Just the thought of setting up your trading platform can be extremely overwhelming – almost makes you want to break out in a cold sweat. Be prepared to spend an uninterrupted amount of time to work on this. Remember, when you are done setting up your trading platform – you should make little if any, adjustments.
Throughout your trading platform set up process, save your platform to the name of your choice frequently, as you make new changes. Throughout your setup process, you will have the opportunity to ‘save as default’, different parts of your platform such as Level I, Level II and Charts – utilize this option as it will save you a lot of time. Open a new Chart for example and play around with the indicators available or, be simple, not complex and utilize the Chart Settings we offer. Using too many indicators can confuse even the most experienced trader. Configure only the settings you will need and don’t be tempted to add a bunch of clutter to your charts. Colors of chart background are at the discretion of the individual trader however, you want colors that are easy on your eyes if you intend to be looking at them for an extended period of time. Black chart background tends to be a favorite color for many traders as it works best for remaining colors that will appear on your chart such as green and red candles, for example. Final color will remain the discretion of the trader. You will also have to set the view time of your chart – we recommend a 90 minute time frame using one minute candles. You need to view action when it occurs, not 3 or 5 minutes later.
The actual layout of your trading platform will be dependent on the number of monitors you have. Most traders use three monitors. They will use one of the monitors for the professional trading room they utilize during the trading day and the remaining two monitors are used for the actual trading platform. You should place your Level II above the chart for same symbol – most platforms allow you to connect the two together so that when you change the symbol on the Level II, it automatically changes the symbol of the chart as well. Remember, during the trading day, you want everything simple with as few key strokes as possible.
The actual view size of your chart is vital. Too small and you don’t see enough - too big and you still don’t see enough. Try to fit across the top of one of your monitors, 3 charts with Level I and Level II and same for the bottom portion of the monitor. Depending on how you size them, you may not have a full view of all six at the same time but, this gives you something to start with. You have the ability to click on any one chart to have a full view; if that is the stock you are watching at that particular time. If you are setting your platform up on two monitors, you should also have a ‘watch list’ of frequently monitored stocks. You should also load a chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average to monitor throughout the trading session.
Read more on next months session!
November 2011
