Active day trading/forex while cruising

[Jason575]

Howdy all! I haven't seen too much on the forums about cruisers who also trade. There was a thread that started in 2003, but that was awhile ago.

I'm hoping to find someone who actively trades while cruising. I dont really care about what instruments you trade (I trade FX) as my questions are mostly equipment and connectivity related.

I humbly ask we not talk about the dark arts of trading... I'm on other forums for that. Let's assume the soon to be sailor is a successful and profitable trader. My plan is within three years live on a catamaran and trade while I am at anchor.

Some topics I am interested in:
1. Hardware configurations (multiple laptops, screens etc...)
2. Phone and other wifi good enough to trade on?
3. Using sattelite internet yet? I cant find any provider that's reasonable (2+k a month + expensive hardware)
4. Any other relevant experience related to trading while cruising.

If you have any advice I would be very appreciative to hear what you have to say.

I am happy to be here and thank you for your time!

[john61ct]

There are hundreds of professions that require just as robust a connectivity infrastructure.

If its title were more general, your thread would likely attract a greater quantity and quality of contributions.

[Jason575]

Thanks!! I updated the header to more accurately represent the question

[fcftampa]

One of the requirements for an active trader is a backup connection; this complicates matters.
Would you close all positions while on the move?
You may want to switch to a longer timeframe; connectivity at many islands is unreliable.

[StuM]

It depends on where in the world you are sailing and anchoring.


US ICW, Mediterranean and remote South Pacific are very different situations.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by Jason575

Howdy all! I haven't seen too much on the forums about cruisers who also trade. There was a thread that started in 2003, but that was awhile ago.

I'm hoping to find someone who actively trades while cruising. I dont really care about what instruments you trade (I trade FX) as my questions are mostly equipment and connectivity related.

I humbly ask we not talk about the dark arts of trading... I'm on other forums for that. Let's assume the soon to be sailor is a successful and profitable trader. My plan is within three years live on a catamaran and trade while I am at anchor.

Some topics I am interested in:
1. Hardware configurations (multiple laptops, screens etc...)
2. Phone and other wifi good enough to trade on?
3. Using sattelite internet yet? I cant find any provider that's reasonable (2+k a month + expensive hardware)
4. Any other relevant experience related to trading while cruising.

If you have any advice I would be very appreciative to hear what you have to say.

I am happy to be here and thank you for your time!

So much of this depends on what you actually need. Do you have an algo that's running on a colo server at the exchange and you're just tweaking it and keeping an eye on it? Are you streaming quotes for a couple dozen symbols to you computer? Are you swing trading or scalping seconds.....
Basically satellite is insanely expensive and high latency even at that cost. Phones are phones, there are sections of the ICW where you won't have service, definitely not available in blue water much out of site of land, and varies dramatically by country and location otherwise and anywhere you run the risk that you'll lose service at an inopportune time. Realistically it's only a viable thing if you're going to stop at a set number of places you know have solid 4G service, you don't plan to trade for days or weeks in-between while you transit, and you build in some big losses when you can't close positions due to lost signal.

I do recommend Google Fi service, fixed cost per MB almost everywhere in the world and I've had good luck with service almost everywhere with a Google phone which in some cases chooses the best signal from up to 3 carriers.

[Jason575]

During my trading now I rarely hold positions longer than a few days and most closed same day. I do expect to have to change my style to more of a swing trade, and reduce the pairs to save on bandwidth. TBH I'm not really looking to make millions, but sustain a lifestyle that I choose Thank you for your response, and look forward to any further discussion.

Originally Posted by fcftampa

One of the requirements for an active trader is a backup connection; this complicates matters.
Would you close all positions while on the move?
You may want to switch to a longer timeframe; connectivity at many islands is unreliable.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Jason.
Since you just want to discuss communications, you might be better off posting to “Electronics: Comms, AV ...”
Here ➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/

[john61ct]

A mod will move the thread if you ask nicely, "report" option

[OrcaMan42]

Actually I think the post is located perfectly. I too am currently trading from home... on land. Sadly I'd love to toss caution to the wind & make money aboard my own vessel & enjoy my retirement a little at a time. A little over here, a little over there... Sure I can trade between ports without missing too much action. Sat time is for may days only I think? Being a geek I'm interested in the tec available to make it happen like Wi-Fi extenders ETC.

Chris

[mvweebles]

I looked into state of art of comms last year. My conclusion: reliable, affordable data comms are reliable on cell, and there will be gaps that could be sizeable depending on your location. OP mentions $2k/mo for satellite. I found nothing even close - if it were, there would be a helluva lot more people cruising right now.

Location matters. Last year, I did several longish trips, a few in Florida (St Pete to Dry Tortugas, and another through Okeechobee, and north to Cedar Key). In Florida, occasional hit dead zones, rarely for more than an hour or so. Exception was Dry Tortugas where there wasn't even VHF weather.

But, I also did a trip from San Francisco to Ensenada (70 nms south of San Diego) and had no cell phone reception for much of the trip. Wifi at marinas in Ensenada (and many marinas) famously sketchy even with wifi extenders. I found tethering via Verizon, which works well in Yucatan, was not reliable in this part of Baja. A Mexico phone direct from Telcel might work better. Not sure Google Fi would be an improvement over Verizon - Google Fi relies on T-mobile for carrier relationships. I carried Verizon and T-mobile side by side for a month in the Yucatan 1-1/2 years ago and found Verizon to have consistently better service and fewer dropped calls. But who knows current state of art

Right now, my observation is that unless you have the budget and space for satellite equipment or your cruising grounds are populated areas with quality cell service, your best option will likely be to adjust your trading approach to allow for at least a couple days of sketchy comms.

Please report back - while my research of last year was not for near real time requirements of day trading, would be very interested to know what your research turns up

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Chris.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Jason575

Howdy all! I haven't seen too much on the forums about cruisers who also trade. There was a thread that started in 2003, but that was awhile ago.

I'm hoping to find someone who actively trades while cruising. I dont really care about what instruments you trade (I trade FX) as my questions are mostly equipment and connectivity related.

I humbly ask we not talk about the dark arts of trading... I'm on other forums for that. Let's assume the soon to be sailor is a successful and profitable trader. My plan is within three years live on a catamaran and trade while I am at anchor.

Some topics I am interested in:
1. Hardware configurations (multiple laptops, screens etc...)
2. Phone and other wifi good enough to trade on?
3. Using sattelite internet yet? I cant find any provider that's reasonable (2+k a month + expensive hardware)
4. Any other relevant experience related to trading while cruising.

If you have any advice I would be very appreciative to hear what you have to say.

I am happy to be here and thank you for your time!

Based on my experience, one key variable is the duration of a trade, which dictates how often you need to be online. I've traded seasonal spreads for years using the Interactive Brokers platform, so like to be on line every couple of days. So far, WiFi has worked fine.

[KTP]

I trade biotech mostly with some success (made $240,000 profit on a $50,000 investment in 2018 but that is very rare).

To curb my gambling habit, I started a little Robinhood account where I gave myself the freedom to do whatever I wanted. Utilizing the free trades available there, I have managed to trade $2500 into $14,000 in about a year and four months. My goal is to turn the initial $2500 into $250,000 in a 10 year time frame, which is making 60% per year compounded. I am well ahead of schedule in that challenge since by the end of the third year I only needed to be at $10,240.

In this view of my account you can see the volatility though....biotech is not for the faint of heart.

[Jason575]

Originally Posted by OrcaMan42

Actually I think the post is located perfectly. I too am currently trading from home... on land. Sadly I'd love to toss caution to the wind & make money aboard my own vessel & enjoy my retirement a little at a time. A little over here, a little over there... Sure I can trade between ports without missing too much action. Sat time is for may days only I think? Being a geek I'm interested in the tec available to make it happen like Wi-Fi extenders ETC.

Chris

You and me both brother! I plan to cruise mostly in the Caribean Island hopping. The goal is to find areas where I can get a good enough signal to top off the account and relax for a month or two. I'm already a pretty profitable trader now I just need to figure out the "nuts and bolts" of how to do it while cruising!