Trading workflowTools desk
Inside the workspace · Built around the routine

James Rich Young’s Trading Monitor Setup

Explore the desk, its gear and workflow. Choose a setup year, then select a piece of equipment to inspect its role.

Independent study by Niklas Müller. Sources and citation policy

See the gap-review screens
Explore James’s daily trading routine
James’s desk · Setup archive

The 2026 setup

Four BenQs in two stacks, a secondary ThinkPad and mouse execution.

Illustrative reconstruction. We aim to match James’s published setup as accurately as possible. Screen notes distinguish what the sources show from example window positions, counts and settings. All trading data is fictional.

Following now
James’s time · Pacific··:··
Your time··:··
2026 desk Four trading displays + secondary laptopSelect a screen to look closer
Desk lowered.
The workspace through the day

Finding the time at James’s desk

Connecting to the routine
4:30 AM · Start1:30 PM · Finish
Open this in the routine

Preparation gets its own time before trading begins.

Follows the published weekday routine in Pacific time.

Example workflow across four displays

Follow a chart across the desk.

Choose a fictional watch below. Its charts and focus window update together on the monitors.

Original sample data
Preview the linked workspace.

Open a weekday session to browse the sample watchlist and compare its charts.

Before the open · From candidates to watches

What is James looking at?

One symbol, several views. Follow a fictional watch to its daily chart, larger context and quotes. Start with morning gaps, or inspect a carryover, scalp candidate or name from the wider sector universe.

Combined review windows from the earlier premarket walkthrough. The 2026 physical monitor layout is shown separately above. All examples share a 6:15 AM Pacific snapshot.

Interactive example
Fictional stocks and prices
  1. 01
    Build the raw gap lists

    Scanner + shared worksheet. Gap ups and gap downs are candidates for review.

  2. 02
    Filter news and review charts

    Remove offerings, ex-dividend moves and buyouts from the main gap watches. Assess the remaining charts.

  3. 03
    Choose the favourites

    Put the best watches on thumbnail charts, then recheck them near the open.

Market first

James starts his walkthrough with QQQ before reviewing individual gappers. Read the market’s direction and nearby levels first.

Downtrend, counter-rally, then a gap below support

PremarketPM $29.44Indicative quote
$29.47$31.64$33.81$35.97$38.14PREMARKETVOL07-2708-2409-2110-16PM
Hover, tap or use ← → to inspect. End returns to PM.60 of 520 sessions · Synthetic USD
20 SMA200 SMA··· Prior high / low $30.07● Premarket $29.44
PremarketPM $29.44Indicative quote
$29.89$33.83$37.77$41.71PREMARKETVOL01-1204-1307-1310-12PM
Hover, tap or use ← → to inspect. End returns to PM.40 weeks · Synthetic USD
PremarketPM $29.44Indicative quote
$29.97$34.71$39.45$44.19PREMARKETVOL24-1025-0626-0226-10PM
Hover, tap or use ← → to inspect. End returns to PM.25 months · Synthetic USD
PremarketPM $29.44Indicative quote
$29.20$30.14$31.07$32.01PREMARKETVOL10-14 06:3010-15 07:3010-16 08:3010-19 06:00PM
Hover, tap or use ← → to inspect. End returns to PM.24 hourly bars · Synthetic USD
Premarket
29.44
Prior close
32.00
Spread
0.03
Sample PM volume
1,300,000
Fictional Level 2 depth for DUNE
Bid sizeBidAskAsk size
20029.4329.46400
30029.4229.47300
40029.4129.48200
Generated quotes. The charts show no later outcome.
Why this window?

Daily chart: the main decision

Where is the premarket price relative to yesterday, the recent trend, support and resistance? James reviews the candidates one by one here. A large percentage move alone does not make a useful gap.

After reviewing the charts and quotes, why would you watch DUNE, and when would you revisit it?

Watch purpose · Choose any that apply
When to revisit

Purpose labels and revisit times stay independent. Labelling a watch does not add it to either time group.

At the open
No watches selected
For later
No watches selected
Historical workflow · December 2023

Three scanning screens. Three different jobs.

These roles describe the scanning tutorial. The monitor archive keeps each physical desk edition tied to its own sources.

  1. 01 · 5 × 10 · 50 charts

    Top watches nearby

    The closest scanning display holds favourite gaps, carryover names and scalp watches. A top watch is not necessarily a new gap today.

  2. 02 · 8 × 7 · 56 charts

    The remaining gaps

    The next display holds the rest of the gap list. These names may become interesting later if they develop a setup.

  3. 03 · 8 × 7 · 56 charts

    The sector universe

    The third display cycles through saved sector and industry lists. It can reveal missed gaps and stocks moving without a morning gap.

An interesting thumbnail moves to the main multiple-timeframe charts for closer review. It can return to the scanning pool if there is no trade.

How this relates to his physical monitors

The premarket video combines chart windows into a recording layout. This original example explains their roles; it does not reproduce a broker interface or one physical display.

2022: two center screens

The center-right display holds daily, weekly and monthly charts, the gaps watchlist, news and quote data. Intraday charts and execution sit on the center-left. The outer pair holds thumbnail charts.

Inspect the 2022 context screen
2024: four LGs and one Ark

Four portrait LGs return on the main desk, with a landscape Ark retained for scanning on the left. The December 2023 tutorial explains three scanning jobs, but does not establish the 2024 grid counts or a precise assignment to every LG.

Inspect the 2024 scanning Ark
2026: two BenQ stacks

The left pair holds thumbnails. The upper right has six linked watch charts above stock and QQQ timeframe rows. Level 2, orders and news sit on the lower right. The older review video does not establish where daily, weekly and monthly review windows sit in 2026.

Inspect the 2026 chart screen

Selected desk: 2026. This review example stays separate from that year’s monitor assignments.

The charts use Quant Lab’s price generator. Weekly and monthly bars aggregate the same 520 dated sessions by calendar week and month; the illustrative calendar omits exchange holidays. Daily averages use complete trailing windows. Hourly bars reconstruct the last three daily sessions, followed by a fictional premarket snapshot at 6:15 AM Pacific. Symbols, news, quotes and shortlist choices are teaching examples.

Our software · In development

A chart workspace of your own.

ChartDeck is our macOS workstation project for IBKR, bringing chart grids, watchlists and visual scanning into one workspace. Explore the idea behind it and try a sample chart grid.

ChartDeck is developed by this site’s owner. James’s desk tour does not establish that he uses it.
Explore ChartDeck
About this reconstruction

The 2026 tour supplies the four BenQ displays, the raised secondary laptop, the retirement of X-Keys and the updated desk gear. Exact product names come from its published equipment list. The upper BenQs are the older 60 Hz pair; the lower pair runs at 120 Hz with function controls integrated into their thicker gray bottom bezels.

The tour overview shows the screens at rest. The later Real Day In The Life Of A Day Trader video identifies timeframe charts above, Level 2 and order entry below, thumbnail charts to the left and a news feed for gap research. Its 2:44 to 3:14 passage informs the screen regions. The split 90-chart watchlist, eight sample trading panels, exact timeframe labels and small supporting windows remain illustrative. Neither passage identifies the new execution platform or a current risk budget.

The changing windows use James’s published routine as a teaching example for the selected desk. They do not establish the historical schedule for each year or represent a live trading session. Charts, sector groups and linked-watch controls use fictional data.

Upper left · Landscape · Original illustration

Watchlist overview

jry.DESK AT REST
2026 setup · Following now · 4:30 AM Pacific

Standby

This display is at rest. Explore the trading day to see its chart workspace.

Illustrative reconstruction. We aim for the closest match the sources support. Window counts, sizes and uncertain assignments are examples. Charts and order values are fictional.

Screen contents and sources

What the footage establishes

  • Thumbnail-chart grids occupy the left-hand displays.
  • James loads gap candidates, selects favorites and groups related names by sector.

Illustrated details

The 45-chart count, fictional symbols, sector split and chart values are examples. They are not a count of his actual windows.

  • Left displays and sector grouping, 2:51Real Day In The Life Of A Day Trader
  • Four BenQs and refresh rates, 7:46My Day Trading Setup for 2026