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Good afternoon BBT, I'm sure this topic has been discussed before, but I'd like some recommendations for a beginner day trading desktop setup. I will be running either Sterling Trader Pro, or DAS, through CMEG. I am still undecided as to what platform I should use. I will also be running Trade Ideas, as well as the chatroom in the background. Admittedly, I am not a computer guy. I know how to use a computer effectively, but I know very little about the actual hardware itself. I've heard recommendations of 4 cores in the processor, 16 gb of memory (DDR4), 250gb hard drive (SSD). I do not know what any of this means, but I do understand the importance of having a reliable, well-performing computer to use while trading. Currently, I have been using my Thinkorswim app on my mobile to use their PaperMoney Simulator to train with, but obviously this setup is not sustainable for continued education, and certainly not for active trading. So, I think it's time I invested in a proper machine to train with, get accustom to, and then to trade real money with. Obviously, since I'm investing my real money into the market, I want to be sure I have the proper tools to capitalize with. Thank you in advance to anyone who reaches out with any advice, or help. I sincerely appreciate it. - Andrew from Jersey

I'm shopping for my PC now (always been a Mac user) and am using the specs given in the education center. After looking at Best Buy I realize in order to get everything I need I will likely either have one built or get one potentially from EZ Trading Computers. Has anyone bought their computer from this site? What was your experience? Or, where did you get yours if it includes the latest specs? Thanks!! https://eztradingcomputers.net/

Hi everyone! My name is Jeremy Olson. I live in Phoenix, AZ. My wife and I have 6 beautiful kids and we love spending time as a family. The kids are great (when they are getting along haha!). I am a CPA and tax director at a large publicly held trucking company. I started out my career as a CPA at Ernst & Young in Roseville, CA back in 2006 after graduating from Arizona State University's Masters of Taxation program. I was introduced to stock trading back around Sept 2019 by a co-worker that swing trades on Robinhood. I downloaded the app and got hooked. The potential to make money in the markets fascinated me but I knew that I had (have!) a lot to learn, so I Googled "best books day trading stock" (or something like that) and found Andrew's book. Then I graduated from RH to DAS and IB. It's been quite a journey so far. I basically tried going it alone for several months. I mean, I read a lot of books and had help in that sense, but I was not in the chat room or trading with anyone else. I had some success, but really more failure than success. But somehow I managed not to blow up my account, which is a good thing! So, I am still in the game, but I have been humbled by the market and I am going back to the basics. I am going to start over and do it right this time. I just finished "Class 1: How to Trade in Simulator and Introduction to DAS" last night. I am going to go through all the classes one by one, skipping nothing. My experience so far in trading reminds me of a similar experience I had in learning to play piano. As a kid, I always loved music and would play my parents old out of tune piano in our house off and on and taught myself how to play a few songs. They were challenging songs. I didn't start simple. I just went straight for the hard songs because that is what I wanted to play. I didn't want to do the boring stuff, I just wanted to play the cool songs right away. So it was challenging, but I pushed through and got to where I could play a couple moderately challenging songs. By the time I was about 38 years old, I never really learned to read piano music very well at all so I could not sight read anything. But I could, through painstaking difficulty memorize songs note by note and learn them that way. I had about 3 or 4 moderately difficult songs that I could play on the piano (or, at least thought I could play lol!), but that was all. Then I met a guy at a church activity that is a professional pianist/performer, the guy is phenomenal, truly a creative genius. His name is William Joseph. (I included a link below to one of my favorite songs he plays on the piano so you can see what I mean.) We became friends and he agreed to give me piano lessons (I had never taken lessons prior to this, well, I think I had 4 or 5 lessons as a little kid, but never stuck with it - I was almost 100% self-taught). At the start of my first lesson, William asked me what level I felt I was at as a piano player. I told him I felt like I was not a novice, but not advanced either, somewhere in between. Then he asked me to play something for him. He was kind to me and said that was pretty good, but I think he was lying because after that he started me on my first song, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" lol! For reals, not an embellished version or anything, just the simple one note version, the melody only, no chords, nothing, just the melody. He wanted to take me back to the basics because everything I had taught myself to do up to that point was basically wrong, incorrect technique. I might have been hitting some of the right notes, but I was way too tense, and my fingering was all wrong, etc... He had me simply hold my hand above the keys and let it fall down on the notes and do that repetitively until I gained the muscle memory of being able to play the piano in a more relaxed way. He explained that I would never be able to progress or play very fast if I did not fix my technique and learn to loosen up. So, I had to go all the way back to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to unlearn my bad habits and relearn new ones. I had to learn all the muscle memory the correct way, so I then had a foundation to build upon. I am now still not to the level of a concert pianist and probably never will be, but playing the piano is so much more enjoyable. Now when I play, I feel like I can make real music, not just plunk out notes. Anybody can learn to hit certain notes at certain times, but not everyone learns how to truly make music and make it come alive I relate this to learning day trading. I do not want to learn bad habits, so I am going back to the basics now and even though I feel like I know some things, I am going to be totally open and humble as I go through each one of the BBT lessons and all the webinars. I am going to keep a journal and make my playbook, etc...do everything the right way taking no short cuts. Let's see how far that will take me! There is something very familiar to me watching Andrew trade the open in the mornings. It reminds in a lot of ways of watching William play the piano, true genious at work. There is something intangible that they both have that is hard to define, but you know it when you see it. It's inspiring. Here is a link to William playing the piano so you can see for yourself how amazing he is! Here is me at my trading desk (The laptop on the far right is my work computer - been working at home since the start of Covid-19. The top right monitor is also shared with my work computer and my trading desktop computer. There is an HDMI switch, so I just hit the button on the switch and the top right monitor switches between being connected to my work computer or my desktop computer. There is also a switch to trade my keyboard and mouse between work and desktop computers, so I have just one keyboard and mouse to use for both):

Hi BBT fam! i am currently using my high-spec gaming desktop for day trading, however my display card only have 3 ports for display( 2 hdmi and 1 display port). I am planning to upgrade my trading station from 2 monitors to 3 monitors, but I am not planning to buy another pc or another display card.... when I go through BBT’s hardware page I saw the dell universal dock and I notice that it will work even for desktops! Anyone try that before, is it good enough? Are there any latency problem? is it good enough to have a d3000 rather than a d6000? sorry for all those questions, really appreciate any help in advance Edwin

Hi friends, I've been using an IMac running bootcamp for the education phase of my trading career, but it's becoming clear that this will not be sufficient for me. I'd love to hear everyone's input regarding a new trading desktop purchase. What are you using? What would you change about your current computer? What would be your dream computer? Please mention GPU, CPU, display ports, etc. thanks!