Pictures of your trading stations

Quote from thriftybob:

Ok, here is mine. The system is 18 screens total, 2 high, shaped like a "C" so the pic sees the back of the 2 on each end, and you can't see the 2nd pair on each end at all in the pic.

All told, there are 17 22" LCD's + the one 17" laptop LCD. There are 2 maxxed memory, overclocked Core2 Quad and Duo towers, each with 3 PCIe dual head DVI cards, and 5 evga USB to DVI adapters for the rest. One tower is dedicated to Tradestation with 10 screensd total, and the other to TOS with 7. The laptop runs a 2nd TOS setup, TD Ameritrade and IB. I have 3 UPS systems and a spare laptop, screens and spare 3 dualhead videocard Core2 quad tower, just in case.

I built the screen mounting system myself, all joined, glued and screwed red oak, and attached to the oak desk and bookcase system, with an ergo swivel chair in the middle.

PS: the pic shows it with 1 22" screen missing (it was over on the other desk with the spare tower), and with the 2nd laptop there on the desk in its place. Obviously I need to swivel the chair a bit to see the last set of screens on either end.
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What kind of monitors are your running, and most importantly what type of research did you do before you purchased your monitors. I am looking to get 8 22",s for myself but cant decide if it is better to get Led vs. lcd and need thin bezels for the mounting
 
Quote from thriftybob:

Ok, here is mine. The system is 18 screens total, 2 high, shaped like a "C" so the pic sees the back of the 2 on each end, and you can't see the 2nd pair on each end at all in the pic.
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Perhaps some may benefit from material I developed about designing a workstation for a course I teach.

From my background as a software engineer and a private pilot, some principles of human interface design have come a long way in the last 30 years.

First, it is important to recognize that there is a hierarchy of knowledge required for decision making.
  • Data - Trade feeds, historical data, weather data, etc.
  • Information - Synthesis of raw data into more digestible forms such as graphs, indicators, numbers that summarize raw data in useful ways, etc.
  • Knowledge - Information combined with rules for action from the users experience.

The adage "A pilot's job consists of hours or boredom punctuated my moments of terror" applies to traders and investors.

The focus on effective pilot instrument panel design focuses on this important piloting requirement. This leads to two important concepts for supporting a pilot in these moments of terror.

  • Minimize the displayed information to permit the pilot to quickly integrate it for decision making.
  • Even the most experience pilot can develop tunnel vision in moments of terror. An alarm system running in the background to get the pilot's attention is now common. Some advanced alarm systems are capable of choosing the most critical alarms in situations where multiple alarms exist.

Some lessons for the investor and trader.
  • Design your decision support dashboard so that it occupies one screen. Any more than that will not be easy enough to absorb for good decision making.
  • Use a second screen to call up more detail to support alarm situations shown either on your dashboard or your background alarm system.
  • Use part of the second screen for your trading platform. If you really feel squeezed, a third screen can be considered for trading. Although, every time I have reviewed a students dashboard design and alarm processing requirements, I've been able to fit the trading platform onto the alarm processing screen without compromising the necessary decision support.

Since I am a software engineer, I could have developed software to support this concept. However, another part of my training kicked in. To carefully evaluate the make or buy decision pros and cons.

I ended up using ThinkOrSwim and its integration with spreadsheet software like MS Excel to implement this design. I also wanted my students to be able to design their own dashboard, alarm info center and trading platform without programming experience.

I'm certain other trading platforms and spreadsheet software could accomplish the same result.
 
Quote from Get In Get Out:

What kind of monitors are your running, and most importantly what type of research did you do before you purchased your monitors. I am looking to get 8 22",s for myself but cant decide if it is better to get Led vs. lcd and need thin bezels for the mounting
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Besides energy saving, LEDs are better because they don't flicker, but you have to keep the monitor luminosity to its max value. When you change the luminosity value (via hardware) some brands use a sort of electronic pulsation to lower the intensity, thus introducing flickering. You can change the luminosity via software.
Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) flickering over long periods can cause vision and eye problems and even migraine and vertigo.
I know that very well, I became very sensible to that kind of lamps and had to change all my monitors because I developed strong vertigo even after a short period before the screens.

It's more common than you might think and it's a huge problem for people who can't have their screens changed at their workplace.
Just my 2 cents
Pardon my English ;)
 
Quote from mark1:

Besides energy saving, LEDs are better because ...snip..
Just my 2 cents
Pardon my English ;)
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Btw, maybe it wasn't clear, I know when you go to buy monitors they tell you LCD or LED, but they are both LCD, the difference is only in the backlight sys. those called LCD use fluorescent lamps, those called LED use ..duh..LEDs :)

The other day I had a discussion with this sales clerk who kept repeating this is LCD and this is LED, and I was like "ok mofo , they are both LCD... wanna bet?" :eek:

and yes I became sensitive not sensible to fluorescent lamps..damn language :D
 
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This is the fructification of the seed/thread started back in April, much thanks to everyone that helped me put it together, especially the Eureka123 dude who literally spent hours walking me through it via emails.
Rig is blindingly fast, Intel x25-m solid state 160 GB drive, i7 CPU, a few viddie cards. Anyway, seems like it should be good for a few years and then it should be fairly easy to upgrade and get this, I can do it myself. I know to you all that have built your own computers, it is no big deal but this has been running since May and I am still amazed it turns on each morning when i press the button:D

Happy Trading to all!!
 
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