Day trading in Philippines
Hi all - Anyone day trading online from the Philippines here? I've had a measure of success and would like to continue when I move there. Will keep my US address and use a VPN to access Think or swim (TD Ameritrade). Given that internet speeds aren't the greatest there, my biggest concern is lag time when executing trades. Can anyone tell me what issues they've had, if any, when trying to day trade from there. Thanks for any insights folks!
@Parvaze
Have you done any trading from here on vacation ?
Where do you intend to be living ?
It depends on where you will live and your ISP.
I do a lot of very complex work online (web development, digital advertisement campaigns via Facebook and Google ad platforms, analytics measuring website traffic and engagement ), and seldom have very serious issues such as sustained lags with my connection to do the work I do.
I think day trading would pale in comparison in terms of the bandwidth required to do your tasks. I am confident that you'll be fine.
@kristopherryanwatson No, I haven't that's why I was concerned if it might be an issue. It's not so much the bandwidth but the speed at which trades need to be bought/sold because they have to executed lightning fast. Sounds like it won't be an issue, depending on where I'll be (most likely Angeles or Davao) I really appreciate the response, thanks for taking the time!
@Parvaze You are correct about that. Your connection could be very fast but the delay to a USA server is caused by the external network from the PI to the US. Maybe you could somebody in Angeles to ping some servers in NY or wherever and look at the timing. A good ping time in the US might be 15-35 msec. I wonder what the ping is like from Angeles or Davao to NY (if that is where your ameritrade servers are). Maybe some techie on the forum could help you with that; it is a simple test to run a few hundred pings or so from different ISPs. Japan, S. Korea and HongKong would very fast I am sure. Not sure about the speed of our backbones here.
Not sure about the speed of our backbones here. -@danfinn
`
Guys, the Philippines ranks as quite good for backbone speeds.
Fixed Broadband
Global Performance       Philippines Performance (45th/180)
Download 74.54 Mbps    Download 81.42 Mbps
Upload 31.75 Mbps        Upload 78.82 Mbps
Latency 10 ms           Latency 6 ms
Mobile
Global Performance       Philippines Performance ( 81st/142)
Download 33.97 Mbps     Download 24.04 Mbps
Upload 9.34 Mbps        Upload 5.99 Mbps
Latency 28 ms           Latency 23 ms
Ref:
I wonder what the ping is like .. maybe some techie on the forum could help you with that; it is a simple test to run -@danfinn
`
Yes, an internet "ping" is like the ping sound of underwater submarine SONAR in the old submarine films.
You can do a ping test from any Windows PC or laptop etc, to any world net address. It's easy to to do a ping test, your machine simply sends out small packets to an address you command, and then gives your round-trip times in milliseconds.
To do a Ping test from your computer ..
Hold down the Windows key and the R key at the same time to open the Run Prompt window. Type "cmd" into the bar, then click OK or press Enter. In the Command Prompt window, type "ping" followed by the destination — either an IP address or a domain name, then press Enter.
For example, to test my computer connection speeds, from anywhere, I usually type: ping nytimes.com in the small Command Prompt window. You will see the ms times from your computer to the New York Times servers in America.
But, of course, you can send Ping return-signal time requests to any normal net address anywhere in the world.
A few lazy system operators turn off their system's ping resources because by people sending millions of such Ping requests at once, this is often the cause of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on their respective computer systems by overloading their individual computing resources. But, the Ping command is often a useful PC net-speed resource.
`
Kris kindly writes, @PalawOne
great reply here. Thank you for sharing!
-@kristopherryanwatson
Kind of you to write thank you Kris
@PalawOne Yeah, that's really good info to know. Much appreciated!
Parvase kindly writes, @PalawOne Yeah, that's really good info to know. Much appreciated!
-@Parvaze
Parvase, yes it's a quick and easy way to examine Internet performance.
Also if people type in 'Tracert' and any net-address at your PC command prompt, this boots another tool called 'Trace Route,' so giving you the time and route the test-packets take for that address to your PC. Anyway thanks again Parvase and Kris for your thoughts kind gentlemen!
@parvase Hello, retired computer analyst here.  I moved to Palawan last April and we got Globe Fibre. I find the speed to be good but the reliability is another matter. Once or twice a week it freezes up and will not route traffic. This can last for 1 minute up to half a day or even longer.  This is not a computer issue as Netflix freezes on the smart TV at the same time that web pages stop resolving on my desktop computer (wired connection).Â
Grandma's house next door has an alternate ISP, PLDT Fibre. I ran a lan cable across the yard so that I can switch out ISPs Globe to PLDT for my computer and I find PLDT to work more consistently. Currently I spend about 8 hours a day on my computer but my observations are anecdotal only, I cannot provide hard numbers for reliability.
Power Issues: Blackouts are a real thing here. They can be total blackout or just consumer loads.  We invested in some solar and an inverter so I can plug my router into the solar - 200 vac receptacle. If the power outage is total then solar won't help because the ISP is down as well. But if the Blackout is just consumer loads, then the ISP is up and our solar powers the Fibre modem so we have Wi-Fi internet and all my nephews pile into our house with their phones to feed their Tik-Tok addiction.
Hopefully you can visit an area to discern the reliability of Power and Internet before making long term plans.
Brokerage Issues:  This morning my Merrill advisor called me to cancel my IRA account. I had updated my info for the annual review and informed them of my residential address in the Philz but my mailing address was still in USA. He said they can no longer support me in the Philz and I need to find another brokerage. Two hours ago I called Charles Schwab International. Their agent said that I could not open and account with them since I live in the Philz. /boggle  Not sure if you will be impacted if you move here but Interactive Brokers should support clients living in the Philz. I want to be a farmer not a day trader so I'll keep investigating a solution for myself. Wish you the best of luck.
@Parvaze Hi, I wonder if you have tried day trading from the Philippines yet? I have the same question and a real concern really before I commit to coming over. I use IBKR and JT for execution if that matters.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
@Panamahatman lolz with the being a farmer. I love that!
i have a lot of friends slaving at work so they can save up to be a farmer one day. Some farmers kid striving so hard dayvtrading so one day she can go back to the farm her parents owned.
You can try exante.eu it created a network of 1,100 servers across the world to ensure the lowest latencies and safe data transfers.
Latency is the key
Hedge funds executes in and out trades in microseconds. One second could be the difference between a loss or profit. . . . . Trading Execution
Philippine internet is BAD - dont trust the pink times shown here by people that use OOKLA and believe what hey see.
I have Goble Fibre here with 200MBit up/down - sounds fast yeah - only that PING is horrible!
San Fransico - 204ms
New York - 255ms
Tokyo - 62ms
Singapur 44ms
But that's now - in the afternoon Singapur can go down to 200ms and tokyo down to around 100ms.
@Parvaze Hi may I please ask if you have been able to day trade from the Philippines.  Many thanks for your answer
  Latency is the key
Hedge funds executes in and out trades in microseconds. One second could be the difference between a loss or profit. . . . . Trading Execution
 Â
  -@Enzyte Bob
A friend of mine has been doing this for years in Dubai on mostly European markets. And he says the exact same thing. The big institutions are working on milliseconds! For his trading a tenth of a penny can make a huge difference. Add in institutional time factors beating you out and price changes and it's extremely hard. Then there's bank fees. He has old contracts with banks and his fees are minute compared to people getting in today.
I'm not much of an investor. Just a few stocks in the oil sector and lithium energy sector. Something I was told 40 yrs ago, "energy never loses money". My small investments are long term. some with dividends. And up 25% this year. :-)
@Mavster Sorry to butt in, but I trade daily (well, nightly) here in Davao City using TD Ameritrade's ThinkorSwim platform. I use an ethernet connection on my laptop instead of WIFI though, due to the occasional lag.
Considering to buy a house and stay maybe 3- 6 months and go back and forth here in US...IF its doable to day trade in pbilippines. Or maybe i. BULACAN. AREA.
I just checked my ping from here in the province 3 hrs from Cebu City. 54ms to NY. I have PLDT home. I also ran a speed test to Cebu City, 8ms ping, 277mbs download, 597mbs upload @12:30 pm on a Tuesday.
Daytrading? not for me. I have a few stocks doing 20% and I'm good with that.
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