DAS Trader On Mac OS

[wpicotte 16]

Curious to know if others here are running DAS Trader on a Mac. I am (Macbook Pro), and currently using a trial copy of CrossOver.

 

DAS crashed last Friday -- it could be disastrous if this happens with a position open, so I'm not happy about it. In the aftermath I discovered that DAS won't support issues related to CrossOver. Their customer support was great, but in trying to understand the crash, they'd go only so far.

 

Another issue I've encountered is an inability to span the main DAS window across monitors (this is possible with native Mac apps, and DAS states that this is a capability on PCs). The consequence is that the hotkey that focuses a montage associated to a chart works only when in my main DAS window, which is on my primary monitor. It will not function on secondary monitors, where i need to place DAS charts, montages, etc. that have been popped-out of the main window.

 

While in this early phase with DAS, and still in the CrossOver trial period, it makes sense to also test a virtual machine. VMWare's Fusion gets high marks and has a 30-day trial, but I need to purchase Windows OS, which is available for $110 (or less on 3rd party sites where I won't use my CC).

 

Considering this cost, thought I'd ask for feedback from others here who use DAS on a Mac with a virtual machine. If you're out there, please let me know if you've encountered any issues worth sharing.

[Jason H. 53]

I briefly tested DAS on my iMac and it worked fine, however I didn't use an emulator, I booted directly to windows. I would be wary are running DAS in crossover. If you have to use emulation, use a windows emulator like parallels or Fusion.

[mm99 1]

I'm using Parallels on a 2016 MacBook Pro 13". I believe it has the Skylake Intel core i5 with 16gb of RAM. In Parallels I assign the VM 3 processors, 8gb of RAM And 1gb of video memory (out of 2 gb total).

 

I just started trading 2 weeks ago, but so far DAS has been running without any issues in SIM. I have configured a dual monitor setup and it seems to work fine, though I have not used it in action.

 

I have been using Parallels for a few years for work without any issue. In fact Windows runs better on my Mac in VM then it does on my work issued Surface... I do not perform heavy computing tasks for work, mostly Excel and Powerpoint.

 

Personally, I would only buy an official copy of Windows for trading use. Given you will be accessing your financial accounts, I wouldn't take any risks. But I"m not an expert in these areas, so that's just my 2 cents.

 

 

[wpicotte 16]

Thanks for the responses. Agreed about the official version on Windows.

 

I've installed Windows 10 on VMWare's Fusion. So far, not impressed with the performance, but I haven't tweaked any allocations yet. It seems to struggle with graphics. Will see what happens tomorrow when trading is live. If this doesn't work, I'll give Parallels a shot.

 

A review I read comparing the two stated that Parallels is more graphics-intensive, and VMWare is more processor-intensive. For my machine (mid-2012 MBP), it may make sense to lean on the processor vs. the graphics card, which gets the fans to spin up when running all monitors.

[Sean M 3]

So far I have run DAS on Parallels, and directly on a native Windows 10 install (bootcamp). It was running flawlessly for me until last week (about 2 weeks of trouble free use). I was running dual monitors, multiple windows across both, etc. THEN, a problem, which I have just given up on.

 

I created some custom hot buttons in my montage window, and they were working fine for a while. Then, all of a sudden, they compressed vertically, and are so thin that I can't really use them effectively--I'm afraid I'll mis one and click the other. It's very strange. Same issue on any Windows environment on the Mac. After fighting it, I setup a spare PC with my existing DAS layouts, and they loaded up fine. No idea what the issue is, but I have given up trying to use my MacBook Pro with DAS.

 

Good luck!

[Carlos M. 230]

Sean, I had the same exact issues you are listing above when I tried to use my MacBook Pro with Parallels. It works great for all other windows software but it just does not play nice when using Das Trader Pro with multiple screen and multiple Montages. When I was using just one screen (the laptop screen) it was more stable. Once I added other screens it just didn't perform well. The default template would sometimes not stay on the multiple screens so I would have to set it up to fit correctly. In rare occasions the software would freeze or not respond. Once this happened several times when I was on the simulator, I called it quits. I did not want to go live with a system that was not stable.

 

My suggestion is to invest in either a PC or a laptop. PC are cheaper and give you more bang for your buck, easier to set up multiple monitors and easier upgrade in the future. I took some of my capital I had saved up for trading and invested in a good PC system.

 

Hope you find a good stable system! One less thing to worry about when you are 100% focus on trading.

 

Carlos M.

 

[wpicotte 16]

I've now installed all three options for using DAS on a Mac (Macbook Pro) -- VMWare Fusion, Parallels, and CrossOver. The virtual machine option is a non-starter, at least on my laptop. Both programs present different issues and are resource-heavy. CrossOver seems to be the "lightest" option, inasmuch as it isn't hosting a separate, beastly operating system, partitioning the system memory in the process.

 

I agree with the point of view that the right set-up uses a PC. Trading risks are plenty -- there's no rationale for adding to them by running a critical application like DAS in a scenario where is may crash (as I've already experienced). If this happens with positions open, ouch.

 

I'm purchasing CrossOver and will use this for the duration of the Simulator subscription. Should things prove out for me and I move forward to trading non-play money, I'll invest in a gaming PC, which'll have an added option of using more than 2 secondary monitors (a limitation of my MBP).

[Jason H. 53]

I have to echo WP above. I am a UX designer by profession and life-long mac user. When it came time to start learning to trade it only took a bit of research for it to become obvious I needed a dedicated windows PC. You can get into one that will run DAS for very little money, and it's a worthwhile investment for time and piece of mind.

[Carlos M. 230]

WP that's a great plan. I did my entire simulation and trading with Parallels. Let us know how it goes a few weeks from now.

 

Carlos M.

[Rob236 1]

Hey guys, any specific reccomendations for a good PC for trading? I've just updated my RAM on my MBP but at this point it's probably better if I get a PC..

[wpicotte 16]

All recommendations I see can be summarized as "buy a gaming PC". Basically, a solid state drive, a motherboard that supports accelerated graphics and multiple monitors, and 16GB of RAM minimum. There are trading-specific PCs available at a premium that are also overkill.

 

If you're going for a desktop PC, SSDs are faster and more durable than a spinning disk. The motherboard needs have the video card ports to support however many monitors you have / want. RAM is RAM -- based on my research, 16GB is plenty assuming an SSD and decent motherboard.

 

If you want a laptop, more expensive but likely what I'll opt for if / when I ditch my MBP, finding sufficient RAM and SSDs are no problem, but a motherboard becomes the constraint. You likely wind up using inline video cards on a per-monitor basis. I haven't dug into the particulars of this set-up, but it employs a USB hub. The monitors go from HDMI (most likely) to USB and include the inline vid cards, and then into the hub. This is in turn the line to the PC. There are a YT vids and blog write-ups ad nauseam that detail these details.

 

And finally, you could build your own. I explored this rabbit hole for a half hour the other night -- you commit less cash but no the write-ups that I read were so candid to mention (1) loading the OS and getting all components to play nice with it is a pain, (2) the when you build vs. buy you have get warranty / retail support and (3) what you save in cash is spent in time.

 

That's all I know for now. Hanging onto my MBP until I prove an ability to day-trading. So far...not so much, but there's always tomorrow.

[Robert H 453]

Ryan W wrote an excellent piece on building your own PC here.

[wpicotte 16]

Thanks Robert - that post is super helpful.

[Sean M 3]

I'm going to say that although I have a dedicated PC that is working pretty well at home, I do use my Mac at the office, and as I mentioned, it was working well until about a week ago. I think I have solved all of my pressing issues, and it is working fine right now. Overall, Parallels is working just as well as Bootcamp. Minor issues included display resolution problems, but those I have corrected through Windows and Parallels.

 

PRIMARY ISSUE (Warning--"it's a DUH moment"): I was having a serious issue with button sizing for my hot buttons. Somehow they compressed, and neither I, nor DAS support, nor anyone else could figure it out. Well, there's a setting in the hot button build for button height--DUH!! Yes, it's that simple. I set it to 45, and that fixed everything.

 

I will ultimately have a dedicated machine, which will be a PC if I stick with DAS, but right now it's very convenient to be able to use my Mac while on SIM.

[anhkind 1]

I ran Parallels on my MacBook Pro (i7, 8Gb RAM) and it was running good. However, after I bought an external monitor (Zenscreen mb16ac) and tried to pop up more charts from Das Trader Pro, I started having problem with as Das kept popping errors. I intended to change to a Windows PC but after checking with Bootcamp, the whole new setup ran perfectly with Windows 10. Give it a try to see if it works, guys :)