Trading Station Hardware

Nowadays you can pick up a great machine for under $600 bucks, uninstall all the useless software and make sure you have a great internet connection.

Of course the more ram you have...it will help out.......but if you don't have a stable and fast internet connection......even 4 gigs of ram won't matter when you can't execute a trade because your internet connection is down.

I don't know about you guys, but I don't think a ton of computer monitors or loads and loads of RAM are going to dramatically improve anyone's trading.

Sure, sometimes it would be nice to have 2 screens but that's more of an extra, not really a necessity.

I have a Pentium D at 2.8Ghz, 1GB of RAM, 80GB Sata hdd, 200GB IDE hdd which serves as data repository and is barely used, 1 video card, Nvidia Geforce 7300 GS and a 17 inch Samsung SyncMaster 731BF.

Many applications are not capable of using multiple processing cores, in case you have a multicore processor like I have for instance, so they will use only one of them and many are also not capable of efficiently handling large quantities of RAM.So sometimes pilling stuff up does not make a difference.

My current setup is more than fine honestly.

If there's something that could really use a dramatic improvement is the noise generated by this setup...the case is an Antec Sonata, but still does not manage to block out the noise generated by that damn video card.

about the internet connection (cable), on a general note:

is "Speeds up to 1.5 Mbps/256 kbps" sufficient or do many people go as far as:

"Speeds up to 10 Mbps/512 kbps"

making the assumption that data will only be for one pair with multiple charts

thanks very much

I think even 1.5 Mbps/256 kbps is more than enough, all the data transmitted from your broker is basically "text".

do this test yourself for instance:

create a new text file in notepad and write a random date, open, high, low and closing price and see how big the file gets,the total file size will be a few bytes, probably under 50 bytes.

now, in metatrader at least, the smallest interval is the 1 minute interval...so in theory each minute you would get approximately 50 more bytes of data from your broker.

same thing would happen when you would send orders...a few bytes of data.

i'm oversimplifying of course, but anyway...what i'm trying to say is that the "broadband" internet connection required for trading is probably a mith perpetuated since the fastest internet connections were the 56kbps dialup ones...in those cases a faster connection would've probably made a difference.

the charts are constructed on your computer based on the data your received, so as far as charts are concerned, no new data needs to be downloaded.

honestly, trading is not like real time video editing...you will do just fine with a regular pc setup and a common internet connection, as long as it's a stable one.

thanks for the explanation!

I know this is an old thread but for anyone else technically challenged, you really don't need to be advising them to overclock their processors etcetera. It simply isn't necessary for the software most traders use. As others have mentioned, the internet connection will be the single most important component for speed of execution. For two monitors you should concern yourself with which video card you want rather than which motherboard, and even then, I would think all newer models support a dual monitor set-up, so it isn't vital.

Having said that, if you are building / specifying your own system then try to make sure you have a reasonably up to date motherboard. People will advise buying the most recent models, citing all the upgrade possibilities. I am ambivalent on this really as I find that most of the time people will just junk an old system when the time comes to upgrade. Not many will go further than adding more RAM, or maybe a new video card - so I would not worry about it too much.

get an apple imac and boot windows up on that bad boy. windows runs faster on my mac than it does on my lenevo laptop. Bonus is HUGE screen.

I've been trading with my Dell Inspiron 1100 for almost 2 years. But works, very reliable, 15 'in monitor, Comcast Cable internet, wireless, 600 meg RAM, Intel Celeron 1.9 GHz processor. The only problem, she got HOT often, fan is always on and it loud. Battery life was a joke. I thought, "this is all I need to trade, I don't need to upgrade to a new laptop.

I was wrong. As a gift from the wife (she hates my DELL laptop), I received a new Apple MACBOOKPRO, 17 inch moniter. I wasn't happy about getting it because ALL of my apps are Windows until I opened another gift she bought me ... it was Parallels. So now I can run Windows and Mac programs (the best of both worlds). And I have to admit, trading has gotten a lot better. Charts and apps load faster, charts update faster, multi-tasking with multiple charts and multiple timeframes. I have also have Reuters MetaStock FX Pro and Quotecenter running along side of my GFT dealBookWeb. Couldn't do that on the Dell. Either one or the other ... but not both.

If you can afford another computer ... go for it. If not, reinsall Windows on your old computer ... free up system resources and start fresh.

Here's a website that will help you test your broadband's real connection speed.
www.speedtest.net
1.5 mb/s is more than enough if all you're doing is getting live data for your charting and prices. The most important thing is your broadband connection uptime, that is, how long it stays connected without any problems.

The PC is not that important. Mine is over 5 years old.
Only thing fancy I got is a 28 inch widescreen monitor and a 32Mbit Internet Connection. As far as internet goes it's not about the speed it's more about the latency. You need to get fast responses from the server.
To PC inside Europe I have a responsetime of 13-24 ms.

Think of this.
You receive a quote which take 100ms
It take another 100ms for you to react and click buy
It takes another 100ms to reach the order server.

In these 300ms the quote might not be valid anymore.

I agree.
We are in the process of moving to New York, and Im interested in getting Business Class Cable Internet for a decent price. Where I live now, (Atlanta), Comcast residentual cable internet is a joke. Connection down at least 3-4 time a week. It usually happens when I have a trade open. So I keep my internet enable cell phone on me at all times. Either I'll trade using the mobile internet or I'll call the dealing desk and close any/all trades.

Business class internet, I was quoted with the smallest possible latency I've ever seen compaired to residentual cable internet. (If you are a gamer, you already know, to have a faster game requires small latency)

Anyway, I pretty much have my mind set up on purchasing Business Class and willing to pay the VERY steep price, that includes expensive installation.

https://www.forexfactory.com/thread/...2#post12915642