Tips for buying the best laptop for stock trading

Table of Contents

What to look for in trading laptops

To become a profitable stock trader, you must be on top of market movements and make the most of high volatility in the financial market—day trading. As a day trader, getting real-time information is an essential part of your strategy, and this information is obtained from good technical analysis.

Unless you are new to trading and the financial markets — whether stocks, indices, commodities, forex, or any other security, you would know that it’s almost impossible to discuss technical analysis without mentioning day trading laptop.

While it is possible to lookup trading charts on your mobile phones and desktop computers, you will agree that mobile phones hinder you from seeing the full picture (because of the relatively small screen size). On the other hand, desktop computers are limited in portability and mobility.

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The Accessibility

With a day trading laptop, you can conveniently keep tabs on market movements and backtest strategies while you are on a road trip or having a chill time at the beach. You can think of it as carrying the market around with you, wherever you go.

Speaking of technical analysis, day trading requires a robust computing setup. Without the right computing system, you will be cut off from the correct information needed to make trading decisions — you will be flying blind, and your chances of success will be reduced.

If you are running your trades on tardy computing setups, rest assured you will be stuck with a web page taking forever to load while other traders capitalize on market dips and surges. And you know what that means — you will miss out on opportunities, which is not a pleasant experience.

This brings us to the big question, what is the best laptop for trading?

What is the best laptop for trading?

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to choosing the ideal day trading laptop. However, the best laptop for stock trading (or trading in any financial market) should offer power and simplify your trading process.

Mind you. No two traders have a similar trading plan or strategy. As such, it is expected that the choice of day trading laptops also varies from one trader to another. While making your choice of laptop for stock trading, here are some factors you should have on your checklist.

What to know about the best laptop for stock trading 2021?

While having a couple or more monitors can make your day trading experience, that’s not all you need to execute your trades effectively.

Your day trading computing system must possess other capabilities that will help you gather and analyze critical information that will enable you to catch every slight movement in the market and make your trading stress-free.

Let’s take a look at some of them

1. Graphic cards capabilities

The chances are that you have come across the experts or experienced stock traders’ computing setups. One thing you won’t miss is that they love having information displayed on multiple screens — usually two to four or even more.

Having multiple screens in trading setups is not for fancy, and neither is it for show-offs. Each screen displays different pieces of information needed to make informed and quick trading decisions.

Having multiple screen displays save day traders the stress of dashing between multiple tabs and web pages.

Multiple display setups present traders with a wide range of information on one screen. Because this information needs to be constantly updated or “refreshed,” you need a laptop with adequate graphic card capabilities. And this makes the graphics card capability a vital consideration in making your choice of day trading laptop.

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What is the graphics card?

Not to bore you with technical jargon, the graphics card is an element/component of the laptop that creates and processes graphical information displayed on the screen. The graphics cards have two components: the graphics processor chip (GPU) and graphics memory.

To avoid getting stuck on a webpage while the market is on the move, you should opt for a day trading laptop with the fastest graphics card and the most graphics memory.

While you are at it, ensure that the graphics card and laptop can also support multiple external monitor setups. And that is why most day traders go for gaming laptops because they have such capabilities.

2. CPU

The chances are that you have crossed paths with the word CPU before now. CPU is an acronym for central processing unit, and it plays a vital role in your day trading laptop’s capability to process data. 

CPU capabilities/speed is measured in Gigahertz (GHz), also known as clock speed. Regarding day trading laptop CPU, you should opt for a CPU clock speed of at least 2.8 GHz.

3. RAM

The RAM (Random Access Memory) is where computers store data they are processing at any given time. And because a laptop for stock trading processes a large amount of data in real-time, you need a laptop with plenty of RAM.

Ample RAM enhances fast performance and eliminates lags. Laptops with 16GB or more RAM should be at the top of your watch list for the best laptop for stock trading 2021 because of their incredible performance.

4. Ports

Another top feature you should look out for in day trading laptops is the number of ports. The best laptop for trading should have multiple ports. Multiple ports allow you to connect other hardware such as external monitors and other hardware to your computer.

While HDMI ports are best for connecting external monitors, you can also use a USB-to-HDMI adapter (on a USB 3.0 port). Don’t let all of these technical terms confuse you. The idea is to go for laptops with multiple ports.

The above are the top factors to consider outsourcing when searching for the best laptop for stock trading 2021.

Before we round up tips for buying the best laptop for stock trading, how about we take a second to touch on a popular day trading FAQ.

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Do I need multiple monitors to day trade?

Like we mentioned earlier, every trader has a unique choice of setup. Most times, the level of experience of day traders affects their decision to have multiple monitors. And primary of having multiple monitors is to see different information at a glance.

However, you don’t need multiple monitors to be a day trader. If you can lay your hands on a laptop with a large screen and high resolution and all the features we mentioned earlier, you are good to go. And you can conveniently display as much information on a single screen.

In conclusion

There you have it—tips for buying the best laptop for stock trading in 2021. But as the famous saying goes, a farmer is only good as his equipment. To make the most of the best day trading laptop, it will help if you enroll in trading education program to refine your trading skills. 

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