Ask any new or aspiring trader about their preconception of a professional Forex trader and most answers conjure up images of men in pinstripe suits, sat in front of uncountable screens filled with charts buying and selling every minute. It is understandable why so many feel inadequate and at a disadvantage when sat in front of their 15 inch laptop trying to trade every set-up on every market at the same time. First things first, it must said that it is the Forex trader behind the screen that matters, his/her psychology, discipline and money management that determines the traders success and not whether or not the trader has the latest version of Dell monitors, high speed access to broker prices or an instant newsfeed. These things can contribute to the traders success but they are not perquisites for successful trading.
During your Forex trading course you could realize that there are benefits to trading from a single screen monitor or laptop and this can be used to the beginning traders advantage. It allows the trader to choose one single market to follow or one set-up to master on whichever timeframe they choose. With time and experience the Forex trader will build the necessary skills required to trade multiple markets or monitor for multiple trade entries. Once more advanced a Forex trader can start to create their own trading station and utilising technology in their trading. When using a handful of strategies on different timeframes in various markets, monitoring their correlations and watching how different timeframes relate to one another it can be imperative to have more screen space.
Having a multi-screen set-up during your Forex trading course is great way to keep an eye on various charts all at the same time. It also allows the Forex trader to access emails and newsfeeds which may be relative to their trading. Going beyond a four screen set-up is not normally a necessity and is more of a luxury rather than requirement. Having said so; for traders who also teach or act as a mentor to new traders; having extra 2 screens can be very useful as it allows traders to not only watch his/her positions but also provide training to trainees. The extra screens may be used as more of a command and control system whereby the main trader watches how trainees are progressing in order to correct mistakes and set trainees on the right path.