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Is my computer good enough for Day Trading?
It’s almost impossible to discuss day trading without mentioning day trading computers. At one point or the other in your trading journey, you must have been caught in thoughts about making the right choice of a computer to add to your trading arsenal.
No doubt, having the right day trading computer will make your trading path relatively smoother and you will be able to execute trades faster. But the myriad of computer options out there puts one in dilemma and keeps many traders at sea about what computer is the best for them.
How do day trading computers affect your trades?
As you may already know, day trading is no child’s play and there is so much at stake — your time and capital. As such, the last thing you want is to be stuck with tardy equipment (in this case, your day trading computer).
As a day trader, your ultimate goal is to spot opportunities in the financial markets and make the most of them in real-time. Being on top of opportunities even before they materialize involves investing in the right equipment and day trading computers are at the top of that list.
Day trading is indeed a high-risk venture but the potential reward makes it profitable and worthwhile. After making time to learn technical analysis and sourcing for funds to take your trading career off the ground, you need a powerful computer, preferably a gaming-type laptop or desktop computer to get on the way.
Contrary to popular opinions, you don’t have to break a bank or put a hole in your pockets to get the best day trading computers. The idea is to get one that is fast and robust enough to help you execute trades faster and without breaking sweat or lagging. “Moderate” is the watchword.
Intimidated by the long list of day trading computer options?
Yeah, virtually every day trader has been there before. You will be surprised at the ocean of day trading computers that are available in the market. Day trading computer options are endless and you are most likely going to feel intimated and overwhelmed when you walk into a computer store.
Day Trading computer hardware tips
To avoid been caught in limbo, it is always best to have a checklist of what to look out for in an ideal day trading computer. Here are tips to help you make the right choice of day trading computer hardware.
• RAM
Yeah, the same old RAM from basic computer class. But, not to worry, you don’t have to learn all the science behind it and how it works. RAM is short for Random Access Memory and its primary function is to act as temporary data storage where your computer can access data it needs to execute commands/tasks in real-time.
For day traders, you can make do with a 16GB RAM day trading computer. With sufficient RAM on your computer, the processor won’t have problems collecting data from the memory. As such, making the day trading computer run both trading and non-trading software faster.
The RAM speed has a direct impact on the speed and performance of your computer devices — be it a desktop computer or a laptop. How?
When your computer is fired up and starts to work, it constantly needs to extract data from the hard disk drive and temporarily store it in the Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) for easy access. That way, you don’t have to wait ages for your computer to execute a command. Having more RAMs on your computer means you run more programs and work with larger files without hindering the performance of your computer.
• The graphics card
The graphics card is the computer hardware that is responsible for the quality of the image been displayed on the monitor.
This component of the computer is of particular interest for gamers and video editors because the better the graphics card performance determines the smoothness of the image that will be produced.
For day traders, the standard integrated graphic card design will do because its image rendering capabilities are sufficient and you won’t be experiencing any jittering or lagging while you are doing your analysis.
For day traders who like to keep an eye on multiple charts at the same time, the graphics cards also support multiple monitors and with an impressive number of output options.
Regarding output, they (speaking of the graphics card) can be connected to a monitor via VGA (Video Graphics Array) ports, DVI (Digital Visual Interface), HDMI, and DisplayPort.
• The processor
The processor is the central processing unit or CPU of your computer it is the hardware that enables your computer to communicate or interact with all the applications installed within the computer.
As day traders we use various tools at the same time, charts, trading platforms, scanners, and sometimes more. So we typically want a computer that has a strong processor and can multi-task faster than we can ourselves Something as simple as an i5 processor dual-core 8GB will be sufficient for day trading and gaming in your leisure time. But hey, there is always a better option.
If you can afford to reach deeper into your pockets, there are stronger processors with 4-6 cores like the Intel Core i7 which is a game-changer in its own right.
Which graphic card is best for day trading?
To make your search for the best day trading computer graphics card easy, you should have it at the back of your mind that two major companies manufacture the best graphics card chips. They include NVIDIA and AMD.
Both offer high-quality graphics cards that work with third-party cooling systems. Some budget graphics cards for your trading computer include EVGA GeForce GT 720 2GB.
As for storage, you should consider getting an SSD drive (of at least 250GB-500GB) as the main storage device on your computer. You can run your operating system from here for quick reboots and get an external drive to store and run your scanners, and other tools as well as any games or non-trading files.
Computer or laptop for day trading?
Technology is evolving at an incredible pace and trading has taken a new dimension. To be on top of trading trends and not miss out on opportunities, you need a computer with ample memory and a fast processor to prevent your computer from crashing, stalling, and lagging.
As you may already know, day trading requires charting and trading software and juggling between charging screens and broker websites to analyze and execute trades. As such, it’s understandable why you should get two monitors. A laptop is mobile and easy to convenient to carry around in case you need to keep tabs on trades.
On the other hand, desktop computers, even though they possess equal day trading capabilities offer more room for customizing your day trading setup. We are talking about multiple monitors, enhanced CPUs, and other computer accessories that can make trading less stressful.
So, when it comes to choosing between a computer or laptop for day trading, it always best to have both of them complement each other.
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