Why do traders need more than 1 monitor??
- Thread starter Flashboy
- Start date
I began trading with one monitor, tried two monitors, and I'm back to one monitor. If I was successful with one monitor, what are 2,3 ro 4 monitors going to do. Yes, can see much more, however, I believe the more you look at the less you see. With that said, I must now minimize ET so I can go back to trading 
Quote from Fast_Trader:
Convenience, and the ability to monitor multiple indexes or stocks, at the same time. I trade with 3 monitors and here's a brief list of items I have on each:
1st Monitor: Charts of the stock I'm looking to enter
2nd Monitor: Charts for Nasdaq, Dow Jones, SOX
3rd Monitor: IB's Trader Workstation, and streaming news.
For now, this setup works well for me. In the future, I might add a 4th so I can watch multiple stocks for entry.
-FastTrader
4 monitors?! How many eyes do you have?
We only need 1 - one - monitor.
Does that mean you only have one eye? 
IMO it depends what kind of trading you do and how fast you have to respond. Also how good your eyes are. My day trading is based on 5 and 1 minute bars and I trade euro futures only at present. But I also have a 30 min system running on 3 different index spreads.
I run one monitor with charts on it - 5min euro and 1min euro only so I can focus. 30min euro is in the background if I need a big picture. The other one has Ninja trader, a chat application, and a spreadsheet and a tabbed browser with order entry for another system. I would like to add a third to make it easier to trade HSI on the same timescale as Euro (at the moment it is hidden most of the time with an alarm indicating when I should take a close look).
I notice that my diary is still sitting beside the keyboard on paper (third screen?)
Personally after starting computing with 25 line screens in the 80s I finally found that computers reached the information presenting power of paper when I could have two 1280x1024 screens. Great. When I get to three it will be even better
IMO it depends what kind of trading you do and how fast you have to respond. Also how good your eyes are. My day trading is based on 5 and 1 minute bars and I trade euro futures only at present. But I also have a 30 min system running on 3 different index spreads.
I run one monitor with charts on it - 5min euro and 1min euro only so I can focus. 30min euro is in the background if I need a big picture. The other one has Ninja trader, a chat application, and a spreadsheet and a tabbed browser with order entry for another system. I would like to add a third to make it easier to trade HSI on the same timescale as Euro (at the moment it is hidden most of the time with an alarm indicating when I should take a close look).
I notice that my diary is still sitting beside the keyboard on paper (third screen?)
Personally after starting computing with 25 line screens in the 80s I finally found that computers reached the information presenting power of paper when I could have two 1280x1024 screens. Great. When I get to three it will be even better
I have 6 monitors, flat panel to save space. 2x19" for trading order entry - allows me to have 9 market depth windows up at any one time, and still have my orders, position, P&L, other markets overview, and announcements windows up at the same time.
4x17" monitors for my data provider. I use one monitor for news, trading calendar, quotes for the major markets, and 4 intraday charts. I use another monitor for 6 intraday charts. 3rd monitor is for quote boards so I can see the current price, open, high and low for all the main futures and forex markets, along with a short and long-term graph so I can quickly drag any market into it and see a price chart to give me the long-term perspective. 4th monitor is where I place quotes for stocks and worldwide stock indices I follow, and where I place my "trade shortlist" and "open positions" windows. I also use the 3rd or 4th monitor to enter orders via the internet e.g. IB.
Even with this screen space, I find myself flipping between windows. Ideally I would have 8 or even 10 monitors for intraday trading. Obviously for long-term stuff or just trading one market intraday this is overkill, 1 monitor is ok for that.
4x17" monitors for my data provider. I use one monitor for news, trading calendar, quotes for the major markets, and 4 intraday charts. I use another monitor for 6 intraday charts. 3rd monitor is for quote boards so I can see the current price, open, high and low for all the main futures and forex markets, along with a short and long-term graph so I can quickly drag any market into it and see a price chart to give me the long-term perspective. 4th monitor is where I place quotes for stocks and worldwide stock indices I follow, and where I place my "trade shortlist" and "open positions" windows. I also use the 3rd or 4th monitor to enter orders via the internet e.g. IB.
Even with this screen space, I find myself flipping between windows. Ideally I would have 8 or even 10 monitors for intraday trading. Obviously for long-term stuff or just trading one market intraday this is overkill, 1 monitor is ok for that.
Monitor 1 - dedicated to monitoring multiple systems running simulatenously in realtime on multiple futures. Research.
Monitor 2 - Currently, Tradestation research machine monitoring 3 systems in realtime.
Monitor 3 - Chatroom
Monitor 4-5-6 Requied by prop firm. One monitor used for entries and opportunities, second for Realtick, third for managing exits
Monitor 7 - Interactive Brokers account plus market depth windows
nitro
Monitor 2 - Currently, Tradestation research machine monitoring 3 systems in realtime.
Monitor 3 - Chatroom
Monitor 4-5-6 Requied by prop firm. One monitor used for entries and opportunities, second for Realtick, third for managing exits
Monitor 7 - Interactive Brokers account plus market depth windows
nitro