Business

Setting up a Trading Station at Home

If you’re a trader, we are sure you’ve seen the Hollywood movies with traders working on Wall Street with corner offices overlooking the trading floor and four or six monitors on their desks as their trading stations. Which got us thinking, what would a home trading station look like if you were to set up one?

Probably nothing like Hollywood’s version of Wall Street. But since the invention of personal computers and the internet, many traders have been trading from their homes using just their PCs or laptops. However, technology has improved, and a trader’s needs, be it one from home, have changed. Furthermore, the at-home trading image has changed, and a trader’s trading station has much to do with it.

But if you’re just getting started, you don’t have to worry about getting started because we will outline the steps you need to set up your own trading station at home.

Prepare Your Office Space

If you have a dedicated home office space, more power to you. But if you don’t, you will need to set up a quiet corner either in your room or any other place in the house you can work peacefully. Ensure it’s in an area with little to no distractions, tidy and clean.

Get a Good Desk and Chair

As a trader, you will be spending most of your time at your desk and chair, and it’s essential to get a pair you will be comfortable on. For the desk, we’d recommend a height adjustable one, allowing you to move it up and down for different working positions. It will help you work while standing, which is healthier and has become a trendy part of the working culture. Furthermore, you can also adjust it to a sitting position when you’re tired or want to take a break from standing.

On the other hand, the type of seat you pick will affect your posture, back, and neck. Therefore, finding a good one that’s ergonomic and has padding, lumber, and neck support can help you avoid back problems and make your long days more tolerable.

What Monitors?

Your monitors are your way of interacting with your trading platform; click here to learn more. And it’s also the things you will be staring at all day, and as such, finding good monitors that are wide, bright, and colour accurate is essential to reducing eye strain.

Seeing the numbers on the screen will be challenging when they are too small. When they’re too bright or too dim, your eyes will have a challenge adjusting to new lighting conditions. And when the colours are not accurate, images on your screen can look off and even cause eye fatigue. As you can see, choosing your monitors is not just walking into BestBuy and picking the four or three cheapest ones.

Need for Speed

The thing that separates the largest trading companies from the average is the speed at which they transact. And your home trading set-up is no different. You need speed to trade. And yes, this encompasses everything, from your internet speed to your computer’s processing power to how fast you get information on the area you’re trading in and act.

But from a technical side, you don’t want to wait to confirm trades because your computer’s processing power or internet speed is low. Ensure you have a high-speed internet connection and a custom PC with a powerful graphics card and fast RAM.

Cable Management

Cable management is the Achilles heel of most home trading stations set-ups. And we don’t know why because cable management only takes a few minutes to do and takes only a few zip ties. It will also make your desk a nicer place to work and look more professional.

To sum it up

The world is indeed changing. What started as a few people trading shares under a tree in New York grew to a multibillion-dollar entity that, for a while, only a few had access to, and now an online activity you can participate in from your house. Furthermore, technology is also advancing and making trading easier for the average Joe like you and us. So take advantage of the advancements and build a set-up that will help you succeed.

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