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a direct access system for the Mac, but have not been able to confirm it. For our purposes, we will confine our discussion to the former. |
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How fast is fast enough? A 250 mhz Pentium-class processor should do it. Frankly, your processor is not the critical link in the "speed chain." |
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The amount of RAM (memory) on board is much more important to you as a trader than processor speed. Handling streaming quotes, direct orders, and instant confirmations requires your computer to cache (temporarily store) a considerable amount of data. You want that process to be as fast as possible, and the best way to speed it up is to give it more RAM. For the serious, direct access trader, we believe that 128 Mg is a minimum (although we will concede that you can operate with less RAM). If you can push it up to 256 Mg, your speed will improve. Face it, speed can translate into money for you because you can perform more functions. Invest in RAM. |
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The time-sensitive processing in your electronic, direct access system does not require much of the hard drive. Quotes, executions, and confirmations display to you without delay before writing anything to the hard drive. |
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However, important information is written to the drive for recall on demandprice and time data for constructing charts, fundamental statistics, news headlines, trading history, open positions, etc. You don't want to limit any of these functions because of lack of space on your hard drive. Generally one gigabyte is more than enough dedicated space for your trading activities. |
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Come on now; if you plan to be even a mildly active trader, you are going to spend a lot of time looking at that screen. This is one place to spend some money. |
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