Forex trading as a career?

I was telling someone about Forex trading the other day and the question of investing into it full-time came up… My answer was that more time trading does not equate to larger profits; as a beginner, I thought that I needed to put a lot of trades on, be very much involved with it 24/7; in truth, I got too involved and overtraded myself into (demo) losses.

Again, everyone is different, but a newbie trading full time is like a learner rider being handed a Ducati 1098 and told not to crank the throttle on full… The temptation would be very strong, and your sense of restrain/awareness not quite as strong to keep you from harm…

Before you quit your job to trade the market full time, you need to ask yourself two important questions:

First, have you been consistently profitable every month trading the market?

Secondly, are your profits enough to pay for your expenses every month?

If you are going to rely on trading as your source of income, you need to know with absolute confidence that you can bring in the profits at the end of each month to pay for your monthly expenses and more.

If you are just starting out as a trader, I would strongly suggest that you keep your job and learn to trade the market on the side. As you trade you will improve your trading skills and gain valuable experience on how to trade the market profitably in the long term.

Psychologically, you will also trade better if you are not worried about your next paycheck. Learning to trade the market is challenging enough. Do not give yourself added stress and pressure to perform well in your trading just so you have enough profits at the end of each month to feed yourself and your loved ones.

There is nothing wrong in keeping your job and trading the market at the same time. You can use the profits from your trading to supplement your income rather than seek to replace it.

Very agree with codester, but I think need several months with real profit to confirm you can pay for your bills

Whenever clients of mine say this, it triggers off the alarm bells! If you’re thinking of quitting your job and trading fulltime, it may be worth doing some serious thinking.

How big is your trading account?

How much do you reasonable expect to make in percentage terms?

Would your “conservative” percentage figure, translated into a cash sum be enough to keep you in the manner to which you want to become accustomed?

The problem with trading for an income with a smaller sized account is that you put pressure on yourself to make money. If you’ve quit the regular income you get from your day job then this pressure is even more acute than before so it will most certainly influence temptation boredom, frustration and anger trades. Remember, the market doesn’t owe anyone a living. It will simply do its thing regardless. I always recommend people trade for capital growth and simply have it in collaboration with other income streams.

For the reasons stated in the post above, I prefer to view trading as a way to make great capital growth rather than income (unless, of course, you have a whale sized account!!)… sometihng you can set, forget, and have running in the background. The fact that I trade end of day only is a large part down to this.

I think to actually be a full time trader you need to be able to make enough profit in 1 day or hours to live off of the rest of the year, then the real fun will begin.

It seems that people are binary in their thinking - either full-time trading income, or permanent employee income.
There are many industries where people don’t get a permanent employment nor fixed regular salary. I’m an ICT contractor and do 6 months here, 12 months there. I have to manage my income to span [U]every[/U] week - not just weeks I’m working.
To me, trading would effectively be the same. You’ll lose sometimes and you’ll gain sometimes. As long as your overall position is cashflow positive, you can figure out where the buffers need to be and pay yourself a regular “salary” to live off regardless.

Giving up a steady job for something that is very ‘iffy’ is a poor choice to make. You should keep your job and try to fit in forex trading during the hours you aren’t working. To be profitable in forex you need to do a lot of practicing or you will just lose your shirt. Get a professional to help you so you understand what to do. Take some courses. But never give up your job. Don’t be hasty.

Yeah totally agree with you. I would always prefer part time forex trading while working on a full time job

[QUOTE=“antoanete;588775”]I think forex trading is very fantastic, profitable and interesting. You can gain a big money if you encounter the best broker. Scalping is necessary.[/QUOTE]

That pretty much the same as your post on another thread over in Newbie Island, I won’t respond to both but just add my thought - I agree with all you say here other than the last bit. I know that some like scalping and make good money at it, but personally wouldn’t consider it ‘necessary’. I know a few guys who trade well who don’t touch scalping.

And on the whole ‘trading as a career’ idea, that’s a question that will always get different answers from different people. Trading as a sole or primary income-gaining activity is a lifestyle, so the answer boils down to more than simple income.

There is no question that successful trading can bring in a comfortable income, but whether one wants to walk away from a more conventional career job is quite a different question, with no universal, ‘correct’ answer.

ST

Same with me , i make forex trading business as my side job and also the result of this job as my extra income so i can get money beside my main job as my full time in my real life

Really boring,Yes but you can make it interesting,it deals with the mindset,Some people find Maths boring while others find it very interesting…One man’s meat is another man’s poison lol …I find Forex intriguing when you start gaining profits you would definitely find it interesting and would like to dig in more,it becomes boring wjen the losses start falling in :wink:

Quitting your day job to focus on Forex trading is a major decision. You need to make sure you can make enough for your living. If not, keep your day job and trade Forex for extra income.

I personally find FX far from boring. Of course its not for everyone. If you want to make it your primary source of income, you should make sure you can sustain your profit target each month.

I would first analyze how much you are truly making from your trading. Do you want to quit your job because you are profitable, consistently with your trading? You can be consistent but your profits may be a couple dollars a day. If you do a true analysis of your living expenses and can cover everything with trading then you could consider doing it “full time”. But what is “full time” trading. For one, I would not want to sit in front of the screen for hours just watching the candlesticks being painted hoping to hit my profit target. Two, when do you consider yourself a professional or full time trader? This probably could be answered if trading was the only thing you did.

I see many people they join forex for living .They do full time trading as career. Forex is time demanding business. As much you will spend time you will find good tips for trading. As a career forex need a lot of care and hard work so that you earn from it not loose money all the time. Full time traders are more in benefit because the watch market time to time and avail good chance of market to get profit.

Only if you have enough capital, i.e. above 50k imo.

Having a career and making a living off of Forex Trading is NOT something that is EASY or be taken lightly. This is one of “The 9 Biggest Lies in Forex Trading” that many new or novice Forex Traders fall susceptible to.

I’ve been trading for more than 26 years and I can tell you in order for ANYONE to trade for a living he/she is going to have to do a great deal of preparation working in the form of education, finding a Mentor, Teacher or Forex Trading Coach. You’re going to have to spend money to make money and then after that. Imagine the enormous pressure that you will constantly be in trying to live off of your trades and paying the mortgage, rent, credit cards, putting food on the table and more. The glimmer fades away real quick.

I’m not saying it can’t be done, because obviously many are doing it, but those new to Trading shouldn’t expect to be trading full-time overnight and/or living off of their trades overnight. There is a reason my 95% of Retail Traders lose in Forex.

Man this topic is vast and I would hope that many experienced Traders will chime in and share their experiences.

With that said:

Have a magnificent day on PURPOSE!

Trading CAN’T be used as a continous income source. You can build a nice equity and live off that, but trying to pay mortgage or to put food on the table is a very bad idea.

This is why they say, that you need money reserves for trading, because let’s say in one month you make much less what you need, but in the next you make 5 times what you need for living, then living from it is not a problem, IF you don’t have liabilities.

But if you want to take out continous earning from trading, then you going to have a bad time.