I’m wondering… to be consistently profitable in trading forex, should one have constant access to the market?
The reason I’m asking this is that I’m getting increasingly interested in the currency trade but since I work 9-5 every weekday, I don’t have constant access to the markets and related information (e.g the forums here). Also the markets are closed during weekends, when I have loads of free time…
Right now my forex time is a hour or so in the evening, after my day job. Should that be enough? :33:
Additional info:
I currently live in the gmt+2 time zone.
Most people are not full-time traders. Part-time trading is perfectly acceptable. Just realize that it will likely take you longer to develop your skills and knowledge.
In your case it is better do long term trading. Use higher TFs probably above 4Hr to filter trades. Once you developed a profitable system even 01 hour per day is enough to analyze the market. Once you achieved success in FX you can say good bye to your day job and do forex trading as a full time job.
I guess it is possible, but to be honest my friend it really depends on your trading style and what do you feel comfortable with.
For example I constantly lost money whenever I was working the same hours you did, but when I get days off and can spend a day just trading I always make money…
I read somewhere that in order to be successful at forex, you have to be a part-time trader and a full-time backtester.
Seriously. It’s acceptable to trade off the 4H, daily and weekly charts. Your biggest timesink should be backtesting and system development. That’s like Michael Jordan shooting 10,000 hoops during his spare time. Trading is when you’re playing live at an NBA game. That will only constitute a fraction of your time. Every other minute “should” be spent on backtesting / system development or something trade-related.
I usually devote 20 minutes per day checking the markets on the daily timeframe. That’s not much at all. I also work. Outside of work, I try to sink in at least 3-4 hours on backtesting or something related. That’s per day. On my days off, maybe 6-8 hours.
edit: This is what worked for me. What works for you may be different. Perhaps daytrading or scalping may suit you.
If you have a day job then it is best you trade on higher time frames ie 4-hourly (H4) and Daily charts.
On H4 charts, every candle takes 4 hours to close so you do not need to be in front of the charts all the time. You just need to look at them every 4 hours.
If you cannot do that, no worries, just look at the Daily charts. You look at the charts in the morning before you head off to work and then again when you return from home. Each candle takes a day to close so there is really no need to look at the chart frequently.
Granted, trading on Daily will yield you less trading opportunity but at least you get exposure to the market while you keep your day job.
By full time do you mean staring at the screen? Thats not good for anyone. If full time you mean trying to secure investment, trade, read up on news and new strategy, look after your health and finances then sure it can be.
I guess it depends on how you use forex trading to gain profits , if you want to controll every aspect of it and trade manually i dont see how it would not be considered a full time job as it requires a lot of time to analyze markets , charts etc. If you just copy trades in zulutrade like me it is not even a part job as i dont use much time on it.
exactly! at the end it all comes down to how much time, money and efford you want to put and you can put into the fx market trading. Want the easy exit - go with zulutrade, want the hard way spend 24/5 in front of 4 monitors watching the slightestt chart movements. Each method has its trade-off that the trader is willing to loose. Me personally I am somewhere in between - meaning i do autotrade on major part of my trades but i also sometimes i do place here and there some manual trade from the web -site- use the charts for the indicators, nothing too much complicated of course!!
I think you should start slowly instead of being rush. It is not wise to leave your current job without knowing proper Forex trading. After practicing demo trade for three month consistently if you think that you are confident enough then start forex trading slowly. Keep in mind that this market is very risky and it is not wise to become reckless over here.
Going to second that, there’s just no point in ditching the current job for the currency market, especially if you think you have lots to learn yet…
Makes more sense to be a part time trader, get some good experience in trading and make a decision later on, depending on how good a trader you turn out to be, just a suggestion.
You don’t need to be a full-time trader in order to be profitable, so it really boils down to if you want to rely on forex trading as your bread and butter provider. It may seem great to ‘just’ trade forex for a living and trust me it is, but having said that you should be very careful as it is much harder then it sounds. When you trade part-time and you have a loosing week it really does not matter, but if forex trading is your primary source of income than the trading dynamic changes.
