What is more important in execution/trading using the same number of applications, the size of the memory or the speed of the internet connection? Let's say 2 traders running the same applications but one has 512 MB with 4 Giga/s speed and the other has 1 G memory but only 2 Giga/s speed, which one is the better??
if you can't afford both, don't daytrade. internet speed: measured by latency in ms. If your latency is in seconds, forget it. If you are trading ES, it doesn't matter. Because the spread is $o.25, you can't get any better anyway. However on tighter spread instruments, with large cars, each tick matters. If you don't have the speed, you are paying through spread. Spread is money, speed is money. Your choice. memory: you must have sufficient memory so that the computer doesn't do any swapping at all. Swapping is time, time is money. p.s. beyond sufficient memory is a waste of money. More memory does not help your speed. The extra memory just sits there idle doing nothing.