There are many factors that contribute to a successful day trader. While having an excellent knowledge on technical and fundamental analysis is a good thing, it is not the only factor.
Some of the most important items that lead to a successful day trading career include psychological well-being, having enough time to trade, your team, and the overall space where you work in.
The latter is an important point, which is why many large trading houses spend a fortune in their office spaces.
A trading office or floor is a special room where a person or a team executes trades. In most periods, full-time day traders use their home offices or their spare room.
In this report, we will look at how you can create an excellent trading workspace and what you need to set up your day trading desk and room.
Table of Contents
The trading space: desk & office
Many day traders start their trading journeys trading in their bedrooms, study rooms, sitting rooms, and even in their smart phones. This is possible for single day traders considering that a lot of investments are not needed to start your trading journey.
However, as you become an advanced trader, you will realize the importance of having an excellent work space.
This is whether you are just a single day trader or part of a trading team.
To save cost, we recommend that you use the available resources that you have. Unless it’s really necessary, you can go out there and hire an office space. But if you have a spare room at home, it can be a space to trade in.
Set up your trading desk and your room
There are several things you need to do when creating a good trading room at home as a professional:
- Find good furniture – You should invest in excellent furniture, including an office desk and chair. Doing this will make your trading floor extra comfortable.
- Boost your lighting – If you live in a congested environment, invest in good lighting for your room. If you have access to natural light the better.
- Set rules – Your trading floor is your office. As such, set rules about who can access it at a given time. You simply don’t want your family and friends coming in at any time.
- Invest in an excellent chair – You will be sitting here for a long time. So, buy a quality one!
High Speed Internet
Internet is one of the most important aspects in your day trading office. Because of how fast the financial market is, you need access to the fastest internet. You also want one that is from a stable and well-known internet provider. You don’t want your desktop trading (or mobile) to come to a grinding halt at the hottest moment, right?
A high-speed and stable internet will help you load data and news faster. It will also help you to ensure that your trades are executed right away.
While this may not be a problem with our Cube-X (it works very well even with bad connections), in the news search phase the loading speed makes a huge difference. Don’t think of it as an expense, but as an investment in your business.
You can approach this in several ways
First, since the cost of internet has gone down in recent years, you can get two internet providers. For example, in the United States, 1GB of internet from companies like Comcast and AT&T costs less than $100 per month.
Therefore, if you have a large trading account, you can decide to spend about $200 on internet per month. You can even spend less by combining an extra fast speed and a slower one as a backup.
Most importantly, while you can use Wi-Fi in your trading, experts recommend using a high-speed ethernet cable. This is usually faster and more reliable.
Cons of poor internet connection
Having a reliable internet is an important thing for you as a trader. Some of the consequences of having slow internet are:
- Slippage – Slippage is a situation where a trade is implemented at a different price than where you opened it. For example, you might place a buy trade at $20.12 but the broker executes it at $20.14.
- Missed opportunities – The other impact of a slow or unreliable internet connection is the many missed opportunities in trading.
- Mental issues – At times, having a slow or unreliable interne can lead to mentall health issues because of the the frustrations.
- Diminished productivity – When you have slow internet, there is a possibility of having reduced productivity.
Trading Computers
As a professional day trader, you require excellent day trading computers in your floor. Basically, you want computers that are reliable and those that have high specifications. For example, if you are a small trader, you should have a laptop with a minimum of i5 processor and a large SSD storage.
If you are an advanced trader managing a significant amount of money, you should have the latest computers. Doing this will not disappoint you.
In addition to a computer, you should have a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). This is a simple device that saves some energy for you in case of a power outage.
One of the worst things that can happen to you when day trading is an emergency power outage. When it happens, it can lead to substantial losses, especially when you have not connected your account to a mobile application and when you have not protected your trades with a stop-loss.
Stories have been written of traders who lost a fortune simply because there was a power outage in their location. If possible, we recommend that you have another source of power such as a generator that you can use when there is a power outage.
Multiple monitors
Further, you should invest in multiple monitors. You should have a minimum of two quality computer monitors in your trading. Experts believe that the overall sweet spot is about 4 of them.
The main monitor will be your default work space. This is where you do most of your work. In another monitor, you should dedicate it to your news terminals like Reuters Eikon, TradingView, and Investing.com.
Related » The Best Professional Day Trader Workstation Screen Setup
The other monitor should be where you maintain your trades while the other one should be where you also access your news.
In my many years of trading, we have found that while it is possible to use one monitor, life is easier when there are more.
If you are a TraderTv Live watcher, you will surely have noticed Neal and Shawn’s setup.
Television sets
Another important aspect of setting your trading floor is to have access to the latest news. Not only by computer.
As such, having a good access to financial media like Bloomberg and CNBC is an added advantage for you. Therefore, you can buy at least two TV sets and have them mounted inside your floor/room.
There are several benefits of having TV sets in your floor. First, it will make it look more professional. Second, it will help you have the latest news from the most credible sources. Third, you will have access to the latest analysis.
Notably, the TV sets don’t need to be extremely expensive. In Amazon, you can find quality TV sets going for less than $200.
TV can also be an alternative method to save space in your trading desk. Four monitors would take up a lot of space!
Other items you need in your floor
The items mentioned above are the most important in your trading floor. But there are others that you can have, including:
- Water dispenser – As you trade, you need to also take care of your body. As such, having a good water dispenser will help you access it faster.
- Treadmill – Similarly, taking care of your body is important. As such, you can invest in a good treadmill for you to exercise on.
- Air conditioning – Depending on where you love, having an excellent air-conditioned room will help you keep you comfortable.
- Book shelf – Having access to books will help you become a better trader. You can buy a good book shelf to store your trading library.
Summary
Your trading room and your desk are an important part especially when you are a professional trader. Having access to these items will help make your floor (or room) more conducive for you and your traders.
Remember, as you start, you don’t need to spend a lot of money buying these items. Instead, you can make it be like a journey where you improve your room when you can.
