Hi, My Name is Eddie Z, I’ve been trading the financial markets for over 2 decades. Additionally I have been building, testing and configuring trading computers, stock trading computers and multi monitor trading computers since the first moment I needed real time data. As a full time day trader and complete computer geek , I have the ability to offer traders a inside look into trading computers and multi monitor trading computers.
As a day trader, its very important to have backup systems in place in case something unexpected goes wrong related to your trading technology. This is the first article that explores backup systems for traders. The first items I would like to discuss are the battery backup and surge protector.
The battery backup or uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a critical component to any trading system. Imagine trading several positions and suddenly the power goes out. Even if the power goes out just for a few minutes, this could leave a trader in a panic. Besides the fact of the potential to lose money in the markets, the trader also risks damaging his high end machine because of improper shut down. Hard shut downs like this are one of the main causes of operating systems becoming corrupted and hard drives going bad. A UPS battery backup is a great solution. A modern high end computer with 2 monitors plugged in, a modem and router will use approximate 250 watts of power. A 500 Watt 500 VA Power Supply would be an absolute minimum to have enough time to put in stop orders, get out of the markets and shut the computer down properly. For longer battery backup runtimes consider a 1000 or even 2000 VA model. Do your homework and research more about battery backups and UPSs.
Surge Protection is also another very important backup system to a trader. A power surge can cause permanent damage to all forms of electronics. Power surges happen a lot more often than you would expect and can affect an entire power grid. The biggest cause of power surges is lightning strikes. Believe it or not, there are over 20 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes detected per year in the 48 contiguous states. In general, traders never want to run the risk of plugging any trading computer component directly into the wall. Power surges are the biggest cause of computer failure known, so its important to protect your equipment. As a rule, EVERY wire that come out of the wall should have some surge protection, including phone lines and cable lines.
Most UPS units come with built in surge protection. However, many of the newer UPS units have a -one time use- type surge circuit in them. This means that the UPS will actually -commit suicide- to protect your computer from a significant surge. A way to protect the UPS is possible. As unorthodox as it may seem, and counter to some published literature, plugging a UPS into a surge protector CAN add a layer of protection as long as NO OTHER DEVICES are plugged into the surge protector. The UPS can be the ONLY thing plugged in to the surge protector.
In conclusion, there are many backup systems that are important to traders. Battery backups (UPS) and surge protectors are critical ingredients to trading computers, stock trading computers and multi monitor computers. There is a lot more information online about the UPSs and surge protectors. In the next article, I will discuss other important backup items for traders.
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