To be honest, I mainly just use the external monitor. It's convenient to have the laptop's screen for overflow when I need it, but mainly I don't.
I used to think I would -- that I would need many monitors with charts and data on all of them so I could see "everything," but in fact I just ignore almost everything except the screen right in front of me. When I put a lot of stuff on the laptop's monitor, I almost never looked at it.
So now it's mostly empty. No sense adding to the distractions. I have enough of those already.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
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I have six 24" monitors connected to my desktop for I use exclusively for trading, plus a have a 15" laptop with another 20" monitor connected to it I use for news and misc. stuff like webinars and web surfing.
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That is a tricky question, but I have three on my desktop. I only use 2 for trading at any given point, but usually I only have one display with my trading platform. I have my live trading 'desktop' on a virtual machine that is offsite, which is minimized (or closed) most of the time, since I am fully automated and just keep an eye on order execution. If I am running two trading platforms, then one may occupy a second display.
I use one display for my browser (gotta keep up on the latest on FIO) and another for what I am mainly working on (Excel, IDE, Word, etc.). I have to keep up with client work, so I have been using a 3 display setup for at least 10 years.
I listen to Top Traders Unplugged every week and I found it hilarious that the host Niels, who is a managing director for DUNN Capital Europe, has ten year old monitors over in the corner with his PC. I think he says he does not even use charts. Nothing fancy, just making money.
When we start traveling again, I would like to get a portable display, since we tend to go away for a couple months and setup shop wherever we are. My son, who will wants to learn our craft, will probably be setup in our office with his laptop and a second display.
~vmodus
Enjoy everything!
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I have 2 24” monitors for my live trading desktop. I don’t really need more but more would always be fun.
I just recently bought a new laptop from EZ trading computers and it came with two usb monitors. I mainly use the laptop to test out new ideas and a second screen comes in handy but it really isn’t necessary.
Sometimes I think less is more but when it comes to monitors more can be useful. If I was a discretionary trader I would definitely see the use for them. But two to three seems to do just fine for my purposes as an algo trader.
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I've been using a Samsung 55" Curved 4K TV that is software split into 4 monitors with 2 27" Samsung IPS monitors to the side. These are not all needed for trading. If I had to cut it down to trading only. I would only use the 4K TV. All running off of an Intel i9 PC with a GeForce 1050 Ti GPU.
I'm using DisplayFusion to split the 4K TV. Got rid of all the cords and the complicated video cards etc. This is all for short term trading. This rig would be overkill for swing trading; to put it into perspective.
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I have used 3 24" dell monitors for 10+ years and just recently added a 43" 4k monitor. So far the 4k monitor works great... some time in the near future i will probably add another 43" 4k monitor and get rid of the 3 24" monitors.
right now i have charts on the 43" and on one of the 24" monitors... the 2rd 24' monitor,as i use for alert messages/trade manager.... the last 24" is used for browsing FIO and other sites.
cheers
toucan
The following user says Thank You to toucan94506bm for this post:
Just wanted to say Thank You! You, Al Brooks and even Oliver Velez have made statements in videos that have "given me permission" to be ok with the way I personally am comfortable with how I want to interact with the market. I appreciate when you said the words "feeler trade". Then managing that trade. That one statement has helped me tremendously!
Best regards from Montana!
The following 2 users say Thank You to redbarntrades for this post:
Well, as I already mentioned in my Battlestations post, I'm using 4x 24" LG Monitors and 2x 34" curved MSI Monitors connected to two different machines for different accounts and backup purposes.
I like having sufficient screen property just because it's good to have enough space to in order to deal with different settings / chart types caused by changing requirements of the market.
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
The following 3 users say Thank You to Daytrader999 for this post:
Nothing special here, but I employ 2 monitors and a TV (budget option, a bit slower but doable).
43 in Samsung 4k Tv for one chart and Bookmap. For viewing only.
32 in LG gaming monitor for DOM and 2m MES chart. Refresh rate is 165 and 5ms. So I use this for order execution. Out here in the sticks, we only get 10 meg, so I need all the help I can get.
34 in wide screen above for 10m (short term trend) and 2 hour chart for levels. For viewing only.
I did not plan this set up. It grew organically.
Would prefer a 43in 4k monitor, but my son gave me this TV, so I employed it. Will eventually replace it.
The following user says Thank You to redbarntrades for this post:
In case you are interested, I have 20/20 vision. However, I use reading glasses. For 2 years, I have been wearing GUNNAR glasses that are Amber Tinted w/ 1x power.
I would HATE to be without them now! Makes viewing very comfortable. When I go downstairs and view my wife's laptop without said glasses..... What an eye strain.
I'm grateful that I found Gunnar!
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As most traders I started with one monitor. It didn't take long before I added two additional monitors. Three then became six and now I am back to one. My system today includes a Dell gaming computer with a 55" curved 4K TV running Ultraview software. I have the screen separated into 7 different sized screens; algos, equities/options of daily, weekly and 5 min candles, emails/web browser/journal, TV and watchlist. Everything I need is within a slight turn of the head with no dead space for the edges of the monitors.
The best part is the cost for the total set up is far less than buying a group of monitors, and my trading buddies are either envious or have duplicated it.
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Site Administrator Swing Trader Data Scientist & DevOps
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Another fan of DisplayFusion here. Have been an owner for 15 years or so.
Using two 4K Dell U2720's 27" as opposed to one single. I was going to get the new Dell 40" curved 21:9 but the cost to import to Ecuador was triple what bringing the two 27" was... so I ended up not doing it. In the end, I probably should have just closed my eyes and done it because I believe it would have been worth it.
It's incredibly important to have a desk you like! You can read my struggles in my thread
So....I'm starting to gather that the three 27" thin bezel Lenovo's I just bought might be overkill
I'm sure most of you know this but an IT buddy of mine suggested a Dell Display Docking station and it's worked perfectly for running 3-4 monitors. With the current market on graphics cards, it was the perfect solution.
Four screens (2 @ 27; 2 @ 24) plus MacBook (for sanity) but only employ dual screens. I rotate the mix 27/27, 27/24, 24/24 . . . to keep eye focus flexibility.
No, not at all. On my curved MSI screens they print correctly without any distortions.
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
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Trading: ES GC CL [4MES2ES as of 2019MAY] and [4MGC2GC as of 2021JAN]
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I only travel in the summer... staying a couple of months in Los Angeles, California.
So no, it's not portable but I was able to buy the same (used model) as mine on Amazon so that I didn't have to re-format all my charts for the workspace in NinjaTrader8.
@ninjus
I believed I read somewhere that Ninjus' external monitors are portable that he carried in his backpack during traveling.
@FuturesTrader71 Is there not noticeable lag with a TV compared to a monitor? I just went to Best Buy to pick up a 4k Curved 55" and the sales rep said there was noticeable lag and didn't recommend it be for trading or gaming.
The following user says Thank You to Massive l for this post:
I'm not speaking for Futures71, but will share my experience with my 43in Samsung 4k Tv.
I originally got the Tv to be able to "open" up the view of a chart for easy viewing.
Yes it does have a lag. However, if one places a limit order/stop order with anticipation of a fill in the near future, then any lag has no bearing. Once that orders shows up on the Tv screen, then that order is sitting on the order desk.
But, when I want to place market orders when scalping, I don't use the Tv monitor. I use my 32in LG gaming monitor utilizing the chart trader or the DOM.
Sometimes I place a market order on the 32in monitor then place a stop on the TV.
There is very little lag. I have watched both screens at the same time and one can visually see the ever so slight lag in the TV.
The 32in has a 5ms response time and a 165 refresh rate.
Swing or position traders can efficiently trade off the TV as their targets are a ways off.
My targets are usually 1.5-5 minutes off, so I need the response time.
Best regards from Montana!
Some scalpers will only us a monitor with a 1ms refresh rate. I personally have not found affordable large screen monitors with a 1ms. Usually around 5ms.
The following user says Thank You to redbarntrades for this post:
For myself and the team at Edge Clear, I bought Samsung UN55RU7300FXZA 55" curved TVs for $499 a piece from Best Buy about a year and a half ago. They run at 60Hz which is the same as a typical monitor. I don't use these for gaming or anything that requires fast refresh rates, so I'm not noticing any lag whatsoever. Besides, the sales person you are speaking with seems to want to have you upgrade to something you don't need unless you truly game. These TVs aren't good for gaming. I would go with LG's CX series for that. For trading, they are as sweet as can be, imo.
Risk Disclaimer: Trading Futures is not suitable for all investors. Past Performance is not indicative of future results.
If you have any questions about the products or services provided, please send me a Private Message or use the futures.io "Ask Me Anything" thread
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I'm not seeing this lag at all. The difference between 60Hz and 165Hz is imperceptible to the eye but it makes a difference in gaming as it causes a blur (I play COD) but that's on an MSI monitor.
Risk Disclaimer: Trading Futures is not suitable for all investors. Past Performance is not indicative of future results.
If you have any questions about the products or services provided, please send me a Private Message or use the futures.io "Ask Me Anything" thread
The following 2 users say Thank You to FuturesTrader71 for this post:
@FuturesTrader71 and @redbarntrades - Thanks for your input! I pulled the trigger on a 55" curved 4k Samsung TU8300. I'm not noticing any lag on order entry but we'll see when the market opens. So far so good though just playing around! Online I'm seeing 10-20ms lag with this particular model, which is nothing. I'm really like this view and my desk looks super clean now.
The following user says Thank You to Massive l for this post:
I have 5 monitors and that probably is getting to the point of diminishing returns but those with 1 or 2 screens are likely missing out on huge productivity gains attained with multi screen setups . One of my screens is 43" and best thing i ever did for Spreadsheets . Having most/all the relevant information to trade with open and visible at all times cannot be beaten imo
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i have one 13" laptop and one 27" monitor,
i plan to have additional two 24" monitor in the future but after i've achieved certain goals (one of it is consistent profit) in my trading journey
The following user says Thank You to Jktsiex for this post:
No problem. FWIW, I did my research 2-3 years ago and bought two Sony 55" TVs which I now use as 4K monitor each running 3840X2160. They have been running really well. I dont remember ever getting eye strain.
In contrast, about 8 months prior, before I bought the TVs, I had purchased two 43" Philips computer monitors from Amazon which both failed. The panels in both monitors started getting dead areas and about 8 months later, I had to return both to Amazon. Thankfully they took them back at the time!
The following user says Thank You to iq200 for this post:
I started working remotely last March and made it till Sept with 2 27" 2K monitors, before I decided I needed more real estate
I run my work VPN/RDP inside a VM on my home PC (this bypasses the 'no Split Tunneling' rule that Cisco implements), connecting to my day job workstation with dual 24" monitors. I also run my Sierra Chart with 4 charts, 2 of which are 10 second charts (1 ES and 1 MES). This is a decent 'load' on my i7 6700K with 32G Ram and RTX2060, but it (SC) typically runs less than 15% of my CPU.
I started wanting more space (for Slack, Discord, Zoom, etc) so I after some research I went with the TCL 50S425 (50" 4K TV) coupled with a 'better' cable. I too use DisplayFusion Pro (bought on sale on Steam, lol) and am pretty happy with it all.
I don't play shooters much anymore. When I play it's basically MMO's, so I can't attest to the FPS during a firefight, but it works fine for WoW, GW2, etc. SC has no issues keeping up during heavy market action.
I should have gone with the 55" to make my virtual dual 27's on the bottom of the screen closer to spec, and a curved screen would have made it MUCH better on the sides (I'm now planning for that for the next upgrade).
TL;DR: Happy with a 55" LED TV running DisplayFusion Pro for virtual monitors. Plus, this was a cheaper alternative to buying 2 more 27" 2K monitors.
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I'm looking for something in the 50-55 inch range which seems to be the sweet spot for these things. Rting gave a pretty good review of a bargain 4k Hisense 50-Inch Class H8 Quantum Series (429 US). However I want to dig a bit deeper to determine if it would be wiser to spend more for better quality and not make a penny wise pound pound foolish type mistake. In any case you helped give me a good head start on the project and it's much appreciated ... thanks again.
Picked up a 42" LG 4k TV from Costco I think it was in the $250 price range works great for everything have to tweak the screen size little easy to do with NVidia game card I have. My card is not powerful enough to get 60 Frames per second at 4k so I run it at 1080P for games still looks great on a cheap 4k TV monitor. For trading at 4k I can put horizontal charts up and I have a 27" I turned vertical for a DOM window or I have a spread sheet on it. I have a 65" OLED I sometimes send the output to sit in my living room for trading, or on another game computer I setup in there games look amazing on OLED TV. I have never seen any LAG on OLED TV I have on the cheaper 42" 4k LCD LED backlit TV.
Buying a 4k monitor less than around 34" makes no sense as viewing the monitor at 3840X2160 is going to be hard unless you're using a magnifying glass. However buying bigger 4K screens above 40" does make sense.
The following 2 users say Thank You to iq200 for this post:
I used to run three 24 inch and one 22 inch monitors. Now I use the three monitors at work when I am in the office and got rid of the one 22 inch monitors. Now I use one 40 inch 4K monitor for trading and when I work from home.
The following 2 users say Thank You to FuManChou for this post:
I have only one monitor.. so nothing to honk my horn about.
But I would still like to be helpful to the Futures.io members... Great Site... Great Content.
So.. In about December of last year... I bought a Ergonomic Vertical Mouse because I was getting wrist strain from the mouse because like most mice I was having to roll my wrist over to use it for 10 hours a day or more.
Yep... Trade Markets in the Morning and Coding in the Afternoon.
My wrist not only stop smarting after using it for a few days... but now does not bother me at ALL. It is a vertical mouse with your hand holding it naturally.
I highly recommend a mouse like this to cut your wrist strain while working with your Monitors... Try it for 3 weeks.. If no like then return to Amazon for free.
thanks to all the Futures.io members.
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Yes, I used one called divvy. Not sure if it's still around, I think I paid it less then 10 usd. I used it on a mac laptop but I think it exists for Windows as well.
