In this episode, Walter gives light to a common and, yet, one of the most important trading-related questions: how many monitors should you have? According to him, you should get as much as you see fit that can accommodate your needs.

But, does having this number of computer screens actually contribute a tremendous amount to the success of your trades? Or should the focus be more on your trading psychology and execution?

Download (Duration: 04:15 / 4.86 MB)

In This Episode:

00:44 – just long enough

01:41 – the real focus

02:20 – playing with fire

03:35 – a lot of screens

Tweetables:

The real focus should be on what that does to you neurologically. [Click To Tweet].

Do something that can improve your trades.  [Click To Tweet].

Trading is more than just having a number of screens. [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading is a wild and wooly place to be. That’s why Hugh is here, to post your questions to Walter, the naked forex guy. Hugh’s got questions and Walter’s got the answers. Here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Hugh: Hi, Walter. I know people kick out about this question so I was just wondering, how many trading monitors should I have and how big should they be?

Walter: This reminds me of the question which was — I think it was April — and someone asked Abraham Lincoln and he said, how long should a man’s leg be? And he said “Long enough to reach the ground”.

That reminds me of like … I have no idea. I mean, this is a personal thing and what kind of a woman should I marry or whatever, I do not know. I do not know what to tell you. I would say it’s like when you meet friends and “I like this guy and I want to hang out with him” or “I like this girl”.

Here is the thing, if you cannot trade on one screen then maybe you need two. If two does not work, then maybe you need three. I really do not know what to say. I would say that there are more important issues than the number of screens.

One is if you’ve got a lot of screens and you feel like you need a lot of screens, the hint that I am getting there is you are probably trading the lower timeframes. You are making snap decisions, you need a lot of stuff in front of you.

If that is the case, you are probably going to be like the real focus should be on what that does to you neurologically, what is happening to your brain when you start trading these lower timeframes. That is the real issue here and I would urge you to look up the nucleus accumbens.

Google nucleus accumbens — I’ll give a link down here. There are a couple of studies and resources in the shownotes for this podcast. Basically, your nucleus accumbens lights up when you start trading these lower timeframes.

That is the same area of your brain that lights up on you when you do a line of cocaine. It’s a very distinct thing. I mean, if you feel like you need to have seven screens or whatever, you are playing with fire, basically.

I am not saying you cannot do it.