How to Build a Trading Setup
What you need and don't need
Hey everyone, I hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving!
Today in this article I wanted to outline the necessary Hardware and Software you’ll need to trade. With the holidays coming many people are looking to upgrade their setups and I thought I’d write about what I believe you need, as well as what you dw2qa don’t need, to be a successful trader.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links meaning at no additional cost to you, I may receive compensation for you clicking them. I do not recommend any products or services I have not used personally and think highly of.
Before you read this article I want to stress that getting more screens or a fancy laptop won’t make you a stellar trader. These are just tools, the more important factor is the person wielding them. It’s like a basketball player expecting to become MJ by getting new shoes or a baseball player expecting to get recruited if he gets a new glove and bat. These things can help, to an extent, but it’s how you use them that truly matters.
Remember Nicolas Darvas was able to excel in the markets trading by telegram and creating his own charts. A well defined system for position management and risk management is much more important than your CPU overclock speed.
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Now let’s get started. Luckily enough, it is no longer incredibly expensive to build a high quality setup. At the most basic level you will need:
Hardware
A computer/phone
Extra Monitors (Maybe)
Software
Charting/ Research Platform
Broker
Hardware
Computers
Let’s start with Hardware. I personally use a PC or Laptop to trade, however I know many successful traders who trade off their phones. In fact, Oliver Kell has told me that he was trading off of his phone for most of the 2020 competition.
I personally use a Dell XPS desktop to trade. However, this is a much more powerful computer than you most likely need. Much of my trading setup has actually more to do with having to record and edit YouTube videos rather than trading.
When I’m traveling I trade off of a Laptop. I’m a fan of the Dell XPS 13, and Dell XPS 15 models which I think provide great bang for your buck. The screen size on the XPS 15 does allow you to see charts a little more clearly in my opinion, although the 13-inch model is very portable.
However, exporting videos while traveling turned into quite an issue so I recently upgraded to an Alienware M15 R6 . Once again this is more due to the fact that I need to export 1.5 hour long 4k videos rather than I needed it to trade, although it is a great computer.
All in all I believe most computers and laptops made in the past 2 years are more than up to the task of running trading software. Even if you do not have a computer, your phone is most likely a more than adequate option and many brokerages offer easy to use apps.
Monitors
Like with the computer discussion, I think an extra monitor can aid your trading, but it’s not going to radically improve your performance. You also have to consider that adding extra monitors can introduce noise and distract you.
For my main setup I currently have two 32 inch monitors. I have one Samsung G7 and one SAMSUNG UR59 4k . As I’ve said before, these screens are great to view charts on, but I rely on their size more for video and photo editing.
I personally believe that an additional monitor is useful, since then you can have your broker on one screen and your charts on another. However, if you go up to 4 monitors and beyond, I personally feel like that would distract you more than help you.
Software
Charting Platform
There are many good options for charting, it mostly depends on your personal preference and the tools you want.
Some options that I or many traders I know use:
TC2000
TradingView
Trendspider
Why do they all start with T? I don’t know...
The personal software that I use is Worden TC2000. I believe the customizability with TC2000 is unparalleled and their watchlist & screening mechanisms are superb. I currently pay for their Gold version with the real time data add on.
Research Platform.
I personally use MarketSmith which suits my needs. I mostly care about Earnings, Sales, Margins, and Institutional Sponsorship.
Finviz, Koyfin, Zacks, Seeking Alpha are all other decent platforms that I see many people using.
Broker
Most brokers nowadays offer many of the same perks. I would strongly advise against using platforms that are more gamified and I personally use both TD Ameritrade and Vanguard.
Putting it All together
All in all it's much more about you the trader than the specific tools and setup. That being said, I do think an extra monitor can help a trader’s workflow. You just want to be careful about the noise to signal ratio even with the hardware and software you use.
I would also suggest to everyone to keep their workspace clear and also have a notepad handy throughout the trading day to mark down any observations or ideas.
If you have any questions/comments or other suggestions for hardware/software let me know in the replies below!
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Have a great weekend!
Richard