Every Forex trader starts out on their journey with dreams of trading from a laptop on the beach and only working a couple of hours each day. Eventually, we realize that this idea is a bit more far-fetched than we initially thought, but there might be some truth inside the dream.
While you might not ever be able to trade from your own island in the Caribbean, trading Forex on a part-time basis might make you profitable faster than trading full-time. Not only do part-time traders face much less pressure to produce, they also have many market factors lined up in their favor. This can help new traders learn the ropes and avoid blowing up their accounts.
Forex Crunch published an article that discussed three different reasons why trading Forex in your spare time is advantageous to trading full-time. The author discusses how the part-time trader benefits from less pressure, smoother trends, and more free time.
Avoid Overtrading
One of the biggest mistake that new Forex traders make is overtrading. This mistake can be exponentially greater when a trader forces himself to sit in front of a screen all day long.
Traders who are sitting at their computers all day will feel the need to justify the time they spend watching the markets. The best way to do that is to keep trading. However, if they have not developed a profitable strategy, they are probably just going to blow up their account even faster by overtrading.
Keep Your Day Job
Traders who are attempting to make a full-time living from day trading have the pressure of mounting bills and daily household expenses to cover. That pressure can rob a trader of the patience that is needed to wait for optimal setups or to stick with a trending position.
Part-time traders are able to maintain their day jobs, so they aren’t depended on trading income to pay their bills. This allows them to be more relaxed in their trading. The fact that forex markets are open around the clock allows a trader to adapt to pretty much any work schedule. Some strategies, like Shaun’s Euro Scalping Strategy, will actually work better during non-working hours.
Trade Longer Term
Part-time traders are also able to focus on longer term charts. Trading daily or weekly charts will eliminate much of the noise that traders encounter on 1 hour or 15 minute charts. Reducing the noise on a given chart can be a tremendous help to someone who is new to trading.
Longer term trading also allows traders more time to analyze their trades. This assures that they won’t get caught up in the heat of the moment and make bad decisions that they later regret. Trading less frequently allows traders plenty of time for reading and studying.