Covering 50% expense with Trading (Need Advice)

[yuujp]

Hello All,

I am a newb for fx trading. Just finished reading Pipschool and have started trading since a month ago.
I am currently working full time from 9 am - 730 pm every M-F.
Thus i can not trade full time no matter how much i want it.

During work, it is hard to actually keep checking my trades and reading news unless its during my lunch break.

My question is,
As a part time trader, is it possible to actually make a decent amount of money to at least cover half of your expenses?
My target is to be able to gain US$ 500 per month for the first year,
Us$ 1000 per month for the second year
and then goes up to Us$ 2000 per month for the year onwards.

I am planning to trade with US$ 5000 initially with lot size of 10,000
Assuming my winning ratio of 35% to losing 65% of the time
I will stop my loss at 30 pips and profit taking at 60 pips every trade.


Any suggestions on how i can optimally plan my trade to fit my schedule?

Any reply or feedbacks would be greatly appreciated.

[MoneyNVRSleeps]

Hey bud, what time-zone you in?

[rhodytrader]

Making 10% per month on your money in your first year is NOT a reasonable expectation. You need to back that WAY down. Also, the rigid 30/60 thing will very likely be problematic. The market doesn't treat rigid very well.

[bobmaninc]

I agree with rhodytrader. I am part time stuck trading the Asian session. I can tell you that you can make it trading part time but your goals I think are set to high especially for the first year. Right now your main goal should be finding an edge in the market with the time you have. I can tell you that alone will most likely take longer than a year by itself (I can only speak for me here). Also it is very hard to bring in a consistent amount of income being part time. There will be times trades are just not there when you can trade. You have to be able to accept it and not chase the market. Trading is very challenging by itself. Now when you are only able to do it part time it will bring a whole new world of challenges. The market does not care about your time restraints. However it can be done with patience and discipline. Good luck

[jingoy]

if you are asking about possibilities of that happening then YES you can do that but, as you have said you are newbie to forex trading and most of us here do have our day jobs, but for starters I suggest keeping it low and try to give it a couple of months to get a good grip on your trading style, I am a position trader thus i hold my trades for weeks at times i do swing and this requires less time, profit is not that big but as long as you are profiting then its good right? do not try to hit your targets coz that might cost you but pls keep up posted and best of luck bud

[R Carter]

Why would it be difficult to trade and hold a full time job? If your strat is successful on a short tf then there is no reason to assume it would be less so on a longer tf. I am a full time trader and can be at the monitors if I desired, all day and all night. BUT I rarely go below the 4h tf to enter and exit trades, which means in practise trades lasting (on my strat) anywhere from 8hrs to several days. Worst case, I need look in on the 4h open/ close... my time (GMT) 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm and 2am. Its not compulsary to trade the 5m and 15m! Nor in my opinion, desireable.

[yuujp]

Thanks everyone for the great feedbacks!!

Really appreciate it! especially it is a good wake up call before i dive in further with my grandeur of illusion of getting passive income quickly.

I see i think i may have set my goals a little too high.
I guess i need to hone up my trading skill for years before i start making money.
Just wanted to make sure if it is worth to trade forex.

MoneyNVRSleeps,
my time zone is GMT + 7

rhodytrader,
Thank you for the comment. Will reset my trading plan.
would you have any suggestion for beginner's starting expectation?

bobmaninc,
would you be able to share with my some of your early trading strategy before you found your edge?

jingoy,
in fact, you are right. there were trades that i lost because i was too obsessed for it to hit my Profit taking point.


R carter,
i see... so would it be better to trade above 1h for part time trader?


Thanks everyone!

[Fxmall]

The 10% goal is a bit steep, esp if you are just starting. And remember when it comes to taking profit or setting stop loss, you need to do a demo, see what suits you best and after consistent performance, move on to a live acc.

[R Carter]

R carter,
i see... so would it be better to trade above 1h for part time trader?

If one accepts that differing time frame charts are 'fractal' in nature i.e. they all repeat a high to low, then low to high zigzag pattern in a longer direction (try putting up a zigzag indi on say 5m, 15m, 1h, 4h, daily and this should be readily apparent) then it should be possible to select a time frame that best fits in with your personal circumstances. If you work a full time job and can only glance at a chart periodically then it might be more suitable to trade 1h or 4h charts. Personally, I have up a 1h, 4h and daily chart on the pairs I'm interested in and take most of my trades off the 4h. As stated this will mean a trade typically last 8h to several days. I find this has a number of advantages. 1) I cannot over trade. 2) I'm only paying the spread on a few longer trades instead of many spreads on more shorter tf trades. 3) And perhaps most important, I don't need to stay glued to the monitors whilst a trade plays out. Example, I entered a long EU last night @ 2376 then went to bed. The trade is still open and will need only the occasional look see.

The point I was making in my earlier post is it need not be a handicap if one has a full time job and also wishes to trade the markets. Hope this helps.

[AlchemistX]

Hello All,

I am a newb for fx trading. Just finished reading Pipschool and have started trading since a month ago.
I am currently working full time from 9 am - 730 pm every M-F.
Thus i can not trade full time no matter how much i want it.

During work, it is hard to actually keep checking my trades and reading news unless its during my lunch break.

My question is,
As a part time trader, is it possible to actually make a decent amount of money to at least cover half of your expenses?
My target is to be able to gain US$ 500 per month for the first year,
Us$ 1000 per month for the second year
and then goes up to Us$ 2000 per month for the year onwards.

I am planning to trade with US$ 5000 initially with lot size of 10,000
Assuming my winning ratio of 35% to losing 65% of the time
I will stop my loss at 30 pips and profit taking at 60 pips every trade.


Any suggestions on how i can optimally plan my trade to fit my schedule?

Any reply or feedbacks would be greatly appreciated.

If you only started trading a month ago you should forget about how much money you can make and focus instead on learning how to trade. Besides, how much you can make in any given month depends on how much capital you have to trade with and the profitability of your strategy. If you have sufficient capital, a good strategy and the necessary experience you can earn your entire living from trading.

If you find it difficult to trade during the day you should use an approach such as swing trading, using daily charts or higher. In fact, trading on higher time frames is advisable for beginners, regardless of their circumstances. Things don't move as fast on the higher time frames and setups tend to be more reliable.