Same thing here, I have a main job, and when I started trading, I spent 2 hours a week on a demo account. Now, it has increased to almost 10 hours per week
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I only look at one time frame;the D1. I trade US500, NAS100, US30 and Gold. So, each morning, it only takes me one glance at each of the charts to see if i have a setup or not. I do not waste time analysing the markets anymore
I can only trade on school breaks or public holidays because by the time I’m done with school for the day, the market has already started slowing down so no liquidity
Even on public holidays, there will probably be less liquidity since firms and people are taking a break
But even when I do trade, I only check the charts every 30 minutes to see if I have a setup
Wondered if I should start my own topic about this topic, but I found this through search.
I am in year 5 of trading. The first year in 2019/2020 I scalped on 1 minute and 5 minute TF. Some days I had close to a 100 trades. The motivation was the thrill of having to find out if I had won. A few days were profitable, most were not.
Today though. Several 1000 hours of backtesting, forward testing, book reading and listening to podcasts/trading videos. There is no thrill. I know you will not get anywhere near winning every trade no matter what you do.
Today I struggle to spend 1 hour every day with trading. I probably spend about 30 minutes trading every day, and maybe 1 hour reviewing, taking notes and testing new things.
Instead I am stuck on this war in Ukraine. I want it to end. Today. Now. No matter what. Because it feels like the world is kept hostage because of it. The world is not functioning normal. I spend hours listening to videos on Youtube about it, and I probably spend hours reading about X on it too. This is stealing my time and energy for doing trading instead.
Finally. Regardless of how your life evolves and what happens in the world. Is it possible to spend hours and hours on trading every day for year after year? If you have been in this 10 years, are you motivated to do scalping, day trading and swing trading at the same time? For sure not for me. Unfortunately I seem to have gotten into some sort of burnout. I will never quit completely though. Extra income is needed.
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8 hours a day 6 days a week for 15 years
hats off to you, mate. that’s amazing!
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Thanks I cracked gold 2 months ago only took me 15 years ….
Was initially fully immersed in trading and it was over 10 hours a day.
Then, after studying various strategies and analysis methods, I started looking for profitable signals. As it turned out in my experience, only 2-3 signals work, but they appear on different timeframes and different instruments (example: gold correction is the result of a double top on weekly charts).
When I realized that it is necessary to find only these signals in the market, I started to study programming to automate the process.
Now the trading robot checks 28 currency pairs, silver and gold on 21 timeframes and all this works 24/5 on VPS.
This journey took over 4 years and has now completely unleashed my hands.
I think the more time you invest in learning, the more you get back in the form of results.
Goodluck
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With limited time, I’d focus on simplifying my strategy, prioritizing high-probability trades. I’d consider swing or position trading over day trading, using longer timeframes to reduce stress. Risk management would be crucial, and I’d track my progress to adjust my approach as needed without overwhelming my schedule.
balancing a job with forex trading can definitely be tough, especially with limited time. With just 2 hours a day, it’s all about maximizing your focus during that time. Many traders in similar situations focus on creating a solid plan, using strategies that don’t require constant monitoring, and making the most of their available time. It’s about patience, consistency, and adjusting your expectations to fit your schedule. Even small, steady progress can lead to long-term success.