Trading Environment: What Should Your Trading Desk Look Like?

Did you ever wonder what the Perfect Trading Environment is?

I'm not going to tell you that for the perfect trading environment you need to have 8 x 43" monitors, be listening to vegan straight edge music (yes, it's actually a real genre), have an energy drink to your left and a protein bar to your right in a room that's exactly 24 degrees Celsius in order to obtain the perfect trading environment.

The actual answer to this depends on the individual.

And you definitely don't need 8 screens.

The key is to find what works best for you and as you will see throughout this article, even the Urban Forex Senior traders have very differing setups.

Let's start by looking at how Navin likes to set up...

Navin's Trading Desk

Navin, as I'm sure you know from his Facebook updates, likes to travel a lot. 

For this reason, Navin's trading desk is very mobile.

When he is at home he sits at his desk and uses his iMac, but really all he needs is his laptop and earphones.

Navin also likes to listen to motivational and inspirational music and playlists while trading.

When staying in hotels, he requests rooms on high floors with great views as these views can also act as inspiration.

His screen set up is simple. He usually sticks to one chart at a time on screen. He will have tabs open for trading view, IB (his broker) and a position size calculator. 

Lucas's Trading Desk

This is Lucas's Setup.

Lucas likes to have as many screen real estate as he can so he is able to watch multiple markets at once, having a close eyes on the market calendar and being able to execute his trade at ease on his trading platform.

He has a mic also for Hosting Daily Conferences as well as other recordings he does with the team. 

Lucas has a few notebooks on the desk as well, so he is able to write down notes and ideas he have on the markets whenever something pops in his head. 

Like many other traders, Lucas has his headphones on most of the time when he is watching the markets. He enjoys Traps, Deep House and even Synthwave, to name a few of the genres he listens to. 

He generally spends half of his day at his desk, so whenever he's having a meal, he'll push aside everything on the table to indulge in whatever his having with... 

"I spend 10-12 hours at my desk, and so, I wanna make sure it's comfortable and I have everything accessible for me at all times, ie, Food, Drinks, Electronic Cigarette, etc"

Armand's Trading Desk

Armand doesn't need much.

All he needs is his laptop, a set of headphones and his backpack to move from place to place.

"I like to be very mobile. So I travel light. I also feel that looking at more than one screen distracts me or messes with my focus."

Armand, like Lucas, also listens to music while trading, stating "I need music".

He doesn't, however,  have any specific genre's that he listens to saying "I have too many Spotify and YouTube playlists to list".

Rumour has it that there is some vegan straight edge music in some of Armands playlists.

Ian's Trading Desk

Ian, likes to keep his setup a bit on the simpler side, but yet, with a variety of equipment to get the job done properly.  You have his main desktop front and centre.  But below and to the side you have other tools of the trade such as a laptop, iPad Pro, Headphones, etc.

"I like to use my 27" Mac Desktop for most of my analysis at home. But if I have to be on the move or want to spend a day at the beach, I have my laptop and iPad for those days".

Much like Armand, Ian also listens to music while he trades. But the types of music here are interesting:

"I also like listening to music, but it changes from day to day depending on my mood. One day I will be listening to hard rock/metal from the 90's.  Then the next day I will be listening to some 80's Hits"

While trading is one of Ian's passions, he is mainly a family man at heart.  His wife and 2 children are the most important aspect of his life. So, having that said, this has a big influence on the current trading setup he has.

" I like to have a variety of ways/equipment to execute my trades. So, if my family life calls, and I need to be more mobile, I can still trade effectively no matter where I am"

It is very important to find that trading/family balance in life.  It appears as if Ian has definitely accomplished that:)

Finding what works for you...

This will involve trial and error.

In the beginning, the main thing is that you are comfortable and don't get distracted. For some people this is being in a public place like a coffee shop, for other,s this is being on their own in their man cave.

For me personally, I've gotten comfortable with both. I started out only using one screen and one chart per screen. This is what I have gotten used to so, for now, this is what works for me. 

I see the freedom to work from anywhere as being is a huge advantage to the trading lifestyle and for this reason, I also like to be able to travel light and be more mobile.

I love listening to sports podcasts but I found that if I am listening to them while trading then I am not fully focused on the charts. So after trialing it, I found that it didn't work for me so instead I keep it to music. 

I enjoy most genre's of music (can't say I'm too familiar with Japenese flute though) but I find the best background music for me while trading, are movie soundtrack compilations from Hans Zimmer or John Williams. 

What does your trading desk look like?

Do you have multiple screens with multiple charts open or do you like to keep it more simple?

Do you like listening to music

Let me know in the comment section below or send us in your photo's to [email protected]

With Pip Love,

Garry at Urban Forex