First Adopter

A nice trading setup isn’t going to make you a better investor. However there is nothing more frustrating than missing an opportunity because your system crashed or you didn’t get the information you needed fast enough. I spent years and countless hours improving and iterating my setup. I’m very happy with it now. If this post can help you save some time and anguish that would be great.

Hardware
-Mac Pro 2008 Version
-Intel 2.8 ghz quad-core Xeon processor
-4GB DDR2 800mhz FB-DIMM RAM
-Intel 80GB G2 SSD flash hard-drive
-Western Digital 640GB hard-drive
-Western Digital 160GB external Passport hard-drive
-OWC Mercury On-the-Go Firewire 800 external enclosure using Western Digital 160GB 2.5″ Scorpio hard-drive
-2 ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics cards
-Dell 2001FP 20″ monitor
-HP LP2475w 24″ monitor
-Dell 2209WA 22″ monitor
-Fuji ScanSnap S300M scanner
-Apple Keyboard
-Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse

The reason I use a Mac is I’ve found them to be stable. My Mac Pro hardly ever crashes. With its quad-core processor and 4GB memory, it runs all my applications quickly with no slow-downs. The other major reason I like Macs is they are less of a security risk from viruses and spyware. That gives me extra peace of mind as it stores all my important financial and research documents. I do have a spare Windows PC that I built myself with the latest and greatest graphics card, so I can do my very important fundamental research in the video-game sector.

I use the Intel SSD drive as an app and OS boot drive. It’s wicked fast compared to traditional hard-drives. It also has an additional benefit of extra durability. I use a simple external Western Digital Passport drive for my Time Machine Backups. I also do a monthly backup to the OWC Firewire external hard-drive. The OWC is great because Firewire 800 makes backups quick. It’s also bus-powered, so no power supply needed. Furthermore if there is ever a fire or terrorist attack, I know if I grab my OWC I can still save my data. With my backup strategy at all times I have 3 copies of my data 1) internal hard-drive 2) Time Machine Passport drive 3) OWC external drive. Ask anyone that has ever lost any data. You can never be too careful.

The 2 graphics cards I have can drive up to 4 monitors at once. I use 3 currently. The special thing about my monitors is all of them have IPS-panels, which are far better than the TN-panels prevalent at your local Best Buy and Costco. You have pay up for this technology, but it gives you better viewing angles, color accuracy, and less eye strain. Once you try an IPS-panel monitor, you can never go back.

For some reason I can’t take notes from conference calls and type up earnings matrixes on the computer. The Fuji ScanSnap scanner does a great job in scanning all my research notes into PDFs. I can then use OS X’s spotlight search feature to bring up any hand-written earnings notes in the past few years. It works well.

I use a small foot-print wired Apple keyboard with no numeric pad. It saves much need desk space. I initially tried the wireless Bluetooth version, but never trusted because sometimes it would lose the wireless connection to the PC. That is death when you’re putting in a trade. I also avoid the fancy Magic Mouse and prefer my simple $10 Microsoft 2-button optical mouse, which I’ve been using for more than 10 years.

Software
-OS X 10.5.8
-VM Fusion 2.0.5 with Windows XP
-Xpad 1.2.6
-twhirl
-Adium
-SuperDuper! 2.6.2
-Disk Warrior Rev 810
-MarsEdit 2.2.3
-Think or Swim ThinkTDA software
-TradeLog 7.2
-Schwab StreetSmart Pro 4.22.6
-Command Center 2.0

I use VM Fusion to run Windows apps on my Mac. It works perfectly. I’ve never had a problem. Virtual machine emulation software is pure magic. Xpad is a simple note-taking app that always saves everything you write. twhirl is a solid twitter client and Adium is a good instant messaging one. SuperDuper! is my back-up software. Disk Warrior keeps file permissions in tip-top shape and is good for disaster prevention. It’s kind of like flossing and brushing for hard-drives. MarsEdit is a great blogging client.

I use ThinkorSwim’s ThinkTDA software for charts and real-time order status reporting. It works with my main TD Ameritrade brokerage account. TradeLog is my trade accounting software. It takes the pain out of tax reporting and wash-sales accounting. I use Schwab’s Street Smart Pro for real-time news, quotes, time/sales, and level 2. And last but not least, I use TD Ameritrade’s Java Command Center 2.0 for order entry and real-time charts.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask on Twitter: firstadopter or email: fb(atsign)earningsbreakout.com