Portable trading

tomorton

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I need to pick some tech brains here.

One thing I've not done for a long time is trade away from my desktop PC at home. Years ago I traded from a laptop with a dongle but haven't had a portable device since. Now thinking I'd like to be able to manage trades, set and adjust stop and entry order levels away from the desktop.

I'm thinking any decent tablet should be good for looking at charts online and accessing the trading platform. Anyone got ideas about specific types to go for? Or any to avoid?
 
I need to pick some tech brains here.

One thing I've not done for a long time is trade away from my desktop PC at home. Years ago I traded from a laptop with a dongle but haven't had a portable device since. Now thinking I'd like to be able to manage trades, set and adjust stop and entry order levels away from the desktop.

I'm thinking any decent tablet should be good for looking at charts online and accessing the trading platform. Anyone got ideas about specific types to go for? Or any to avoid?

I use I-pad away from pc. Works fine.
 
Cheap solution is 10 inch Kindle tablet. If you only need to monitor trades/set stops, limits/closeout then it's fine. Surface tablet ideal – especially if you want to run Windows software which may not work on an android/Macintosh tablet. Just costs a lot more but if it enables you to do full trading then you soon get your money back!
 
Cheap solution is 10 inch Kindle tablet. If you only need to monitor trades/set stops, limits/closeout then it's fine. Surface tablet ideal – especially if you want to run Windows software which may not work on an android/Macintosh tablet. Just costs a lot more but if it enables you to do full trading then you soon get your money back!


These look very competitive and I do want to be using Microsoft programmes so there's good crossover between the new device and the PC.

Of course, now I look at all these things and start thinking about what it needs to do I'm starting to think maybe I'd like to watch stuff online and maybe download media files onto it and stuff. In the past I've found through experience best to always get tech that does twice what you think you'll need it to do.........
 
I think it's quite difficult when faced with such a large range of technical specs and prices to find your optimum price/specification point. I've recently gone through this with the acquisition of a smart phone and it involved quite a bit of research and I now know an awful lot more about smart phones I did a few weeks ago! I also have paid considerably less than I could have done by acquiring a "status" phone.

The approach I took before acquiring my last tablet (and my circumstances sound a bit similar to your thinking) was to use an old military technique: analyse what you want to achieve/do and find the cheapest/optimal way of doing it. I found over the years with whatever I'm buying I start off at the lowest/cheapest spec and work my way up until I find something that is suitable – very rarely the cheapest or the most expensive.

Of course, until you start using the kit it's difficult to anticipate its shortcomings. As far as I can tell most tablets actually do the same but can perform/look better if you inject more cash (bit like cars – do you need a BMW 7 series to go Tesco shopping?). One of the things I found with the Kindle tablets is that they are really good value for money (especially if you buy them on a "cheap price" day) and do just about everything – that man Bezos ain't stupid. The standard price of a 7 inch is £50 and in my opinion is worth buying just as a tryout to see what you need: bigger screen/more memory/faster processor? If you're on the move, the bigger screen isn't necessarily advantageous if you couldn't put it in your pocket. When you've exhausted the possibilities of a 7 inch, it's always handy to have or you can hand it on to the kids.

The thing I've found with most technology is, that once I've identified the correct performance spec, I want it to be "nice" to use. Just like a car it can do everything you want except be enjoyable to drive. When I go away and want to trade with full facilities I use a Dell latitude laptop – good, solid, well performing, reliable: but you've still got to cart it around. When it comes to replacement I'll definitely be looking at the nimble & lightweight Surface laptop/tablet.

I'm probably suggesting what you've already worked out for yourself but it's always worth making a list on the back of a fag packet/envelope of your essential requirements and then starting from there. The one thing I've always found with sellers of technology is that they love to sell you more than you need.
 
Brilliant idea - get a tryout device for not too much and see how it does what's needed and what's missing for would-likes. Cheers now.
 
I need to pick some tech brains here.

One thing I've not done for a long time is trade away from my desktop PC at home. Years ago I traded from a laptop with a dongle but haven't had a portable device since. Now thinking I'd like to be able to manage trades, set and adjust stop and entry order levels away from the desktop.

I'm thinking any decent tablet should be good for looking at charts online and accessing the trading platform. Anyone got ideas about specific types to go for? Or any to avoid?

hey Tom

the Tech world is an amazing place now .....ive got a lot of people i am taking to who trade off their phones regularly ....(i wouldnt do it) amazing !

most things are fine ...more up to you re what you find comfortable to use than anything else ...so try plenty out re screen size and key access etc etc

N
 
hey Tom

the Tech world is an amazing place now .....ive got a lot of people i am taking to who trade off their phones regularly ....(i wouldnt do it) amazing !

most things are fine ...more up to you re what you find comfortable to use than anything else ...so try plenty out re screen size and key access etc etc

N


Cheers for this, though I'm definitely on the trail of a tablet: if I'm away from the desktop for a day or two its normal for me to have a bag with me so the non-pocket size is no inconvenience.

Actually, the only thing I'm tech-phobic about is phones, but in reality its a money thing - I just see them as a terrible waste of money.
 
i have 3 asus laptops (ASUS X540S) on the go as my workhorses with backups......they are fine and shopping around cost under £350 .....even this type of worktop is overkill ...you dont need much for trading ....just the connection really..........even consider using cloud based Technology (VPS servers) for your trading so you can use cheaper hardware ?
 
Cheers for this, though I'm definitely on the trail of a tablet: if I'm away from the desktop for a day or two its normal for me to have a bag with me so the non-pocket size is no inconvenience.

Actually, the only thing I'm tech-phobic about is phones, but in reality its a money thing - I just see them as a terrible waste of money.

if you go tablet i would consider using a cloud based platform for your trading software (it will keep it off the tablet) ......but again im not a techie as much as i should be

most big houses will charge no more that $15-20 a month for serious memory usage way way beyond the memory capacity of any PCs we can afford.....immediate access worldwide and secure and backed up (hopefully)

N
 
Literally not an idea what that means. I'll have to Google it up on this new interweb net thing......
 
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