TheNegotiator

For me it's mainly experience. But things that can effect your wireless connection are distance and what types of physical materials are in between you and the router, other air wave based communication data, the router itself and its traffic(lots of data at anytime means the 'clever' router will have to put more stress on its internal processor- many routers don't have very good internal processors). The other things you have to watch out for with wireless is things like power management. Laptops are set up (to some extent) to get good battery life. Wireless uses battery life. So it may turn the transmit/receive power down in an effort to save power. You may be able to specify a setting in the power management profiles of win7 for when it is plugged into the charger.

Absolutely. I personally have always been tech orientated and prefer to understand these things for myself at least to a decent extent. I find far too many so called experts know jack and I end up making them look silly even with a small amount of knowledge. (Much like many so called trading experts) On the SSD comment, I would say that for the OS you could run a new SSD but an older model may not have any performance benefits over a good mechanical drive although the access times are lower and they don't make a noise! Mechanical drives are a bit pricey at the mo tho due to the Thai floods.

It could be a combination of both things. Running the latest software on old hardware can be a issue sometimes. My guess is that it's not a clean trading only PC, wireless isn't great, hardware is a little older. A possible suggestion which may or may not help is to run a maintenance utility to check for issues. I don't think any are perfect but here's a free one:- glary utilities

Fair enough. But trying to make a proper comparison without actually knowing the old PC's specs is not going to work I'm afraid. Significant performance improvements have been made in the latest generation of Intel cpus, so if it's an older core 2 processor for example, with an older chipset, slower memory and a slower HDD(your new one may have a latest gen SSD although that is somewhat doubtful) to mention some key components, I'm not surprised that the new laptop keeps up. I don't think you confirmed which OS the old PC ran either. XP is fine as is Win7 imo, but if it was Vista then I'd have serious concerns for its performance. Buying a new PC(desktop or laptop) is a minefield of misinformation and lack of knowledge. I have found this to be greater in the retail laptop space. Many people who work with computers day-to-day in IT don't even have a clue. A little test, albeit a simple one, is to search for your cpu model on passmark. passmark If you don't know the model of your cpu, easiest is probably to download cpu-z which has a load of other information on your system too. cpu-z One quick note about cpu-z before anyone asks. Your cpu frequency is likely to fluctuate in cpu-z. This is not because cpu-z is inaccurate or your system/cpu is faulty. It's because of a power management feature from Intel called EIST(if you have an AMD chip I think it's call PowerNow!). Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology is what it stands for and it basically is throttling down frequency when cpu load is low.

Yeah okay, but what are the specifications of the older PC?

Being 12 months ago that you bought it, I am guessing it could well not be an i series intel cpu. There's also a chance it's vista. If you want to make the comparison between the Lenovo laptop and the PC, you need to disclose the PC's specs.

John, how old is your trade only PC? Also, just being trade only isn't enough. It has to be a clean OS install with no extra crap running at all. The wireless issue for me is clear. Don't use it if you care about price(trading). Any little fluctuation can screw you up and even with the latest wirless cards this can happen. It does of course depend on where you are in relation to the router. If you are sitting right next to it in your office, then it's much less likely to be an issue. But then if this is the case, why not just plug a cable in anyway? The other point is what is the traffic like on your network? The wireless data goes through your router, whereas hard wired connections are connected to a switch(within the same router). Generally I have found switches to be much quicker. Lenovo is a good brand. It used to be IBM's consumer PC business. It's also an expensive brand. No matter what though. Give it a few years and it'll start to struggle. It depends on how you work though. If you are happy with a wireless laptop, there are certainly good solutions out there.

I don't know Larry. Even if employment growth does pick up, we've seen just how fragile things can be. One big calamity and you can kiss goodbye to those employment gains in a very short space of time. I think there are a good number of calamities on the horizon, no?

livernik I agree with you that basically Germany has too much power now(who would've thought eh?). The power they have is being used in the wrong way. They are indeed effectively trying to impose their own rules on these countries where it's not gonna work. It's kinda like when a big corporation buys a smaller but successful competitor, then imposes all it's own rules and practises on it. Surprise, surprise the company then becomes unprofitable.

Hi phoenix, One piece of advice to you. Use your accumulated knowledge and time reading price action in CONTEXT. Know what the backdrop to price action is for the market and trade when both fit together. If you haven't started doing this yet, it is your next step. You probably have seen it already as it's another active thread like the one Tams suggested, but I would say look at what is being said day-to-day in the e-mini thread. e-mini day trading thread Don't bother reading it all, just start from today. If you don't get it straight away, don't worry I am sure you will soon enough.

Quite probably yes, your computer is slow. Is it a trading only pc? If not then windows and its wonderful registry will conspire to kill performance. Also, is it connected wirelessly? If so, connect it via an ethernet cable to your modem/router. Period. Personally, I don't like laptops for trading at all. They are imo overpriced and underspeced. They are difficult to upgrade too other than memory/hdd(although many have limitations in the bios as to what you can do here- For example, I have an old laptop which won't recognise 4gb of memory it has in it. Dell imposed a 3gb limit. I'm sure there is a bios hack out there which could fix this, but should it really be this hard?). Anyway, each to their own as they say!

Lol, I think we went a bit off the thread topic ahimsa! I think Berlusconi had no choice and I'm glad to see him not clinging on to power(any longer anyway). I didn't think he was good for Italy, but who will be next and what will they be in the years to come? Absolute power corrupts absolutely as they say. It seems this is what the market wanted for Berlusconi though and so for now I think it will be a good thing. But I don't know. The whole system is rotten basically and the changes they implement won't stop history from repeating itself down the line. Who knows. Unfortunately I am not a Soothsayer!

Spain anyone? ........

Yeah, nothing too unexpected there. A point worthy of noting is that over the prior few days the pattern has been the same. Sell off then rally into close. What's the betting that we'll make new highs today then?

I think it is better to philosophise or to do. Trying to do both at the same time is often difficult. Btw are you happy about the Berlusconi news?

Hmm. I think I get what you are saying. You love trading but there are things which have made you step back and question your whole understanding of the nature of trading and the markets as a whole. Part of this is other things have kept you away from trading for a while. Am I correct? Anyway, if I am right I'd say two things. One it's good to question. A period of forced reflection may help you to get to the core of your method. Two the markets have been wild for a while now. You have to adapt to the market day by day. I think that everyone does go through a questioning phase like this and I think it's good. When you come out of the other side, you'l be more clear, more focussed and more determined to be that independent trader!

sdoma, the other thing was the big delta around 10:30. Pretty decent clue that more downside was due. josh, I'm not pinning everything on further downward pressure yet. The current move down did stop right on the last swing low from yesterday. Also, we are coming into lunch so volume lower because of that, but also activity possibly lower because of that. Think of it like this. We've seen an attempt higher and an attempt lower. Participants likely to say to themselves "okay, gonna take lunch now and see what things are like when I come back". The other thing is are we gonna get back into the IB? Didn't go just then so we'll see. If it doesn't, then that's more info even if you didn't trade against the attempt. I didn't actually see the current low as I was distracted, but a cursory look was that it was testing the level rather than rejecting. So it could well be revisited later on. Also lots of news these days.

Very nice ahimsa. I'm sure with dedication you will become that independent trader sooner or later.

Okay let me be a little clearer. This thread is for discussing anything directly related to how we might trade or look at the E-mini futures contracts. So techniques for analysing the market, or even specific trading ideas.

Here's a quick visual for you.

Basically yes to all of what you have said. Development is just horizontal filling out of the profile. With regards to the 66.50 and 75.25. Yes because they are major high/low volume respectively, but also because they are the first major levels on the way up to the upper major VPOC.

And what's it all about? The mega rich not losing too much money. And who'll get stuffed the most? The common man(and woman ).

Ants, Please stop posting links. This is a thread for ideas. If you want to criticise any contributor I suggest you start an alternative thread to do so. Contribute or kindly don't comment. Thankyou.

At the time of me writing this, ES is currently sitting at1265.75 bid having tested the first higher volume area of 1266.50 and retreating slightly from 1267.50. It is 08:13 EST and so there is plenty of time for the market to move back into the 3-day balance before RTH open. However, if we were to open above 1260.50 or get above it, the next important price other than 1266.50 is 75.25. Remember that we need to see development higher for the move to be sustained and not just tests higher. This means trading going on. Anyway, I've noted a number of important prices in the long term chart with the thicker dashed lines being my important prices for today. Not that they are automatically more important than other prices like the 1302.75, just that I'm more keenly watching reaction at them today.

I'm sure there are others and if anyone wants to post a good one, please do so. But here is a live Eurozone debt crisis blog from the FT:- Live Eurozone Debt Crisis Blog