Reading through several posts here, I see that most beginners wish to do forex trading because they think that it’s easier than their current jobs. I don’t know the jobs, which they currently are doing. Most posts are silent about the current job types.
Well, I’m not sure if a view like this leads to disappoints a few weeks down the lane. I think that driving a 10 tons truck may be easier than forex trading, especially volatile ones. If you put your foot on an automatic peddle, you will keep climbing or descending the hill, while drinking coffee. This might not be the same with forex trading. Yes, you can internalize some trades, but you would still need to think to often pull profitable ones.
I think that forex trading isn’t for lazy fellas period! ¯(◉‿◉)/¯
Ads by brokers convict of new traders that forex is an easy and pleasant way to wealth. By the time the newcomer gains knowledge and experience, it is often too late because the account has been cleared and this discourages further action.
It depends how you define lazy. Clearly you need to be motivated enough to continue to learn and and practice and be willing to adapt your strategy to the market. Also always learning from your mistakes. (I even have a trade journal) however if you have took the time to find a profitable strategy it is much easier physically on your body than manual labor by far
Hi Mupo,
We should be glad that there are lazy forex traders amongst us. That is where the Big Banks can concentrate on taking out the stops where the rest of us should aspire to doing the opposite of the 80% (or is that 99%?) of the forex traders you have described as lazy. I completely agree, but in my long working lifetime I have observed that of any profession. Few people have the passion to excel in their profession. A large number think that once they have that “certificate” for whatever their profession is - could be a degree, could be a pass mark on a short course - they have the right to never have to learn anything new again in their lives. If you listen to some of the middle aged staff confronted by modern day challenges of company mergers, acquisitions, disposals you would think they have been on another planet for a few decades. I see exactly the same response in 2021 that I observed in 1985 in response to a global oil price crisis in Aberdeen where 70% of all employees lost their jobs. The world never owes us a living, and we need to perform well to do anything in life.
I quote my mother (God bless her soul) - if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
For my own sins, I am about half way through a self-created relearning programme for Forex. Besides creating the framework for the training, along with a lengthy Terms of Reference document and a Statement of Requirements document, I have spent about 60 hours over the past two weeks in a structured reading and podcast listening / Youtube video watching list of tasks variously described as “the NNFX method”. For the past ten years I was always uncomfortable determining whether or not I had an edge in trading, let alone how to measure it without bias. By this stage (60 hours in and about 60 hours to go), I am about 95% convinced that this will be my fourth, and first successful, journey to becoming a successful Forex trader. After the heavy duty and self-created training is complete and the back testing of indicators to settle on the initial algorithm for demo trading is well underway, I will have no doubt as to the timing and commitment bank I will assign to my “Forex trading” intended income stream. As always it will be one of four streams, so no pressure on needing to create funds to contribute to basic income needs - just striving to wish for a more comfortable and interesting lifestyle for self and family.
Over the 15 years or so I have involved myself with Forex, I estimate I have already spent about 1,500 hours of effort. And I consider myself a novice. That should put effort estimates into perspective for some new members. On the other hand, I think I am a very slow learner, and I am sure that others can get to where I am in a year or two. But certainly not in a week or two!
Hi Mondeoman, I’m impressed with your work ethic, and I’m positive you’re on the right path to ultimate success.
Just a litlle gripe - I try to encourage newbie posters not to describe FX trading as an income stream, because in the strict definition it’s not constant or guaranteed, ever - even when you’re profitable. Picture it as either river rapids or a dried up river bed.
If you have a job, that’s an income stream while you’re working, and not an income stream when you’re not. For newbies, they expect to make money as if it’s another job, an easier one than the one they’ve got, which in their mind is also an income stream source.
Which I go to pains to point out there’s no guarantees - and which is ignored. Social media has a lot to answer for…
I am actually going to take the other side on this (something I love to do) and say it is a domain for lazy people (or can be).
Yes, that’s correct.
Trading doesn’t have to involve a lot of work, a few hours a day at very most. For many, myself included maybe an hour a day max.
So lazy people would really enjoy trading.
But there is a very large caveat here: it takes balls, grit, determination, a tremendous amount of self-doubting, getting kicked in the teeth, sleepless nights, heartache, and basically paying your dues before you can become profitable.
Now I know there are many here who say you really have to graft at trading, and for them, that may be true.
It’s up to the individual how they wish to trade.
The issue isn’t the time it takes to trade, which can be next to no time at all, but the hard mental game that a lazy person must develop to master it.
That, I believe, most lazy people simply cannot do.
Yeah, that’s what I mean. You have the option to do that. If you were lazy, you wouldn’t be doing any of that. But you can be lazy if you wanted to. You have the option.
“. . . If you listen to some of the middle aged staff confronted by modern day challenges of company mergers, acquisitions, disposals you would think they have been on another planet for a few decades”. So true! Some people aren’t serious!
In any case, I think that most readers must be impressived with your commitments described in your post above. Pls keep the good work going!
By the way, you are not alone. I do similar things: I’m committed to my trading work. I have a daily time frame, where I practice trade, read articles and books, watch youtube videos, chat, blog, etc. I treat these as serious personal classes. Though lately I was slightly off my normal schedule. I relocated to another town, where I’m monitoring the completion of my house construction. Even though I’m busy with the construction, I still do trading activities. It’s actually exciting learning new things, practicing them, and adjusting data to suit oneself. I feel happy about that. I look forward to that always.
Yeah! You are right. There’s often lots of misinformation. Some people even quit their jobs before they are skilled enough. Obviously, they may end up being sorry. I wish that they are schooled properly before hand.
I hear you, and agree with you. But, I’m talking about those, who escape their whatever job, to do trading hoping that it will be a walk over right from the beginning.
This sounds like something someone doesn’t do at the start of his/her trading career. However, as you put it, to reach that level of trading a few hours profitably requires one’s determination, and hardwork. Surely something, which Mr Lazy can’t afford(◔‿◔).
Hi Steve, thanks for the clarification here. I should have explained that my definition of income streams - none of them come from a JOB (just over broke). My wife runs a small goods and services trading company in the Middle East and though we still support 5 staff, turnover has been hit very badly since a decade ago, so it is running on one cylinder. It used to provide us with a small regular income but that dried up two years ago. So my wife’s primary “job” of financial controller of that company has effectively gone unpaid for a while. We have a small property portfolio in the UK that provides another revenue stream, but since Covid19 that business has experienced more cost and delayed or never-to-be-collected rents from tenants, so my other “job” of managing those properties has also suffered a “pay cut” since last year. I had two operations earlier this year and chose (thank God I have the choice) to go on indefinite leave (from a contract role, so no furlough, no sick pay, no anything) and this income stream has been lost since January. Consequently, I take the opportunity of the time I am not using consulting, or other things, to go after Forex more aggressively and at more speed than I had in the past.
So for any new members who may have misinterpreted my definition of income stream from Forex, please understand that I have no permanent or guaranteed income. I run various businesses that normally afford me to pay myself a constant dividend that, due to external circumstances have all suffered a downturn. And so has most of the rest of the world population since Covid 19.
