Forex Lifestyle – A Typical Day in the Life of a Forex Trader
Selected foreign exchange investors consider Forex not only a lifestyle but a passion that allows them to earn money from what they love to do.
Until recently, many people unfamiliar with the financial industry associated the term “forex” with fear and mistrust.
Not so long ago, the financial opportunities afforded by currency pair trading were only available to large corporations and fat cats in suits working in glass tower offices.
Now, thanks to advances in personal computers and internet connections, the global marketplace is readily available to anyone with a credit card or eWallet.
There are people all over the world who have made the choice to pursue trading as a full-time activity. The life of a full-time home-based trader can be lonely, as is often the case with work-from-home businesses such as freelancing or blogging. It’s not for everyone. If you are considering continuing trading as a day-to-day activity, read this first. Of course, this doesn’t represent all home traders. This is just one of many versions.
Fly on the Wall: A Trader’s Life
New traders who have a knack for reading the markets often set a goal to make trading a full-time career. The concept of building a big bank account balance, quitting your job, and being your own boss is appealing, but that’s the dream and very few people have the character or patience to make it happen.
Those select few who made it to the top now enjoy financial freedom and the freedom to spend their time doing whatever they want to do, but they are the minority. It’s not impossible, but it does require skill, hard work, patience, determination, time, and, some say, good luck. As with almost everything in life, there are no guarantees.
Like most of us, a home trader’s day might start with a cup of coffee and a laptop at the kitchen table. They start by checking news feeds to see what might be affecting the markets.
Checking the economic calendar is a must. News releases can greatly affect market prices and often go against technical analysis. Too many trend-reading traders are surprised by price reversals or spikes that commonly follow a major economic announcement.
If the news boards are clear, it’s time to open up the MT4 trading platform and start browsing the charts and taking notes. While everyone else is getting ready for their commute, a trader is already working. A tradesman might be walking from the kitchen to the sofa area or garden, weather permitting, but they are already hard at work.
Seek Patience
Research is key, due diligence is key, and patience is often the thing that holds it all together. There’s no hurry. A trader could spend the whole day viewing charts without taking a single trade.
Experienced traders choose their battles wisely. If something catches the merchant’s eye in the morning, he’ll place an order or two. The day starts well; it’s time to take a break.
Note: Trading is not like gambling. With roulette, you place a bet and instantly win or lose. Forex is nothing like that. Profits (or losses) accumulate over time.
You have to decide which way to go, but you also have to decide when to exit. The direction is selected from trend analysis or press release expectations, and the length of the order or contract depends on how much you intend to earn (or risk).
Your money works for you now, even when you’re not around. Take a shower, do the dishes, and go jogging. Your trades will be waiting for you when you come back.
Of course, you can stay at home and keep an eye on it too! Some tradesmen decide to reclaim that little closet in the house, put in a desk and a handful of monitors, and call it “the office.” They wear shirts and pants and work set hours and vow to be more productive.
Some go the other way.
They dress casually and take their laptop out into the world. They sit in cafes, restaurants, and even bars, connect to WIFI, and trade as they please. Some people simply use their mobile phone’s data network with the mobile trading terminal to trade in the great outdoors. The options are virtually unlimited. Step 1: Registration Step 1: Registration
Smart Trading From Home
There are ways to protect yourself from unexpected price changes. Two musts are the stop-loss order and the take-profit order. When traders place an order, they can set an amount they are happy to earn. There are no rules for this; it’s a personal preference.
The same is true for Stop Loss.How much are you willing to lose? These two functions are automatic and are activated when orders reach the set parameters.
This allows a trader to open multiple orders throughout the day without having to keep a minute-by-minute watch. Opening more contracts is often referred to as “diversification” (not putting all your eggs in one basket).
That way, you can still meet your investment quota for the day, but your results won’t be tied to a decision. It also means you can use your free time to do other things. Watch a movie or some trading tutorials; read a book; go shopping.
The day is upon us. It’s time to check your laptop and see how your orders are going. Check out the charts and see the moves for the morning, and perhaps add a few more orders on anything that caught your eye. What will you do now?
How to Become a Full-Time Trader
You can’t just quit your job and step in with both feet. Fortune favors the bold, but such an impulsive action is likely to end badly. Each mountain is climbed one step at a time. The first step is to open an account and gain access to the markets.
It can be scary at first, but it’s not as hard as you think. Learner drivers don’t learn by reading; they get in their cars and start driving. They have a professional by their side to keep them safe, but brokers have a much safer way of learning.
TIP: Once up and running, play the demo account for a few hours. Check the economic calendar, look for price trends, and make risk-free virtual transactions. You’ll know when you’re ready to start pursuing real results.
Life as a Trader: How It Really Is
Life as a Trader: All Roses and Flowers? Obviously not. In this article, we explain how a professional trader who practices full-time speculative investment lives.
How is life as a trader? This is the question for those who dream of a career in speculative investing. The question is more than legitimate, as we are discussing an activity that is not to be taken lightly, but which does significantly engage the days.
However, some prejudices revolve around the concept of “the trader’s life,” often spread by books and films. It is not a trivial matter, also because there is a real risk that people approach trading because they are fascinated by a Forex trader’s lifestyle that does not correspond to reality and, in the worst case scenario, is even harmful.
In this article, we provide a small glimpse into the real life of a trader, which investors worthy of the title live every day.
The distinction between full-time trading and part-time trading
Before describing life as a trader, it is good to make a clarification. Below, we will discuss the Forex lifestyle and habits of those who work full-time at the market.
Also because it is obvious: those who trade occasionally or do not make it their primary source of income “keep” the majority of the habits that distinguish ordinary people.
Does this mean that the only correct way to trade is full-time? Actually not. It depends on your goals and what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve them. Those who trade part-time do not intend to make trading their primary source of income and, in most cases, continue to work, whether as an employee or self-employed.
Of course, if we want to talk about “life as a trader,” it is necessary to look at those who really are full-time traders. Therefore, everything you will read from here on will refer to this category of people.
How is Life as a Trader?
Is it a good life as a trader? In reality, it is not said, just as it is not said that it is a “bad” life. We are certainly far from the glories portrayed in films, TV series, and books.
The real, successful trader is an individual who carries out a complex and, therefore, intellectual activity that can produce a certain income and determine a certain level of economic prosperity. However, he does not have time to waste on meaningless and infrequent diversions.
However, here are the aspects that characterize life as a trader:
Programming
The life of a trader is based on the dynamics of planning. “The clock” and time management in general assume blatant importance. The reason is simple: time is scarce and there are so many things to do. Consider, for example, that the analysis activity, which is separate from the actual operations, must in any case be carried out more or less daily.
Furthermore, the times are marked by the dynamics of the market. In fact, the day can be divided into various phases, which are characterized by greater or lesser liquidity and a greater or lesser presence of economic players. In this sense, the “temporal” elements to watch are the intersections that occur between the various business centers.
Loneliness
You don’t have to understand the term “loneliness” as something negative. There is certainly no mention of social or emotional loneliness. Professional loneliness, yes.
The reference is clear, and it is to the “working” conditions to which traders are subjected. Speculative investment, in fact, is a solitary activity that obviously does not involve collaboration with other people.
Quite simply, a trader has no colleagues, a condition that roughly all players share but which in any case can weigh emotionally on some specific personalities.
However, as demonstrated by the most recent approaches of social trading and copy trading, the trader can still forge links, even those of mutual interest, with others.
The Commitment
Life as a trader is not exactly a life of suffering. Certainly, we are not talking about a physically strenuous job or an activity that poses health risks.
Nonetheless, a significant amount of intellectual and even mental commitment is required.Those who practice full-time trading are called upon to exercise advanced skills, deploy strong willpower, and make efforts.
Trading is a complicated business in many ways. Yes, of course. If you think of speculative investment as a way to make easy money or, even worse, as a tool to generate passive income, you are literally off the rails. Even the most “automatic” forms of trading, such as the one based on expert advisors, require constant monitoring and planning.
The Stress
It is known that stress is a recurring element of so-called “modern” life. After all, who doesn’t feel stress nowadays? Now, all this also applies to traders.
In fact, it holds to an even greater extent. The question revolves around the risks to which the individual is continually exposed while practicing speculative investment activity.
risks that obviously concern the economic side. However competent a trader may be, the market can always come back to haunt him and cause a loss of capital.
Now, living with this sword of Damocles is not easy. Hence the perennial emotional pressure that a trader has to endure. Over time, everyone learns to manage their emotions, and above all, their stress, to ensure that it does not affect the quality of their trading activity.
Nonetheless, stress can be considered a strongly characterizing element of the practice of speculative investment and, in general, of life as a trader.
Freedom
Finally, an unequivocally positive trait The trader is, in general, a completely “free” individual. The reference is to the typical condition of all full-time traders.
As a rule, they are free from constraints, from the dynamics that force ordinary people to deal with this or that person or situation every day. All obviously fall within the perimeter dictated by law and common sense.
Obviously, this freedom manifests itself in the form of an almost infinite margin of discretion in managing one’s own efforts and commitment, especially in terms of time.
In essence, the trader decides when to start and when to stop, what to invest in and how much to invest.
For some, it must be said, this freedom goes a little to their heads or, on the other hand, causes some anxiety.
However, it must be taken into account that in trading, as in life, the other side of freedom is responsibility. In this case, towards themselves.
The Mentality of the Starter
This trait actually concerns, above all, traders who have recently undertaken full-time speculative investment activity. The crux of the matter is precisely the word “recently.” In fact, it can be said that the majority of new traders, at least those destined for success, are characterized by a mentality very similar to that of startuppers, those who start a business almost from scratch. Incidentally, by “new traders,” we mean those who have been trading for less than 2 years.
The reason is simple: like any entrepreneurial business, trading also tends to bear fruit over time. In the beginning, the individual is called upon to put forth the maximum effort and all the commitment of which he is capable.
This connects us to one of the most important and emblematic dynamics of trading activities: the results, if they arrive, do not arrive quickly. Indeed, many have to wait several months before looking at their accounts with satisfaction.
Why is it important to know all this?
It almost seems that life as a trader isn’t all sunshine and roses. After all, what activity is synonymous with a “golden/heavenly” lifestyle?
As disappointed as you may be with these truths about the full-time trader lifestyle, feel satisfied with the discovery. Knowing what awaits you is the best way to look at the goal with renewed self-confidence and a sense of realism capable of optimizing your efforts.
On the other hand, having the wrong idea of the goal in mind is the best way to throw in the towel in no time.
To start doing online forex trading, it is advisable to start with a demo account to practice. Below, you can find the official and secure links to open a demo account with some of the best online trading brokers available:
