How to Buy a Computer for Day Trading

There are specific features you need to look for when you buy a computer for day trading. First, look for a computer with an enormous amount of speed and power. Day traders run multiple programs at the same time and constantly scan the markets for trading setups. Next, take the video card into consideration. The average day trader tends to watch 3 or more monitors at one time. Your computer must have multiple-monitor capability.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Two LAN ports
• Processor
• Option for a Twin WAN router
• Dual hard disk drives
• Powerful day trading computer

1. Consider having your computer custom built. A pre-configured system offered by the big names in the computer industry may not have all of the bells and whistles that you need for day trading. A custom computer can be optimized for trading by modifying settings in the Microsoft XP operating system.

2. Upgrade to the latest computer processors for optimum power. The more powerful a day trading computer is, the more markets and charts it can manage at one time.

3. Make sure that your computer system offers redundancy. Having dual hard disk drives means when one of the drives crashes, the other drive can go into action. Likewise, with two LAN ports, one port can be enabled when the other goes bad.

4. Insist on having an option for a Twin WAN router so that you can hook up both cable and DSL Internet services. When one of the services stops working, the Twin WAN has an automatic switchover. It can also use both connections to give you the equivalent of a T1 line.

5. Pay attention to the computer's noise level. You must be able to concentrate when you are day trading. Get a triple-layer computer case capable of blocking noise and vibration and look for a computer that doesn't require fans to cool the motherboard and video card.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't rush out to buy the newest operating system if your use your computer for day trading. Stick with what you're familiar with until brokerage firms update all of their trading and charting software to be compatible.
• You don't need to be looking at a monitor with millions of colors if you use your computer for day trading. The more colors you have, the harder your computer has to work when it rewrites the display. This slows the computer down when you are getting real-time quotes and that's when you need to have speed. Leave your color setting at true color.

[ircmate]

on 8/22/2009 There are a few sites out there that you can do some research on and even buy a day trading computer. My favorite is www.MultiplexPC.com. They also offer gaming computers, AutoCad, Business, and at home computers.

[nolosoft]

on 4/13/2009 Do you mind have a look at TradeMax? A full featured tax software specifically designed for active investors or traders who have multiple accounts to manage their trade data, maximize their gain/loss strategy, prepare their Schedule D.All TradeMax? products are available today at http://www.nolosoft.com.