Is Windows 10 Ready for Production Level Automated Day Trading?
By Lawrence
Windows 10 was released back in year 2015. Back then it was new. It had many hardware incompatibilities and bugs that just crash without any warning. Windows 8 was a total write off. That leaves only Windows 7 as the viable option for traders to set up their trading computers back then.
But what about now?
Is Windows 10 ready to be the successor of Windows 7 for those of us who trade for a living?
Before vs. After May 2019 Update
Windows 10 is just a name. Over the years Microsoft has continuously updating Windows 10 with various fixes and enhancements. From time to time they also roll out major updates that revamp certain areas of the operating system to make it more robust and functional.
I have been toying with Windows 10 on some of our prototype machines for years now. We never consider moving any mission critical work to a computer with Windows 10 at all until after Microsoft released its May 2019 major update. Since then we see marked improvement in many areas making us seriously considering Windows 10 as our next deployment platform.
Pro Version Matters
Before we dive into the other topics, I should clarify that if you are going to consider using Windows 10 to run your trading applications, make sure you are having the Pro version, not the Home version.
Microsoft has removed significant number of features from the Home version making it unstable for trading.
Specifically, you cannot stop the auto update feature unless you patch the OS with potentially harmful hacker apps.
Without a safe way to block the auto updates, your computer can choose to auto restart on you in some occasion while just crash your trading apps after Windows 10 applied a patch that you have never asked for.
Even now that Microsoft has added the option for the Home version to delay the updates by 35 days. You will be eventually forced to install those updates. Just imagine you are forced to update your computer with a patch you know that is incompatible with either your computer hardware or the trading platform you are using.
In addition to that, you will want the more serious features like Remote Desktop to access the computer that is disabled on the Home version.
Yes, the pro version is more expensive but you get what you pay for.
Stability
Stability is always the highest priority for trading computers. We cannot afford to see the operating system just crash our trading platforms. Windows 10 is now much more stable and we have seen it running 7/24 some of our trading apps with no hiccups over 6 weeks duration. It is comparable to Windows 7 Pro in this aspect and we are now confident enough that it can carry the load without being the cause of unexpected troubles.
In general, we seldom leave our servers unattended for 6 weeks. Usually maintenance is performed every 2-3 weeks. Keep in mind that computers do accumulate small inefficiencies over time and a proper shutdown reboot routine can keep your trading apps running in their best conditions.
Performance
You may not believe me but it is first time Windows of a later generation actually works more efficiently than its predecessor. What this means is that if you have a older computer (can’t be that old though) like from 5-7 years ago, it would work better with Windows 10 instead of Windows 7. And Windows 7 does not take advantage of the latest hardware improvements anyway. So on new computers, if you choose to install Windows 7 anyway, you would lose 5 to 10% performance.
In the old days, every time we are upgrading computers with new version of Windows, it always felt like Windows has consumed a big chunk of CPU power. So we ended up turning off all the visual effects and fancy graphics to squeeze out a bit more performance. Now you no longer need to worry that the faster CPU you bought would waste its precious processing power on Windows 10.
Here is my comparison of optimization performance across multiple computers with different CPUs and versions of Windows.
Summary
Windows 10 Pro is now ready and it is a big deal.
It is not just a matter of buying yourself a new computer for trading. When you choose to lease a VPS with Windows from a hosting company, Windows 10 Pro / Enterprise is now a reasonable choice. And we no longer need to hunt for these old Windows 7 Pro computers just for the sake of stability.
As an observation, Microsoft is doing exactly what it did with Windows XP and Windows 7 to Windows 10. Both Windows XP and Windows 7 have to endure a 4 to 5 years cycle of patches and updates before they reach a level of stability that is suitable for mission critical applications. So Windows 10 is right on time giving us the necessary platform to run our trading apps now.
