The Algo Trading Setup Nobody Expects
People always ask me about my trading room. They expect the classic Wall Street image – a dark room with six monitors glowing, charts streaming across every screen, news feeds scrolling, and maybe a Bloomberg terminal in the corner. After all, I run a hedge fund. Surely the setup must be impressive, right?
The truth is almost comically simple. My entire algo trading setup fits in a backpack. I have traveled to over 65 countries with it. I spent six months in Southeast Asia running everything from cafes and hotel rooms. No office. No monitor wall. No dedicated trading desk. Just three devices and a philosophy that has shaped not only how I trade, but how I live.
In this article, I am pulling back the curtain on exactly what I use, why I use it, and the three core principles behind my minimalist approach. Watch the full video below, then read on for the complete breakdown.
The Big Reveal: What Is Actually in My Trading Room
Here is the full inventory of my algo trading setup. A lightweight laptop weighing just 1.3 kilograms. A reMarkable digital paper tablet. And an iPad. That is it. Three devices. No external monitors. No fancy peripherals. No ergonomic standing desk with cable management that belongs on a YouTube tech channel.
I know this sounds almost irresponsible for someone managing algorithmic strategies across multiple markets. But this minimalist setup is not an accident or a compromise. It is the direct result of three principles I have built my entire trading career around. Each device serves a specific role, and together they cover everything I need – from strategy development to live execution monitoring.
Philosophy 1: Simple Business Everywhere, Anywhere
The first principle behind my algo trading setup is portability. I wanted to build a business that could run from literally anywhere in the world. Not “work from home” anywhere. Actual anywhere – a cafe in Chiang Mai, a co-working space in Lisbon, an airport lounge in Dubai.
This is where the 1.3-kilogram laptop comes in. It is light enough to carry all day without thinking about it, yet powerful enough to handle strategy development, coding, and research. But here is the key insight – I do not run my heavy backtesting on the laptop itself. That work happens on remote servers running TradeStation. The laptop is essentially a portal to far more powerful machines sitting in data centers.
This separation of local and remote computing is what makes the whole thing work. When I need to crunch ten years of tick data across multiple markets, the remote servers handle it. When I need to sketch out a new strategy idea or write code, the laptop is more than enough. The result is a business that genuinely travels with me. Those six months in Southeast Asia were not a sabbatical – I was fully operational the entire time, running the same breakout strategies I would have been running from a London office.
Philosophy 2: Make It Enjoyable
This might sound soft compared to the usual trading advice about discipline and grinding through drawdowns. But I believe making the process enjoyable is one of the most underrated edges in trading. My biggest strength has always been creativity – specifically, the ability to come up with new strategy ideas and see patterns others miss. And creativity does not thrive in a sterile, high-pressure office environment.
That is why the reMarkable tablet is such an important part of my setup. It is a digital paper device – no apps, no notifications, no distractions. Just a screen that feels like writing on actual paper. I take it to cafes, parks, wherever I feel inspired, and I sketch out strategy concepts by hand. Flow charts, logic diagrams, entry and exit conditions – all drawn out visually before I write a single line of code.
This is actually how most of my best strategies have started. Not staring at a screen running optimizations, but sitting somewhere interesting with a pen and paper, thinking creatively about market behavior. The reMarkable lets me do that digitally so I can organize and reference my notes later. If you are getting into algo trading without a programming background, starting with visual strategy design on paper is one of the best things you can do.
The environment matters more than people think. When trading feels like a chore, you stop doing the creative work that generates edge. When it feels like an interesting puzzle you get to solve from a beach cafe, the ideas flow naturally.
Philosophy 3: Automate, Automate, Automate
The third principle is the reason a minimalist algo trading setup is even possible. Automation. If you are still manually placing trades, watching charts for entries, and calculating position sizes by hand, then yes – you probably do need multiple monitors. But when your strategies are fully automated, the execution happens whether you are watching or not.
This is where the iPad earns its place in the setup. I use it primarily to monitor live strategy executions. I can check positions, review fills, and confirm that everything is running smoothly – all from the iPad or even my iPhone. The key word is monitor, not manage. The strategies are making their own decisions. I am just making sure the infrastructure is working.
But automation goes beyond just trade execution. I automate repetitive research tasks with Excel macros. I use ChatGPT to speed up coding and analysis workflows. Anything I find myself doing more than twice, I look for a way to automate it. This philosophy is what separates hobby traders from people running a real trading business. The less manual work you do, the more time you have for the high-value creative work – which, as I mentioned, is where the real edge comes from.
Tomas’s Setup vs. What Most People Expect
| Component | Typical Trader Expectation | My Actual Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Monitors | 4-6 screens mounted on a stand | Laptop screen only |
| Computer | High-end desktop workstation | 1.3 kg ultralight laptop + remote servers |
| Strategy development | Indicator-heavy charting software | reMarkable tablet (pen and paper first) |
| Trade monitoring | Dedicated screens with live charts | iPad or iPhone |
| Backtesting | Local machine running overnight | Remote servers (TradeStation) |
| Workspace | Permanent home office or trading desk | Any cafe, hotel, or co-working space |
| Portability | Stationary, location-dependent | Entire business fits in a backpack |
Why Minimalism Actually Works for Algo Traders
There is a deeper reason why this stripped-down algo trading setup works, and it connects to how algorithmic trading fundamentally differs from discretionary trading. A discretionary trader needs to watch price action in real time, scan multiple markets simultaneously, and make fast decisions based on visual information. Multiple monitors genuinely help with that workflow.
Algorithmic trading is a completely different game. The work happens in two distinct phases. Phase one is strategy development – research, idea generation, coding, backtesting, and validation. Phase two is execution – which the algorithms handle autonomously. Neither phase requires a wall of monitors.
Strategy development is a thinking activity, not a watching activity. The best ideas come from deep focus, not from glancing across six screens. And execution monitoring is a periodic check-in, not a constant vigil. If your strategy needs you to babysit it, that is a problem with the strategy, not with your monitor count.
This is one of the things that makes breakout trading strategies particularly well-suited to this lifestyle. Breakout entries and exits are clearly defined by rules. There is no ambiguity, no subjective chart reading. The algorithm knows exactly what to do, and it does it whether I am at my laptop or walking through a market in Bangkok.
Building Your Own Portable Algo Trading Setup
If you are inspired to simplify your own setup, here is what I would suggest. Start by honestly assessing what you actually need versus what looks impressive. Most traders accumulate gear and software out of habit or because they saw someone else using it, not because it improves their results.
Get comfortable with remote computing. Cloud servers and remote desktops mean your laptop does not need to be a powerhouse. It just needs to be reliable and portable. Invest in a good internet connection setup – I carry a mobile hotspot as a backup everywhere I go.
Most importantly, build systems that do not need you. Every time you catch yourself manually doing something repetitive – calculating a metric, checking a condition, placing a trade – ask yourself how you could automate it. The more you automate, the less hardware you need, and the more freedom you have to work from wherever makes you happiest and most creative.
Your algo trading setup should serve your life, not the other way around. If you are chained to a desk because your trading demands it, something in your process needs to change. The whole point of algorithmic trading is that the machines do the work. Let them.
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