The Day Trader’s Guide to Making Money Without Tying to a Desk

Ever since the internet was a thing, we’ve seen promotions about how you can make money from anywhere. The usual stock photo shows someone typing away on the beach, perhaps with a mai tai in one hand.

Anybody who’s brought a laptop to the beach knows that is nonsense. You can’t even read the screen; never mind, get a decent wifi connection. But it’s also not true that you must be in an office with a wall of monitors in order to day trade. Let’s look at what you realistically need in terms of time and gear if you travel and trade.

Day trading has its challenges and is definitely not for everyone, but one great thing about it is how little time trading sessions take out of your day. The bad news is if you live on the West Coast, you will be getting up really early to trade when the market opens, and preferably before. The good news is professional day traders do not trade all day. The vast majority of my trading happens between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. That leaves 20 hours each day to do other stuff, like see the sights if I’m on the road.

Please note that trading is not like a desk job, where I might chat with co-workers, attend a meeting, complete some tasks and eat lunch while working. I’m trading intensively. Even so, it’s great that I know my money-making day is usually over before noon.

Here’s the first place where you will “pay the price:” You must put in substantial time learning the craft. The alpha types who jump into day trading meme stocks with social media as their guide — they’re the walking dead and just don’t know it yet. Day trading requires discipline, knowledge and a great deal of practice. Invest your time and effort into proving that you can generate consistent profits before you think about taking it on the road.

Let’s say you’ve done that and like the idea of seeing the world while being able to trade at least occasionally. I’ve made quite a study about trading while traveling. Because I’m pretty handy with repairing vehicles — a skill I needed when I was broke — I’ve built my own mobile day-trading station. It’s a $280,000 rig with multiple monitors and uses a StarLink satellite feed. After hours, it converts into two full-size bunk beds in minutes. Do I NEED this rig? No. Has day trading given me the resources to create something like this? Yes.

I also focus on the other end of the spectrum: What is the absolute minimum I need to trade while on the road? Over many iterations, I’ve refined my kit to what fits into a backpack.

My main item is my laptop, a 17-inch model made by Falcon Northwest. They specialize in computers for gamers and other high-end users. However, I could certainly get away with using a Lenovo or Dell laptop, especially if I weren’t editing trading videos for YouTube.

Related: 4 Things You Need to Practice for Trading Success

I prefer to use a touchpad instead of a mouse because it allows me to keep my hands on the keyboard continuously. It also means I don’t need space on the side to use a mouse. Then again, I’m sure some traders prefer a mouse, and it doesn’t add too much to the traveling setup.

The other essential item is an external 17-inch monitor. I like the ones from Asus. They don’t need a separate power cord and draw power from the laptop’s connection. They only weigh a couple of pounds.

I also like to trade with headphones, whether I’m at home or on the road because they allow me to focus better. I use the kind that covers my ears and folds flat.

Sometimes, I’ll take an extension cord plus a plug adapter if I’m in a country that doesn’t have U.S.-type outlets. If I’m traveling for two weeks or more, I’ll bring a second external monitor. It’s nice to have the extra monitor to keep track of more stocks, but most days, there is one obvious stock to trade. I’m always focused on that one obvious stock, so having only one external monitor is not much of a hindrance.

Aside from the hardware, you need a good internet connection, which consists of two elements. First, use a Virtual Private Network or VPN, which does two things for you: It encrypts your data starting right in your computer, so the whole transmission is gibberish to anyone between you and your destination. You don’t want your account password to be readable by anyone but your broker. A VPN can also shorten the distance your instructions travel. I won’t get into the technical weeds, but you want the shortest distance between you and your broker.

Related: I Lost So Much Money Making These Day Trading Mistakes

Finally, there’s the speed and quality of the internet connection itself. If you’re going to stay at a hotel, call ahead and ask them to print out a report about their internet after they use speedtest.net. It’s a free service that will tell you a lot about the hotel’s connection. Just don’t wait until after you check in to find out the connection is junk.

Don’t get me wrong: Sometimes, your vacation should be a complete break from business. But if you put in the time to study day trading hard — and you stick with it through the inevitable tough patches — you really can trade from almost anywhere. There’s something pretty cool about looking out the window at the Pacific Ocean, trading for a few hours, and making $47,000. That result is not typical, but it did just happen to me.