My Trading Screens

I was asked recently about what I keep on my computer screens while trading and I thought that this would make a good post. These are the 3 screens that I keep up while day trading...I don't think this much is required all at once while trading in longer time frames (in fact, some day traders keep less than this on their screens while trading and would hate this much clutter). This is what works for me. It may change in the future, but I've kept this general setup for a little while now and have only changed minor things like changing my Up Volume v. Down Volume chart from lightspeed to thinkorswim, etc. (see below).

Screen Number 1: The Broker Software
As you can see above, this is my broker screen. This is all information that is provided by Light Speed Trading (my day trading broker). It is fully customizable and this is what I happen to be using right now. Some key points are the watchlists, the level 2 quotes in the lower left hand corner (which is where I also enter orders with hot keys), a 5 and 15 minute chart of whatever stock that I have pulled up in the level 2 box and a ticker alert in the top right hand corner (which wasn't working yesterday for some reason) that shows new highs and lows for stocks that I have entered into an alert list.

Screen Number 2: Trading ScreenThis screen is my actual trading screen. I use it to monitor the stocks that I'm trading or looking to trade. These charts are through thinkorswim's program...a very snazzy platform, especially for a retail program. I used to have eSignal, but the firm I trade with quit paying for it so I figured I'd try thinkorswim for a bit. So far its working pretty well. On the picture above, I have numbered my different chart windows and given a brief description or name for each chart. The most important thing about this screen is that charts 1-5 are linked, meaning that when a symbol is entered in one, it gets pulled up in all of the charts. I have these 5 charts setup to show me the multiple time frames that I use for trading.

A couple of other important things in this screen are the TICK chart, the VIX chart and the NYSE Advancers v. Decliners and the NYSE Advancing Volume v. Declining Volume. Then I've got two windows that I keep 15 minute charts of either ETFs (spy, qqqq, xlf, etc.) or sometimes I'll also keep a chart of a stock that I'm constantly watching (either to trade or to help manage my current trade). One last thing that I want to point out is that the 5 and 1 minute charts are small, the smallest on the screen. That's because I only use the 1 minute for exiting a piece of a trade and the five minute for pulling the trigger once there's a setup on the higher time frames. You can go crazy watching 5 and 1 minute charts for entries.

Screen Number 3: Futures and Forex Screen I keep this screen up at all times while trading. On it I have 15 minute charts of the ES futures contract (S&P emini), the NQ (Nasdaq 100) and the YM (the mini dow jones). I monitor these three markets to give me confirmation on break outs and just to keep an eye on the overall market. I also have down in the bottom left corner, a 15 minute chart of gold (YG). This is used the most when I'm trading a gold stock. Next to it is a 15 minute chart of the Eur/Usd pair as it's always good to know what this currency pair is doing. And finally, I keep the 30 year bond contract up in the bottom right hand. This isn't always up though, sometimes I'll put up oil or natural gas if I'm trading a stock that is involved with one of those commodities.

There you have it. Three screens that give me a lot of information with a quick glance.

Hope everyone is having a great week trading so far.

TLT