MadDog's Trading House is an information resource for stock market traders and investors, including instructions for setting up and resolving issues with multiple-display trading systems, tips and tricks for implementing the CyberTrader Pro trading software platform, and a comprehensive bookstore of trading and investing books.
The core of the site is a blog including daily updates of equipment bargains, as well as an occasional rant or kudo by me relative to the financial markets. Every piece of information on this site is free. However, if you get some value or entertainment from what you find here, I would appreciate your using the direct links from the bargain items, the bookstore, or the marketing partners posted at the bottom of very page when you need to order something from them. It won't cost you an extra penny to do so, and it will help keep my wife happy.
About the Site's Components
Home Page/Blog
The main component of the home page is a blog that concentrates on posting breaking information on PC equipment deals applicable to setting up trading systems. The blog will also contain postings relative to the financial markets, and news relative to trading software platforms. Each post is indexed to a Category designation, which allows previous posts to that Category to be easily located. (See Categories below for more information.) Blog posts can also be located by date and via the site's blog search utility. Also, if a blog post is relatively recent, it may appear in the Recent Entries section in the right margin of each page.
Calendar
The Calendar in the top right margin on every page allows one-click access to a particular day's blog entries in the current month from anywhere on the site. If you need to access a particular blog post from a previous month, select that month's link from the Archives section in the right margin of every page.
Search
The Search box in the right margin on every page allows you to search blog entries by keyword. I'm working on a Search option that allow the entire site to be searched - although going forward, the blog pages will be the main search component anyway.
Categories
All blog posts are earmarked to a particular category. For example, posts about a particular bargain or deal on PC hardware are categorized under "Deals". If a post is written about something seen on or about CNBC-TV, it's probably categorized under "CNBC". If you want to explore posts grouped under a particular topic, or are simply curious and exploring posts in general, this is a good place to begin.
Archives
The Archives section in the right margin of every page includes links for archived posts organized by month. The page that appears will list the posts in reverse order for that particular month in total.
Recent Entries
As you might expect, Recent Entries in the right margin of every page allows one-click access to the ten most recent blog entries.
Marketing Partners
The image buttons in the footer of ever page, along with the graphic and text links located elsewhere in page margins, link either to the home page of a particular organization, or to more specific offers from them (where noted). In similar fashion, the blog entries categorized under "Deals" link directly to the product offers being mentioned. Every piece of information on this site is free. However, if you get some value or entertainment from what you find here, I would appreciate your using the direct links from the bargain items, the bookstore, or the marketing partners when you need to order something from them. It won't cost you an extra penny to do so, and it will help me cover the costs of keeping this site's content fresh for everyone.
Multiple Displays
Although the technical issues with setting up multiple monitor PC systems are not as difficult as they were when this site was originally begun in 1997, there are still some hardware-specific as well as software specific issues to track. Also, since not everyone is using newly developed hardware or the latest revisions of Windows XP, there is still a significant history of issues relative to older graphics adapters and/or previous versions of Windows still widely in use - namely Windows 2000, ME, and 98. Plus, when I see significant new hardware come on the market for facilitating multiple monitor systems, whether from large graphics adapter manufacturers like ATI, nVIDIA, or Matrox, or smaller but important niche multiport adapter makers like Appian or Colorgraphic (as well as monitors from custom multiple display and display-wall builders), I'll cover them here.
CyberTrader
In similar fashion to multiple monitor and display card issues, the CyberTrader Pro trading software platform has become considerably more stable and less bug-prone than in previous years. Many of the technical problems that plagued previous versions of the platform have been eliminated. However, there are certain setup and usability issues that aren't covered well enough in the program's documentation, and quite a few tips and tricks regarding the software that will be mentioned here. Therefore, going forward, I should be able to cover more issues relative to maximizing the benefits of the platform, rather than just chasing down solutions to technical and design problems.
Build a PC
Feel like building your own PC system for trading? Prebuilt systems have become so affordable that many individuals can't justify building one from scratch, unless they're picky about what they want in a system. Well, traders are some of the pickiest PC users I've ever met, and most of the major box builders (Dell, Gateway, HP, etc.) have limits on how much you can customize their configuration before you get it home, so I'll keep a running list of what I think are basic components for good trading systems. Also, I build custom systems to spec for a fair price, so contact me if you would like to have a custom system or number of systems built that varies from and/or surpasses what I normally recommend from prebuilt specialists like Dell.
Configure a Dell
If you're going prebuilt, Dell is usually the best way to go becasue their equipment and service is generally high-quality, and they usually have competitive pricing offers on the table. I still recommend building a systems from scratch if your needs are specific, and other quality prebuilt specialists like Gateway, HP, etc. sometime have better deals at the time, but all things being equal, Dell is usually a great option. I'll update the current Dell promotions in this section and in the blog and margin areas. I'm working with Dell on creating customized configuration pages to make it easier for ordering pre-built systems that are still customized as much as possible for trading needs. Stay tuned for that.
Books
I maintain a comprehensive virtual trader's bookstore in partnership with Traders Library, as well as a running list of recommendations of what I think are the best books for market trading. Any books not available through the main bookstore or specific product links should be available through one or another of the secondary bookstore associations on the site.
Other Stuff
This section contains information about news articles, a glossary of terms, fun items, and other things (you know, stuff) not available elswehere on the site.
Links
Links to anything and everything you ever wanted to know (or didn't know you wanted to know) about trading the markets.
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