Forex as a full time job?

I’m 18 years hold currently unemployed and have been trading for the last year , is anybody els trading full time , or has anybody left a full time job to trade forex ?!

your question is wrong. most people NEED a full time job to finance trading forex. :slight_smile:

Hello Libertysilver!

Have you read this thread?

http://forums.babypips.com/other-common-newbie-problems/51109-trading-forex-full-time-job.html

It may answer most of your questions!

Regards

If you are unemployed, this is the opportunity to become a full time trader. But first you have to define “full time”. Do you mean: all available working hours, or making enough money so that you don’t need a real job?

Any way, if you have the time:

  • Start studying forex (Babypips Forex School is a very good start)
  • Avoid Binaries!!!
  • Start developing and testing your own trading strategies (and borrow existing ones, like the Hybrid Trading you can find on this forum, or the Stochastig Strategie recently posted here.
  • Open a demo account at a broker so you can user MetaTrader4 or cTrader/cAlgo software.
  • Develop nifty semi-automatic robots that will alert you whenever there might be a trading opportunity for several strategies. This way you don’t have to look at the screen all, but also don’t miss opportunities.
  • Last but not least: make a solid trading plan and scheme to set your personal goals and boundries. Make a good log, so you can find points of improvement.

That way you learn without losing money. As soon as your demo-account shows a constantly growing balance, invest about 1000 $ and start trading.

And then, most important: let your account balance grow and grow and do not withdraw money if not necessary. Your trading volume grows with it. That way you reach a moment where one successful trade per day (4 days a week, 40 week of maybe not more then 15 pips, gives you a steady income.

This way of [B]part time[/B] trading got me out of a boring freelance software developing job. It took me half a year of training and developing, but made me [B]full time[/B] independent.

Is anybody here trading full time as in not working straight forex as full time income ,

As I suppose Forex as a part time is better and preferable rather than full time.

@ epic research why do you say that ? , the other day I was watching a YouTube video of stay at home in momsin japan who trade 4-5 hours a day and make more money then there husbands , some of them claimed to have made millions

http://forums.babypips.com/forextown/62553-journey-25-10-000-a.html#post600370

First off. Trading is a job and business not a replacement to unemployment.

Ask yourself why you want to be a trader…It is far easier to get a job as a cleaner. Any idiot with a laptop and cash can trade but many are unsuccessful for that simple reason they only invest in Babypips. Oh! They have jobs to finance their gambling addiction.

My advice

Buy a lot of books on Finance, understand the basics. (Market microstructure, trading psychology, herd psychology)
Move on to following real traders and their stories, then start reading on money management, leveraging, position sizing. Notice I still haven’t mention demo…

Then grab a book on Elliot Wave theory, a good book will cover Fibonacci too. You can’t trade without learning this. This will ensure you place 1 trade a month. Yes! ONE.

At this point open a demo account and get to grips with bars and candlesticks. Most pros like bars unless you are in Japan. After this grab a book on resistance and support trading to help you with moving averages. At this point open a real account with 100US and trade Microsoft before you do that right a trading plan like a business plan with rules, goals, etc.

This is your bible. It protects you from yourself. At this point it is game of probability. Try and build a system that only you can follow.

Can you do it? If you can then you will be a fulltime trader at least out of basic. In my opinion a solid 6 months of the steepest learning curve of your life. I guarantee you will never work for another soul again. Next steps will be binaries, indices, stocks and my favourite, property development.

Time frame 2-5 years. Lifestyle no friends or girlfriends, the occasional holiday to detox. Oh! A dedicated wife…

Oh man. If this is the same video that I remember correctly, many of those moms ended up blowing their family’s life savings when the AUDJPY carry trade crashed back in 08. Do you have a link?

yea make it a fulltime gig if 10% of your capital can cover your annual expenses. At 18 you gave a long way to go.

We can make forex as our full time job, but if we are still new in forex, we should focus on our skills. How to get good skills. We will feel the result if we want to effort. We can make forex as full time job when we already be able to get maximal and consistent result.

Oh! I forgot £2000 to £3000 starting capital minimum. Ideally £10,000 that way you can start using SOME profits on paying bills otherwise move back with your parents for a few months as you capitalize like the banks after 2008.

I’m not going to go full-time until I have:

  • $200k USD trading capital

  • $50k USD emergency fund in a savings account

  • Minimum 3% growth per month

Capital is the main barrier to traders going full-time. Invest in [I]yourself[/I] and your trading equally. There are still a few 4 year Bachelor’s degrees which have starting salaries of $80k USD or higher.

Anyone who tells you they are going full-time with less than $50k USD to their name is an idealist, a liar, or a fool.

As for myself, I am currently 20 years old - planning on becoming a full-time trader by 25 at the latest.

Hold it right there I’m 18 been trading for 2 years almost and I don’t work recently for the past 8months I have just been trading full time with a daily target of $60-$80 i live by my self a support my self as well as my trading anything is possible anything can be done you just have to have the right state of mind and I started with $25

I have been trading for about 1 & a half years

Please read Market Wizards one of the best books out there on real successful traders many started out with low capital. It was the 80’s and no dotcom boom. So most traders did not have large capital. Yet many are now millionaires.

That’s a wrong statement. 50k is just a number. A 10k starting capital will allow $10 per pip at 2% risk per trade. Risk/reward 1:3 means a winning trade earns $600 a loosing $200 loss. No more than 2 entries a week. You should do okay.

You’re going to have a bad time when you get drawn down 10% on your 10k account and then have to withdraw even more to cover your cost of living. Maybe it’s doable if you live in a third world country, or don’t pay for housing, and never leave your home. Not to mention relying on your broker to honor your withdrawal requests, and that in a timely manner… Since all of your assets are in their hands.

2% per week is a completely ludicrous goal. 180% return annually? [I]Show me[/I] someone who can achieve that consistently under any circumstances, let alone trading under the pressure of barely knowing where your next meal will come from. There’s e-stats galore on these forums, and very few people who are straightforward with their results and realistic in their expectations.

Each to his own Jad. A lot people since the 70’s have moved into the game with larger capital and then ended up wiped with the exact same idea of bill paying.

When I left the city to go self employed. I found I had a massive lifestyle shock because my nice cushty number had vanished and I really hard to consider the consequence of bills but that is the cost of independence. I had a 3 month survival budget and just worked at my business after all if it didn’t work out I can always get another job.

This was in 2005. My point is of course you will find paying your bills hard in some cases you won’t be able to and just have to delay the bank or your landlord. Ask any REAL entrepreneur this is normal. Unless Daddy has a fat wallet or Mummy has a spare room.

Anyway on the issue full time trading, know it is a business and requires nurturing like any other and not spending profits on designer clothes or club nights at Nobu. You will make profits…It is what you do with it that will make the difference.

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Sounds about right lol