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Built my first PC. Its way over powered for trading.
I remember reading a post here about someone looking to build a PC. A lot of people responded of what they thought was the best PC build. I have built a 1.6k computer not know again anything about PC and built a WAY overpower PC but yet not good enough for trading.
I wont take up space writing what I have in my system but here is the PC part picker list so you can see:
Running Tradestation 9.5 with three screen 27" 4k, 27' 2k, 25' 1080. ( Got rid of the small screen since graphics card was not able to handle it..... kinda)
So I have done a ton or research reading into what each part of PC part does and how it will effect the system. Here is a summary of what I found out and what you should look out for.
1st. What platform are you using and how many programs are you running. EX; I run tradestation and it can use a max of 12 cores but needs a higher GHz CPU rather than more cores. If you are backtesting you want more cores but for daily chart trading and switching between charts you want higher GHz.
2nd. How much RAM do you really need? I am running 16 charts with 1 year of data on 5 min chart. about 5-7 tabs of google chrome open and watching youtube with more a ton more to use.
3rd. Graphics card? Try to go for Display port if you have 2k or higher and you dont need a top of the line a so called "budget" gaming card will work.
So how did I mess this up? Take a look.
That is when my computer is at the highest of the day. Running all charts and windows. You can see I have very very use on CPU or GPU.
Today I saw some horrible lag coming off tradestation when trying to change charts and I had no idea what was wrong cause my task manager showing me everything is under 10% plus my pc was a chilling 40 C so what was the issue? Well I turned off all of windows system visual appearance package. What does that mean? Here is the link:
In the end of my wild run I can say what ever trading system you are using or planning to use look at what you need and what is the max that program can use. Built a PC for you trading style not pre built or those high end gaming pc. You can built a great trading computer for less than $800.
I enjoy reading about the high-end computers that traders buy or build for themselves, and I say power to them. But I agree with @barabas.
I am trading on an eight or so year-old laptop, running a lot of charts in Sierra Chart. For what I need, it's more than enough.
If you just have a few price charts and some basic stock indicators, you don't need much. Your trading platform does matter to a degree, and for some platforms I would either need more horsepower or would need to scale back what I'm displaying. I don't actually use all those charts anyway except in the morning to review higher timeframes and what I think about the recent price movement, and over the weekend when I try to figure out my mistakes during the week.
Perhaps if you are running other stuff you would need more, but something basic does very well for me. When I upgrade this old PC, I'll just buy another off-the-shelf laptop and I expect it will be fine, too.
Bob..
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Trading isn't one thing.
If building a computer specifically for trading you want to know what type of trading you are interested in, whether you are for example:
1. Day trading with a DOM and a couple of charts for a few hours a day.
2. Swing trading a large range of instruments and wanting lots of charts and multiple screens.
3. Number crunching where actual trading only involves entering pending orders at the end of the day for longer term trading, or periodically intraday, but using the rest of the time for running intensive back tests, with a decent back testing program such as Trading Blox that can take hours or days depending on computer spec, data size and number of testing parameters and optimisation.
Also
Some programs will fully utilise a multi threaded core, but will the computer also be doing other things at the same time or strictly for trading?
Does the system need to run 24/7 during the week because stop loss orders for your platform are local not server based? Do you need a UPS?
etc.
Basically a beginner should just use the computer they have and as long as it is reasonably decent that will be fine. Or buy something basic or secondhand from a trade in shop that isn't particularly old.
I wouldn't build or buy a specific trading computer until one has enough experience to know what type of trading they are actually interested in pursuing.
You do not win as a trader, you just get to play again the next day. If that game doesn’t appeal to you then you should not trade. Gary Norden
