A very important subject that is rarely discussed on the financial bloggery section of the internets is “what tools does one procure to help one become a successful investor?” I have very strong opinions on the matter, which are much different than most vain operators our there.
For example: having more than one screen is ridiculous, redundant and stupid. Why do I need to look at 10 different screens to buy and sell stocks? I’m not an air-traffic controller and I don’t help schmucks travel to space. If I was a market maker, then yes, I’d like to have more than one screen. But for the purposes of trading XYZ, one screen is all that I need.
For the record, I have a singular 27 inch monitor, an Apple laptop, an iPad and an iPhone, alongside two printers (color and jet) with music and CNBC running all day. I wake up at 6:48 every day and listen to Bloomberg radio, hosted by the awesome Tom Keene, from my Tunein Radio iPhone app and 1130 AM from the olde automobile radio.
At night, CNBC Europe is a must watch, truly different from the gossipy nature of CNBC America.
I used to have a bloomberg terminal, but I didn’t find it to be worth the expense.
I have my trading platform, provided by my clearing firm, for trades.
For news, I subscribe to Briefing.com and keep my Twitter screen running through Echofone app on my iPad all day.
My favorite iPhone apps, which I find invaluable, are StockTwits and Earningscast (conference calls). The StockTwits app, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated apps out there. I never use their desktop, but find the app to be terrific in filtering out the relevant/trending stocks for me.
For CNBC, believe it or not, I use a website for the stream. Naturally, I have a big teevee with it running all day, but that website I just referenced gets their signal about 5 seconds faster than my cable provider. I don’t know why or how, but it’s something to BEHOLD.
Aside from Twitter, I don’t read many blogs, just news sites. I am always reading news and research reports, which are sent to me from a variety of gents and firms.
I could not trade without The PPT and I’m not saying that to sell memberships. I built it for me, not for retail sales. The screens and the algorithms help me immensely. There are thousands of ways to use the tool, even I haven’t cracked all of its secrets.
12631, run and managed by ChessnWine and Ragin Cajun, is awesome, not only for the sage and flash picks from Chess and RC– but for the community aspect. There are hundreds of talented traders in there sharing ideas in real time. You cannot beat that. I wish something like 12631 was available to me when I started out in the business. I would have avoided blowing up a few times, without a doubt.
When mobile, I use the CNBC app for futures quotes and portfolio updates. It’s real time, free, and stable. There isn’t a better finance app out there to serve those ends.
On the desktop, aside from my trading platform, a good site to get fair value futures is this one. By the way, I also run a variety of data, included futures, post fair value, 321 crack spreads, WTI-Brent crude spreads, sovereign bond yields, at the top of iBankCoin, which is expandable too.
Oh, I almost forgot the olde telephone. I use that a lot too, talking to friends and enemies alike. I get plenty of text messages too, men in white robes offering “The Fly” sage stock advice through mobile means.
And that’s it.
If you’re going to take this business serious, you need the hardware, software and the know-how to procure and interpret information. Twitter has become a powerhouse for finance and news; you just need to know who to follow.
Sometimes too much information hurts through over-saturation. When there’s too many options on a food menu, I tend to get bored and order a grilled chicken gyro by default. Block out the waste and the retarded. Discard them. The Yahoo message boards can be useful, as well as Investor Village. But understand the majority of the people posting there know less about finance than a lower class gent from Chicago knows about decorum.
Invest in yourself and make sacrifices to the stock Gods, then wish for good fortune.
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Nice post pal.
Thanks Fly! Just yesterday I was thinking about asking you a question along these lines. Great post!
From the mind of a semi-professional gadfly and an admitted cynic I tell you that is the best, most constructive, useful and informative you have ever written. Anyone who does not bookmark and/or archive your post for ready reference should choke to death on fish tacos.
lol
thx
ditto that^
Had no idea CNBC steams for free.
As for music and news, check out Sonos for your new house. well worth the cost, and you can stream CNBC or Bloomberg to any Sonos zone if you have a Satellite subscription. Your Phone is the controller.
My wife was telling me about that. It’s better than Jambox because you can build an audio network, correct?
Yep, for example I have 3 zones. Living room, kitchen, and deck. I can play anything from my digital music collection on my network drive, any radio station worldwide with a stream, and any other steaming subscription like Pandora, Spotify, Satellite Radio, or Rhapsody. You can even play archives of many radio shows. A must have for a home of your grandeur. The best part – it just works, all the time seamlessly, I never have to fiddle with anything to get it working.
How is the fidelity of the speakers? I am very fickle about that.
I don’t use their speakers. I have the Connect (http://www.sonos.com/shop/products/connect), which you then connect to a stereo or radio using Optical audio cables (or rca cables). The sound is very good coming from the Connect using Optical cables. Personally I cant tell the difference between this and playing a CD directly on the stereo. You can also use the Connect:Amp and connect directly to any speakers.
Awesome post. Thanks.
That CNBC stream is handy. I also use the Bloomberg TV app on the iPad when I’m in the office.
what kind of chair do you sit in? Serious question.
I’ve had about a dozen chairs over the past 5 years. The one I have now has mesh back and ordinary seat. I believe it was ordered online and it’s great.
The fancy leather ones lose their cushion inside of a year.
I love my chair: http://www.globaltotaloffice.com/gi_2012/control.php?record_id=311
If I have to search for more than 15 seconds to find a price I instantly disregard the product. If the company is embarrassed of the cost, I am too.
I’m hooked on the herman miller
I have Brass (B2), U2, Pinks, two monitors for charts and one main monitor for browsing (twitter, IBC, etc.) I occasionally trade my personal account at work so it helps to have my ToS up.
I am a Market Maker though. I trade order flow and prop and actually like having my extra screens but that’s just me. I don’t use phone or laptop. I can’t imagine using a laptop when my rig could run 8 monitors if I chose. I don’t have the space either.
I watch some Bloomberg online but find that it can get distracting (particularly Dierdre Bolton and some of the other girls there).
My laptop is used exclusively for web surfing/blogging.
Lots of traders love using them no question about it. Makes sense using it for that as a lot of traders running sites seem to lean that way. I do use an Alien when I travel that is comparable to most pro trading rigs but it cost about as much as my desktop rig which is saying a lot.
Nice posts in 2013 here Fly, your chi is strong to start the year
Sounds pretty confusing to me! No wonder you don’t know which name to use half the time.
I like the guys at Bloomberg Europe better. I like to read all of the Foreign Papers Online for the gossip and the Econ Data Reports that post in the major countries. If you are up for Tom Keene and watch the Europe Open which is three hours earlier..then Fly, you don’t sleep at all…which I already knew.
Tom Keene should have had a flu shot…
Described my job as 99.9% research and 0.01% fetching coffee. Whatever equipment is running just needs some bandwidth – some redundancy is a good idea too.
The flu shot guarantees you the flu.
I never took one and never will.
I can diggit. Depends on your situation I guess. My wife is a hairstylist in frequent contact with the disgusting, unwashed masses. After getting the flu 3 years running (the real flu that lasts 10 days, not that nancy 24-hour shit people claim is the flu), I get the shot every year.
Me, too.
K.I.S.S (Keep it simple stupid).
One laptop here (large screen) with one chart set up with certain parameters and a watchlist of certain sectors and stocks.
I stream CNBC (free) in upper right with the sound OFF.
Have a kindle next to me with an iTune app. Listen to WFAN (sports) in the early AM then switch to local sports talk and then to other cities sports talk stations. During the summer I like to watch MLB day games as Ihave their app.
I’m up at 5AM and check the overseas markets and say ‘bye to the wife who leaves at 6AM.
Then if I am bored (like today) I will do a 20-25m bike ride on my Trek with stops in place if I have a position(s).
I trade on raw haggis and beaver.
What kind of desk do you have? Is it one of those custom-made real-wood desks or one of those piece of junk Staples or Ikea desks? Or one of those Mad Men 50’s metal tanker desks with an old banker’s desk lamp on it?
When someone walks into your home office, the first thing they look at is your desk. First impressions are everything.