Configuring the Best Day Trading Computer

May 12, 2016

TraderProFor the experienced day trader, milliseconds can mean the difference between gains and losses. But what makes the best trading computer? Lucky for you, we have nearly 20 years of experience building some of the fastest, most reliable PCs specifically for day trading and we’re willing to share some of that knowledge. Read on to learn more.

GPU capable of multiple displays – for most traders, multiple displays are a must for tracking various indices and markets in real time. To drive them, you’ll need at worst a mid-range graphics card like the RTX 2060 which by itself can handle up to four independent HD monitors. For more aggressive set ups with six or even eight HD monitors though, you’ll have to invest in dual cards. We generally recommend 2 x RTX 2070 for eight 1080p monitors and 2 x RTX 2080 Ti for multiple monitors at 4K. The Quadro NVS line is another options with support for up to eight displays on a single card like the Quadro NVS 810, but they will soon be end of life and not readily available.

Quick processor – most trading software requires a high speed, multicore processor to run those complex calculations. We recommend the i7-8700k or 9700k for most day traders because of their up to eight physical cores (with 16 total threads) and high GHz clock speed per core. Ten core processors like the i9-9900X, while great for many workstation applications, are not necessary for trading.

Rock solid reliability – the fastest computer in the world is useless if it’s not reliable. That’s why for the best computer for day trading, we recommend only premium, high efficiency power supplies with at least a Bronze efficiency rating (for more info on PSU efficiency, check out this post). For hard drives, we also recommend solid states because of the long term reliability advantages they have over 7200RPM drives. The additional speed is a nice little bonus too.

For more information on building a stellar trading computer, check out our full breakdown of our Trader Computers or our ProMagix TraderPro configuration which we’ve designed specifically for traders just like you.

NOTE: This post has been edited from it’s original version to include the latest in desktop PC hardware. 

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Josh Covington

Josh has been with Velocity Micro since 2007 in various Marketing, PR, and Sales related roles. As the Director of Sales & Marketing, he is responsible for all Direct and Retail sales as well as Marketing activities. He enjoys Seinfeld reruns, the Atlanta Braves, and Beatles songs written by John, Paul, or George. Sorry, Ringo.