Can anyone give me some tips for someone who is going to be trading while on the road and staying at various hotels, and using the hotel internet connection? What I'm thinking so far is that it is probably best to use a hard-line internet connection rather than wireless, and running a ping test at any new location to check for latency. I'm not really tech savvy though. Should the ping test be run a few times, or will once suffice?What kind of response time should we be looking for? Any other tips or comments? I'm trying to help a client out here. Anybody have experience with this and have any bad experiences to share? Thanks for any feedback. Doug McWilliams Cannon Trading Co.
Not sure what you are looking for. I do that from time to time (while on vacation. ;-) ). In major cities in the USA and Asian countries (I have done that) shouldn't be an issue. Internet access is quite common. But... If the provide a wireline access Internet (a RJ45 cable in the room) that would be the best. But these days most of them like to use wireless. (Though some provides both - like Courtyard Marriott). Probably because wireless is cheaper to for their installation and maintenance. But here is the problem: 1. How far is your room away from the WAP (Wireless Access Point, meaning the wireless router). They have a few on each floor probably... they are strategically located to cover most of the floor space. The thing with wireless: the farther you are from the WAP, the slower the bandwidth would be. If the WAP is right outside your room... that would be fantastic. You may want to check with the hotel staff about this. But most likely they will give you a blank look and not know what you are talking about. Ask them if they know which rooms have better wireless receptions than the others. And when you check in to the hotel room, test out the wireless connectivity first before you unpack anything and switch rooms if necessary. That's my lesson learned. 2. With wireless connections, each wireless device shares the same bandwidth from the same WAP serving them. So if you happen to have a neighbor who likes to download gigabytes of stuff in his room, it will affect your throughput. As it happened to me once. The IT staff at the hotel had to cut off the other guy and give them a notice. But I already lost one morning of time trading due to very slow connection speed. 3. If your destination is domestic USA, it helps to check if there is any FedEx/Kinko locations nearby as a backup plan. I did resolve to using their LapNet stations sometimes during my trips. 4. I always bring an external LCD monitor along with my laptop. And usually I bring 2 sets: 2 laptops and 2 LCD monitors. And a MUX (a switch) to share the landline. If wireless, each laptop has wireless capability. If you go that route, it's best to ask the airline staff to label your check-in luggage as "fragile" so the handlers won't toss your bag around with the LCD monitor(s) inside. I got one LCD monitor broken because of that (and I saw them do it too).
I have been trying to find some big-screen laptops for this but seems the biggest around are 18.4. An extra LCD is quite bulky to carry around. How about trading over 3G? Recently when I was traveling in Europe I purchased a local prepaid 3G SIM and got the connection this way. Depends a lot on the style though.
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My advice - use hotels which have an ethernet port in your room. You don't really want to trade on a public wireless network, for security reasons as well as ping. If you can't find a hotel with ethernet ports, use an internet cafe. If someone is travelling "on the road" - well, it is kinda naive to expect to be able to do that and still have good reliable trading access. A bit like sailing round the world and continuing to trade. Yes it can be done, but not at the same level of speed and reliability as trading from home or from an office. So, he should make sure he has his brokers' support numbers in case his connection drops, don't place lots of resting limit orders, don't trade so much size that a 5 min disconnect would screw him over, be careful trading news releases, common sense like that really.
1. carry on luggage should have wheels 10 lb carry on gets heavy after 3 hours. Roll it! 2. laptop should be under 5 lbs. Make sure it has a DVD drive, to watch movies when bored. 4 lbs prefered. 3 llbs awesome. 2.5 lbs spectacular, but probably no dvd. 3. skype should be registered, and bring a mic , $9.99 unlimited calls worldwide. Awesome. 4. put your valueables/money in an *inside your pants* on to your belt, pouch. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Creek-T...F8&s=apparel&qlEnable=1&qid=1270896635&sr=1-2 5. bring an atm card. 6. buy a kindle DX if traveling internationally. No english books sold internationally. 7. buy shirts that dry easily when washed with TIDE. such as nylon/polestoyr mix. 8. buy pants that don't wrinkle. 9. detach the stand on your #2nd LCD if bringing it, Use a clip to stand it. Like those ones on a webcam. the stand takes up shitload of space. 10. multi-SD card reader USB 11. small expandable SD card mp3 player. (ie. sandisk sansa) 12. Targus, defcon1 with sound alarm cord: http://www.amazon.com/GT908AA-Conbi...8&s=electronics&qid=1270896869&sr=8-1-catcorr 13. International multi electric adapter http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...&field-keywords=international+adapter&x=0&y=0 I love traveling. Thats about it enjoy
- Internet is not reliable at some hotels. Usually, when you least expect it, the internet goes out at the hotel. I would identify a few backup places should the internet go down such as a Starbucks with a wi-fi. In Thailand, there were a few Starbucks and all had wi-fi (for a modest fee). - Most wheeled bags have a frame which takes up valuable space in a carry-on so its best to go wheel-less. Yeah, you have to carry the bag around, but its good exercise. As I get older, I enjoy carrying things around more for the exercise. Here is a bag built to exact airline specifications and can hold 3000 cubic inches...something a wheeled bag cannot do. http://www.meivoyageur.com/ Here is another good one: http://www.redoxx.com/Airline-Carry-On-Luggage/Air-Boss/91018-Air Boss/100/Product For wheeled bags go with Travelpro. All of Travelpro's "carry-on" bags are slightly larger then the official requirements. http://www.travelpro.com/viewByStyle.cfm?style=Expandable Rollaboards# - The 18.5 inch laptop is heavy and takes up a lot of room. You can fit a flat-screen monitor into a large checed in bag and I would go with a monitor that is used from ebay. - When I travel, I usually carry 3 carry-ons. The last time I brought a large laptop bag which fit my 18.5 HP HDX, a large Velocity 10 slingbag and another bag. No one said anything and no one was checking. There is an art to getting by airport security and the crew with too much stuff. Move fast and dont attract any attention. No one has ever measured or weighed any of my carry-on bags...there is simply not much time for them to do so...therefore they just eyeball what you have and take a guess. The Travelpro and Briggs&Riley wheeled bags are designed to be slightly larger then the official requirements so you can get away with carrying more stuff. The Travelpro bags are typically used by aircrews and many professional travelers. - In addition to the one large carry-on of 45 inches total dimensions, you can also carry-on one personal bag of 36 inches total dimensions. I have gotten away with carrying 3 bags on board any time when I tried. I was questioned once some years ago by the guy at the TSA checkpoint, but I quickly explained it away saying I stored my computer in one bag and the camera in the other. After a while, he just waived me through. Explain quickly always and hustle through... - Foreign hotels will sometimes lose power...
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=191314&highlight=trading+traveling http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=159756&highlight=trading+traveling
It's often better to choose a room where internet is included in a rate or where the hotel has free wifi. If to enable internet you need any sort of login, chances are you'll be regularly diconnected and waste valuable minutes to log back in.