Trading with a full time job just may be impossible

Hey, if it works for me it works for me. Theres nothing elaborate or complicated about them, they allow for easy risk managment and high probability setups. K.I.S.S.

No need for negativity in here. Lets keep the discussion positive and insightful, its the only way any of us are going to learn from one another.

Well when I posted this I never thought it would turn into such a good discussion. Keep it rollin.

This was the original OPs question

I have been trying to figure out if I could trade after work on the weekdays but have found that the market doesn’t wait for me. I have no idea how people with a full time job could possibly implement any of the forex strategies I have read about. Even on swing trading or longer trading you are waiting for a signal. I am never watching the market it seems when that signal comes. Either most of the people on this site are trading on the bosses time or they know a secret I don’t. Someone please fill me in. Otherwise I guess I will just work all day and trade all night, I should be able to function on 15 minutes of sleep a day.

This was your answer.

Pull up a 240 min chart… that is damn easy… I hardly do any actual daytrading anymore because with forex, hell whats the point of scalping +5 and 10’s for a couple hours each day when I can throw on a couple trades off the 240 min charts, set my s/l’s and targets and go to bed?

Last night I went long the GBPUSD, and EURUSD. Woke up to find my +40 pip target in the GBP hit, and my +90 pip target hit in the EUR. It required all of 2 minutes at midnight to glance at a chart and throw on the trade. I made money while I slept, woke up and gave myself the day off.

Also

its the only way any of us are going to learn from one another.

So what was it I was supposed to have learned from your post?

No need for negativity in here.

No negativity here, just reality. Also no need to get defensive man.

Yes it has been an interesting exchange and reinforces that there are infinite ways to skin the proverbial cat and finding what suits your psychology, time and account size is the real challenge

I’ve tried to use Fibs but could not quite figure out what to do.

I’d be interested in hearing exactly what you do, if you don’t mind sharing.

Terry

To Daedalus :

Sorry about the late reply.
My main income is sharetrading and now, with an election coming up in this country, I am being highly paid to help a candidate win a seat in parliament.
This, plus helping our indigenous young people keeps me busy - as well as forex.

So, now the reply to your unduly long post : :mad:

Micromanaging trades is the worst thing you can do.

I flatly disagree - but with conditions :

I do agree that once you have set your parameters, you can leave the trade to consummate.

But I like to watch a football match, and with scalping (which I do), it is very exciting to watch a winner in the short time it takes me to trade.

Now, in a 4 hour trade, such a thing would weary you - and I understand.

Secondly, I monitor my trades to check and keep revising my method. If you have made 10 losing trades in a row, [U]you too [/U]will monitor you trades more closely. I guarantee it! :smiley:

+301 pips 6 days into the month speaks for itself

With all due respect, do I note a tone of overconfidence, even arrogance here? :eek:
I could be wrong - you may be a veteran trader of minimum 10 years experience. Then I should take notice - but even so, I would submit that some humility would go down very well.

Lets see how you go 6 months down the track.

Finally, please be careful about rubbishing the master members of this forum. Daydreamer65 has made very valuable contributions and I am indebted to him.

I take this opportunity to openly acknowledge and thank the mighty contributions of the long term members for helping me. Members, such as…Pipbull, Topchess, Rhodytrader, Ramrocket, Basooko, Tonymand, Daydreamer65, Tess, Pipgod, Certicex, Elang, James and many others whoose names fail to come to immediate mind.

Good trading to you all.

You guys have picked apart my statements, allow me one post to defend them.

  1. Sorry for writing a long post - apparently thats frowned upon or something?

  2. We can agree to disagree on trade management. To each his own. For me, if i’m awake i’ll check in on it every hour or so, but the way in which I trade is that until my stop loss is hit i don’t consider the trade to have worked against me, so there is nothing that I can do or will let myself do to modify my trade once it has been put on. PERSONALLY, i’ve found this to keep myself out of trouble and jumping out too soon and for the wrong reasons.

As far as monitoring them more closely after 10 losing trades in a row, I would say that that is the very reason why I don’t monitor them. 10 losing trades or 100 losing trades, your saying that emotion and the fear of continued loss should affect your trade management? That I should manage a trade differently if my last trade was a loss than if my last trade was a win? I couldn’t disagree more.

  1. There is no overconfidence or arrogance. Am I a confident trader? Yes. I don’t see how anyone could survive in this business if they weren’t. I did nothing but try and offer my opinion which obviously many people disagree with.

  2. I’m not a veteran by any means. I’ve traded the ES and ER2 for two years and have migrated over to the Forex markets in search of bigger $/contract swings than the S&P and Russell have been able to provide as their moves continue to dry up. (That and the Russell got sold to the ICE platform and I think that is going to severely screw that market up in the meantime as the migration takes place). So no, i’m not a trading god. But I am a full time professional trader and have been for the past 2 and 1/2 years and I think I have knowledge to offer many people that are just starting out. Isn’t that the point?

  3. I’m not quite sure how i’ve rubbished anyone in here? I wasn’t the one posting sarcastic remarks or scoffing at the idea of trading fib retracements. I wasn’t the one who tried to pick apart every sentence of my post to try and assert I was lying. I wasn’t the one who said that my post offered no insight whatsoever to the question at hand. To me that is what is insulting. I didn’t respond with name calling, I simply said it worked for me and I wanted to keep the educational discussion continued. But my posts are continually picked apart by other people ragging on me, then hiding behind a post count. I’ve done nothing more than politely state my side of the argument.

Best of luck to you all… i’m off to trade more of those crazy support lines and lose all my money. :rolleyes:

Nicely done! :wink:

My philosophy exactly. I like the “set it and forget it” method. As long as the SL and TP are in place, let it go.

Now, if I could only stick to that and stop second guessing myself. :slight_smile:

Terry

Hi daedalus,

If you want to continue on in this forum you will need to get used to that. I have been around long before all these guys with high post counts even came on this forum. I know I only have 2 posts but I have changed user names a couple times just because of this fact. I used to have hundreds of posts too but that didn’t necessarily mean I was somehow smarter than someone who only had one post but had been trading 15 years before I was even born.

I don’t like the sarcasm or the way you were responded to any more than you do. I just want you to know that that is a fact of life on this particular forum. People rack up a post count and get all wrapped up in their identity as a Superior Master this or that and in my opinion get a little too big for their britches. There are of course exceptions to this (Elang being the one that stands out to me) but don’t be sidetracked by the pointless drivel of those who may have to shore up their own image by hacking on others.

Anyway, good trading to you and I wish you all the best. I just wanted to post in your defense since it seemed like others were needlessly attacking you. I will probably get assaulted for posting this - especially since it is a long post LOL! - and that is cool with me. I am a big doggy and I can handle it. It is of no consequence to me.

Take care,

NOFX

I find it interesting how sidetracked we can all get from a simple question: Is it possible to trade while working full time?

Once again, the answer, in my opinion, is a resounding yes!

There is a method of trade for absolutely everyone from every walk of life from every lifestyle and circumstance. The challenge, sometimes, is to find it. But it can be found.

I guess noone likes to have their beliefs challenged, but i guess that’s when things get ugly on forums like these.

Why don’t we all agree on this: “There are no right and wrong trading strategies-only strategies that are right or wrong for us” (Brett Steenbarger)

Let’s just all keep our minds open and keep the ideas flowing without getting bogged down in personal attacks.

I couldn’t agree more - my point exactly! I have seen most of your posts from the first and you are one of the good examples. I just get so tired of people hacking on others because they have a different trading method. I think Fibs were dissed earlier in this thread. I don’t use Fibs myself but there are a myriad of very successful traders that use them. My system may not work for you or yours for me but that doesn’t make the method any less relevant.

I am fortunate that I can trade full time and don’t need another job but at the same time I was trading successfully when I did still have a full time job. It is definitely possible - you just have to have something that fits your schedule.

NOFX

Hear Hear. I also agree with the statement re post count (even though I have a high one!). The only thing of value is whether an individual obviously knows what they are talking about. It doesnt take long to begin to recognise that in my view. Good to hear you are a successful professional trader Daedalus, I shall certainly stay tuned for any ideas you put out to those of us still learning

Haw haw haw! :smiley:

My ability to extract immediate responses from just about everybody has proven itself again. Nice little gimmick.

That’s why I was a school teacher!

I should be in the advertizing business. :smiley:

But I will make a point here.

I disagree with your views about the “post count”. These counts show consistancy - the poster knows everyone, their particular trading methods, their understanding of matters etc - in general, the count shows the poster has taken the trouble to make consistant contributions to the forum. Not the case with a Newbie.

It seems reasonable, therefore, to take a rubbishing between 2 posters who have proven their consistency - we know each other.

But I am sick and tired of Newbies (experienced or not) coming on this forum who don’t know anything about me and then making out that I am ignorant.
Yes, I am a learner, but I take my tuition from those who have proven themselves here, that’s only logical.

I think its just plain bad manners for a Newbie to come on this forum, blast their way about and make out they have all the answers. Let them introduce themselves first. Newbies, please take note. :mad:

To keep this post short, I will end here, note Pipbulls statement that I have digressed, repent, and post no more on this thread.
Goodbye.

Oh sweet feathery Jesus! LOOOL!

I thought I would just re-post the o/p original post.

I have been trying to figure out if I could trade after work on the weekdays but have found that the market doesn’t wait for me. I have no idea how people with a full time job could possibly implement any of the forex strategies I have read about. Even on swing trading or longer trading you are waiting for a signal. I am never watching the market it seems when that signal comes. Either most of the people on this site are trading on the bosses time or they know a secret I don’t. Someone please fill me in. Otherwise I guess I will just work all day and trade all night, I should be able to function on 15 minutes of sleep a day.

I did not respond initially to this post because I do not have a full-time occupation other than forex.
Therefore I cannot reasonably give an answer to bizbad’s problem.

I can make observations, suggest various differing methods to attain the
o/p’s goal, but I cannot put myself in his/her shoes.

daedalus, though seems to think he will educate us all on the matter, I
have yet to see any educational content, which given his status in the
markets I look forward to hopefully in the near future.

All I have seen from daedalus is a smug attitude that he can trade, most
of his life story, a screen shot of who knows what?
(screen shots prove diddly squat by the way)
& a continued arrogance that he is right & everybody is hitting on him for no reason at all.

Also other posters should read the whole thread & not just dive in
with absurd comments which do not in fact address the situation.

To keep this post short, I will end here, note Pipbulls statement that I have digressed, repent, and post no more on this thread.

Ditto.

It can be done…it might cut into your sleep…I live in the US eastern time
work the tradional 9-5 job…I start trading from 7pm to 1pm ish

It can work…i am only small time right now…i am pulling 10 to 25 pips - 3 days a week…I look at it as FREE Money

I want to get good enought to QUIT my CRAPPY job and do this for a living
I hope to do this in a year…

Good Luck

in response to the question my answer is yes. I belive that anyone can do whatever they choose to do as long they are willing to do what it takes to be successful.

Man, thats a long trading day.:wink:

Well I have taken to trading the daily and picked three pairs two nights ago. I set it and forget it till I get back home and adjust sl at that time. It is probably beginners luck but I am up 400 pips so far in 60 hours. It feels good but I cant stop thinking that this is too easy. I am now waiting for the bad luck to strike;)