Today there will be a small shift from usual topics where we usually discuss something purely technical, or something closely related to trading, strategies, finances, stocks and so on… you get the idea. Nonetheless, it doesn’t mean that todays topic is not important - on the contrary, it may be one of the most important topics out there which is not talked that often, as everybody is so busy with tryna understand how this strategy works and the insights for trading something.
First of all, it’s cool and all that people come to this sphere, take interest in it and undoubtedly, it’s trending as of now, but it has been around for a long time. Right now, it has just become super easy to trade, not from the standpoint of skills - but the accessibility and availability of it through many different brokers, which are now allowing the vast selection of instruments to trade including pleasant conditions with high leverage and low spreads.
Looking from a logical perspective, it’s evident that trading is a complex sphere and a profession that requires a lot of skill to be perfected, and it is bound with constant improvement to stay on top of the game. There are many layers to being a pro. trader in constant profit, as a lot of experience with the charts and a lot of practise on your own strategy, which sometimes takes more than a year, or years. Logically, spending so much time focusing only on trading is not a good idea because usually, people need a source of income to live, as a result, most people adopt trading while on their job and try to combiine these two spheres, to be able to move to trading as their main goal, which is reasonable.
However, the most mount of mistakes get made during these periods, and here’s what happens usually. A person gets interested in trading and begins to learn this sphere, for a little while, it will go well until a dreadful loss is faced, and after a blow, many people just leave it and concentrate on something other. Those who still want to trade will now face some challenges, they will be required to balance trading and their day job, and this is require much more extra effort. During that time, many people may think that it’s better to leave the day job concentrate fully on trading, in hopes of becoming profitable after struggling a bit, which is real fantasy. What’s important in this scenario is that loosing your job with stable income to something that you have not enough knowledge in is not a good thing to do, and I only advice you to leave your job when you have at least 6-months statistics of your trading, and there was a stable growth of 10% or around each month - without any fuctuations, without +60% and -50% in the same week, stable and documented, and only then you can THINK about devoting all of your time to trading. Therefore, I don’t advice to leave your job hoping to get profitable in the process, it’s always better to balance your day job and trading.
Before I give out tips for how to balance trading and a job, let me explain why I choose this topic to discuss. It’s because I had this exact same situation and made a wrong choice, and I am now trying to prevent others from repeating the mistakes I did. I had a job with stable salary at a time and was around half a year into trading, but it wasnt going so well so somehow I concluded that my job was an obstacle to my profitable trading in future. I had some savings to live for several months without a job, and I thought it would be enough to get profitable by the time I run outta money.., and despite what people have told me, I quit anyway. So what happened wast that I realized - my day job wasn’t a problem at all, it was all about my determination and laziness, as I kept making the same old mistakes over and over again, so then I got my job back and balanced these two. Only then it worked out, with TIME and PATIENCE, and these are both needed, no matter how you look at it.
So how would you balance your trading and work: these are some of the tips that may help -
1)Choosing what to trade
This one is basic, but still important. For instance, if you want to trade stocks, their market opens at 9:30 NY time. There's 2 hour difference in time of NY and Santiago, so most of the activity would be during the work time. if we take traditional 9-6 job, so many will have to trade during their work, which is not that coumfortable, but still manageable (will talk about this later). Another market which is great to trade is Forex, as it is open 24/5, and you can trade before work or after work, and Asian session does aslo offer good opportunities, though the volatility is a bit lower. Or we can say crypto, which is open all day every day - and they can be traded on the weekends. I myself used to combine forex and crypto for weekdays and weekends.
2)Your trading style
The usual option that many people are interested in and doing is - intraday trading, where your trade is opened and closed in the same day. It’s not a bad option to be honest, and you can mostly control your trade from your phone at work, like devoting 5 minutes to see if you are on course, or the SL or TP needs some adjustments and so on.
The styles like scalping may not be as effective because they require full focus on the trade and if you are at the job, you will need to shift your focus as opening and closing on time in important there.
Swing trading is somehow the best option in my mind, it is stress free and you can focus on your work while your trade is playing out during the days.
3)Utilize features and tools
It goes without saying that a good trader needs to be able to use tools, and I am not talking about the indicators and else, this is your trading strategy which you are responsible for. What I mean are Limit Orders. For instance, you see that there’s a key level on the bottom and the price is moving there - but you will not have anytime then to open a trade when it reaches. You can just put a Buy Limit order to that level, adjust the SL and TP and let it be, if it confirms your thesis, the trade plays out, if it doesn’t, you can just cancel this order later. If it goes against your thesis, you are still safe cuz the price is moving the other way.
4)Do your analysis every day
Make a habit for yourself to devote 30 mins to 1 hour to trading BEFORE you head out to work, and I know you gotta wake up earlier now, and it may be hard, cold so on and so on, but it’s your choice, if you want it - do it. So when you hit the market before going to work, you can build your thesis for the day and put those limit orders or alerts and then go and focus on your work. You can control the rest from your phone, but be sure to analyze what the day is going to be like, and what news are here, and etc.
Also, devote some time after you come home from work, and this would be the deciciding factor of your progress - if you analyze your trades every day and keep track of them (journalling), then you will have enough data.
5)Focus on your work
Yes, this is important. When you are working - work. When you are trading - trade. But nothing in between, as splitting between those two will result negatively in both regards, so try to only check your trades during your breaks and etc. Remember, trading is still something you are learning, and treating it over your main job could lead to delusion, as the job which is brining money is more important as of now, at least logically.
Also, if you trade during your work and if you made some mistakes - you lost a couple of trades, and then you started revenge trading, and now you are full furious and you still need to work 4 hours more, what would be the quality of the rest of your work? See how it may impact, so focus on work when it’s worktime, simple.
6)Education
The most basic advice, but it’s especially important in this scenario, because you will be exhausted when you come from work and most likely have not much desire to study and practise trading. But you need to practise and learn to improve, if you keep putting the same old trades with mistakes, nothing is gonna change. So choose a time after or before work where you can actually study. Devoting 2-3 hours a day is not easy for a working man, but still possible.
Good luck in your job and in trading guys👌
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