computer to just running TS. Disable all virus software, spyware, IM programs, browsers, Skype, widgits, etc. Do you have ITunes? ALT-CTL-DEL and check out how much mem Apple has allocated just for that, even when the program isn't running. You'd be amazed. Also, only open the charts and workspaces that you need. TS updates each chart in each tab (workspace), whether the tab is active or not.

If you go to the TS forum boards you'll see topics such as the best hardware setups, from people who've been there, done that.

Good trading!

CarlC

I don't think he meant TradeStation, he meant trading station as a machine to be used for (exclusively?) trading.

Thank you for correcting my oversight.

carlc