Whats the forex trader lifestyle like?

Beginner Questions
22

Thanks for sharing all of this guys. It has been really helpful. It is quite a rough ride to get started especially when you have very little capital (i.e. $5,000). I still haven’t delved into any full-time forex trading as I haven’t been able to be extremely successful with my part-time efforts. My thinking is that I need a place that would be accommodating of this kind of lifestyle. A lot of people especially in India (where I live) don’t look favorable at a work-at-home job. Although this is changing. It is very difficult to fit into society for the most part when you don’t have the traditional 9-5 gig to keep you occupied.

The forex lifestyle that we yearn for is not that easy to achieve and sustaining it can be difficult. It would be interesting if I could run into any top traders over here who are willing to share some secrets.

My hope is that someone would recruit me to trade with them for a period of 2-3 years and teach me a few tricks along the way. One person can change your life!

23

That is true Vinayak, one person can change your life. However, in the mean time, you can also sign up for an online mentor as there are many genuine ones out there. Spend a bit, gain a lot.

There are people like Nial Fuller, Andrew Mitchum, Chris Capre, to name a few. They have courses you can follow, a community who all use the same technique and you can trade of the Daily Chart which means you can work a regular job and trade as well. This way, you don’t have to wait for that special moment where a God like person shows up and changes your life. You can be that for yourself.

Good luck.

24

A trader’s lifestyle really depends on how good a trader they are and on how large their investment is.

25

[I]What sort of place do you live?[/I]
i rent an apt with a gf.
[I]How much money are you making?[/I]
not too much. i still consider myself a beginner/amateur trader and i don’t trade full day, i have a full time job so i trade in the night. i wish i could quit my job to start trading seriously. i think maybe someday it will be possible. not now though.
[I]How many hours do you spend studying charts etc?[/I]
a lot. rather, A LOT.
[I]Is it possible to get a mortgage with your income from forex trading (bar the recent sub prime mortgage crunches recently)?[/I]
i wouldn’t risk anyways. doesn’t matter what your average trading income is, i wouldn’t risk. i think forex is not too stable esp when you’re just learning. so my advice here is not to be too hopeful.

26

It depends on the investors money and their trading skills which will help them to get more profit and more money brings more style :slight_smile:

27

There is no general answer on the question about the traders life style. It depends of the traders personality, their trading capital, risk management etc. etc.
Only good from demo trading is that you have learned how to use the platform. You need right away to move to a live trading and start with some very small amount. This way you will start developing your [B]real[/B] strategy (what ever you will learn on demo is not going to work in life trading), by trading making mistakes and leaning from them.

28

Well, I think forex trader’s life style should be better than others as it is so far best source of income for me. I am earning reasonable amount and enjoying my life with forex income.

29

Ts been 6 years

30

A trader’s lifestyle tends to revolve around how much time they spend watching the charts and trading. The rest of it, I think, is like everyone else’s.

31

No fast cars — no piles of money — no collections of watches ---- no crowds of semi naked women

Lots of time analysis, lots of time by yourself and lots of pressure to make a living out of something you have absolutely no control of.

32

As we all well aware that forex is good rewarding business and a trader’s life style should be better than others. A grand house, a luxury car and also should be moderate life style, I am also earning reasonable amount and my living standard is high due to forex income.

33

So I have been trading a live account full time since November 2015 - day trading.

I try to wake up everyday at 6.30am (BST) and catch up with the Asia session, have a look at my charts and start to plot potential orders. I then check in throughout the day, some days I will sit at my desk for 8 hours non-stop which is not ideal but is normal on a ‘bad’ day! It’s still progress from when I first started out where I was spending nearly 16 hours per day every day! Doh!

I am adapting to different market conditions and with that constantly evaluating my trading style. I have only recently started to get my psychology together and hold onto winning positions and finally seeing fairly consistent profits. I have previously had 2 (large) blown accounts and do not foresee this money back for couple of years.

As stated previously, it is very difficult to enjoy any money made from trading when you start out as you cannot be sure that your performance will improve month on month.

My personal goals are to achieve a yearly income equivalent to my last salary of £40,000 but I would still be happy with less than that as my reasons for trading were more that of lifestyle, spending more time at home, not wanting to commute to work and more freedom. Making big money would be fantastic but I am a realist. Maybe in 10 plus years that may possible if I turned out to become a great trader.

Before starting out with trading I was a big spender, I have a nice (modest) home with my boyfriend, had a rental property (which I sold to start my trading), bought a new luxury car, would go on holidays at least 4 or 5 times a year, price tags on most items would not put me off purchases, however, I now have to cut down on most if not all of of these and watch every penny I spend.

This doesn’t only affect me but also affects the lifestyle I have with my partner, luckily for me he can see the potential in my trading in the longterm and is very supportive.

In answer to your question about mortgages, which was a great concern for me when I started out trading as I would like to upsize in the future:-

You need to pay taxes on your (trading) income - which means you need to make a profit. In the UK most people spread bet to avoid taxes but this will not help you get credit. I have registered my trading business and will be paying taxes, this won’t be a lot in the first few years due to little to no profit but hopefully over the next 5 years this will change.

What you need to take from this is that you can’t really expect to start trading today in the hope that you will have a nice house, new car and fortunes within the next couple of years. It takes planning, needs to be at the right time in your life and you need to be resilient. It is not too dissimilar to the planning required to start up a new business and how this will all impact of your life. It will be very tough to start out, you will doubt yourself on numerous occasions but name me one successful trader who wasn’t close to the edge (financially) at the start of their noob career!

You need to want this for more reasons than just the money when you start out. If you want to make shedloads of money very quickly I’ll give you some excellent free advice - take your money to a roulette table and put it all on black! :slight_smile: