Is Forex Trading A Realistic Full Time Career Choice?
The idea of making forex trading a full-time career appeals to a diverse range of people, and you may wonder if this is an achievable goal, or an unrealistic pipe-dream. There are many rewards and advantages to be found in a forex trading career, although there are some risks to consider as well. Here’s how to decide if full-time trading is a realistic career for you.
Have a clear understanding of what’s involved
First of all, if you are completely new to forex trading, it’s essential that you put in some ground work to help you develop a good understanding of what’s involved. Forex is a continual learning process and it’s best to build on solid foundations.
Some people have the misconception that it’s a quick and easy way to make a lot of money, but this is far from the truth. Forex trading requires a high level of discipline, motivation and commitment, as well as good technical skills and market knowledge. As well as this, it requires the ability to accept a certain level of risk and to be able to handle failure well.
You will need to have a degree of emotional intelligence and self awareness, so you do not let feelings such as fear, greed, and anger get in the way of your decision making. There is plenty of material available on trading psychology, and it’s strongly recommended to do some research into this field alongside the technical aspects of forex trading.
What are the advantages of a forex trading career?
Having said all that, there are many advantages to forex trading, which makes it an attractive career choice for a diverse range of people. The forex markets are highly liquid, which means that they are constantly active and it’s easy to buy and sell currency pairs at a high volume without significantly impacting the exchange rate.
A highly flexible work schedule
It’s a truly global marketplace that operates across all time zones, so it’s possible to trade almost 24/7 from anywhere in the world. This flexibility makes forex trading a particularly popular career for the ‘digital nomad’ generation who combine travel with work, because location is unimportant, apart from the need to have a reliable internet connection.
It also appeals to anyone who dislikes the rigid nine to five working structure, irrespective of where they live, and it can suit people with caring commitments. It can offer the chance to be your own boss, work the hours you choose, set your own profit targets, and be in charge of your work-life balance.
This freedom and independence can be empowering, giving you confidence in your own abilities and putting you in charge of your own destiny.
Low start-up costs
Unlike most attempts at starting your own business, you can begin forex trading with very little capital and investment. Choose an instant forex funding firm that offers high leverage, and you will be able to work your way up to trading with a much larger amount of capital. Even if you have less than £500 to work with, there’s still an opportunity worth taking.
No qualifications to entry
Unlike most financial careers, you don’t need any formal training or qualifications, nor do you have to undergo a rigorous and daunting recruitment process in order to get the job. This can be a huge advantage for people who have not gone down the conventional educational pathways when they were younger, and don’t have any advanced level qualifications.
It also suits people who may be recent graduates, but want something different to the standard milkround of interviews and assessment centres that are the usual way onto a graduate career path. If you are happy working on your own initiative and thrive best when working alone, forex trading might be a good career choice for you.
Plenty of learning opportunities
Most people who trade forex are self-taught, and in the digital age there is a wealth of information freely available to help you build up your knowledge and skills. Some companies offer structured training courses and webinars if you want to take a more formal approach to learning.
There’s also a huge range of books, podcasts and video material available, so your only difficulty might be knowing where to start.
A broad range of trading styles
Although you will need certain mental attributes to be a good forex trader, there’s no rigid set of rules about the right or wrong way to do things. Over time, you will develop your own trading strategy based on your personal strengths and weaknesses. For example, impatient people who thrive under pressure may be suited to scalping or day trading.
More placid and patient personalities who like to work methodically and think over their next move carefully may be better suited to swing trading or long-term trading. This means that there are many paths to profitability in forex trading, and you do not need to fit in with a cookie-cutter mould to be successful.
The most important way to make progress is to continually evolve your strategy and review your progress, and to be prepared to learn from your mistakes.
Volatile markets that offer frequent profit-making opportunities
The forex markets can be volatile, with sharp price swings in the major currencies. For well-prepared traders, this offers the opportunity to make significant profits.
Drawbacks of a full-time forex trading career
Some people will be ideally suited to full time forex trading, but this is usually because they already have lots of experience on a part time basis, or that they are transferring from another demanding finance career. If you are intending to make forex trading your main income source from little or no previous experience, it’s important to be aware of the pitfalls.
High level of risk
There’s no such thing as a 100 per cent success rate in forex trading. It is inherently risky due to market volatility and even experienced traders regularly make losses. Therefore you need to be able to live with a degree of uncertainty, and be prepared to constantly manage risk.
No guaranteed income
One of the biggest challenges to making forex trading your full-time career is that it is impossible to guarantee a steady income, especially when you are just starting out. It is unrealistic to expect that you can go from little or no experience to making enough profit to support yourself within a few weeks, or even months.
Therefore, unless you have another income source to rely on and are able to withstand losses, it’s strongly suggested that to begin with, you trade with a demo account and then trade live part-time while you find your feet. Otherwise, you will be setting yourself unachievable goals and are likely to feel under too much pressure.
Trading is mainly about managing risk rather than pursuing profit, and if you have a ‘sink or swim; mentality, it can lead to mistakes and bad decisions that could be a slippery slope into financial disaster. You can be cushioned from this if you have a significant amount of start-up capital, but even so, a gradual transition to full-time is always the wisest course of action.
Self-discipline and lifestyle
Forex trading can be an isolating career, so consider if this will suit your personality and lifestyle. There are online communities where you can connect with other traders and share ideas and advice, but essentially you will be working alone for much of the time.
Therefore, you will have to make an effort to maintain a good work-life balance so that you can benefit from real-world social interactions. This will help you to stay emotionally buoyant and better able to withstand the ups and downs that forex trading will inevitably bring.
You will also need the self-discipline to keep learning and refining your strategy, because the forex markets are highly dynamic and if you just tread water, it’s likely that you will soon get behind the curve.
Consider if you have the right level of motivation and commitment for self-directed learning, with no one to hold you accountable to your progress. If you think that this might be an obstacle for you, it might be possible to reach out to a more experienced trader who will be willing to mentor you through the early stages of your career.
One of main reasons people give up forex trading is a lack of practical knowledge combined with impatience and high expectations. To be successful, you need to set yourself small achievable goals and take very small risks in the early stages.
Learn how to regulate your emotions so that your decisions are always based on logic rather than emotions such as greed, fear, or anger. Cultivate the ability to walk away and do nothing rather than let yourself be hustled into a poorly-thought through move.
Full-time forex trading is a realistic goal for some, but always be aware of the risks involved, and make the transition in well-managed stages rather than assuming that you will be able to have a sustainable career from the outset.