How to Be a Part-Time Forex Trader

Forex trading is one of the most flexible investment environments, which is why it attracts so many part-time traders. Because the market is open for literally 24-hours a day, Monday through Friday, you can trade whenever you prefer, from wherever you are.

Unlike the stock market in your country, which most likely operates during the same hours that you work your full-time job, the forex market will be waiting for you once you finish work.

Trading forex when you feel like, isn’t strictly considered part-time trading. By becoming a part-time trader, you should acknowledge what it really means. Part-time implies that you will not be trading eight-hours per day, but it doesn’t mean there should not be any schedule or structure behind when you trade.

Part-time trading is often confused with casual trading, where trading is treated as a hobby or interest and not a job. There are quite a few disadvantages to casually trading forex. Meanwhile, there are many advantages to becoming a part-time forex day trader.

In this article, we will explore the primary differences between part-time trading and casual trading to see what the main differences are between these levels of commitment to trading.

Trading Forex Casually

If you plan on trading forex from time-to-time, with no fixed agenda, it means you would be considered a hobby trader or a casual trader. Casual trading isn’t a recommended trading style, because it suggests you haven’t done the necessary planning or market analysis to be familiar with current behaviour and price development.

Because casual traders have a very relaxed approach, they often take several days off from trading. When they do trade, they often find themselves trading from their mobile phones, possibly while distracted by TV or a podcast. The lack of attention is likely to lead to wasted time and money.

The lack of structure associated with a casual trading schedule makes it hard to follow a trading strategy or maintain a journal that can be reliably reflected on. The forex market behaves differently depending on the day of the week and the time of the day. For example, Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually the most active days of the week and the second half of the European trading session and the beginning of the US session are the best times of the day to trade volatility.

With a casual trading schedule, there is a chance you will miss the best moments to trade and are unlikely to develop your skills as a trader due to the lack of structure. Therefore, establishing a part-time trading strategy offers several merits.

Trading Forex Part-Time

As mentioned earlier, there are only a few hours per day which offer the most opportunities. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to keep your eyes glued to the screen of your computer or laptop if there are no worthwhile opportunities to reward you for your time.

Many traders use that time for doing other stuff in their lives, working on their trading strategy, back-testing or engaging other forms of employment, such as freelancing or another part-time job.

Traders who fully commit to trading full-time, i.e. they have no other source of income, usually find trading more stressful because they are driven to earn money to pay for bills and other living expenses. The necessity can drive traders who depend on the income to take low-quality trade ideas and ultimately head down a dangerous path of overtrading.

Trading part-time may imply spending a couple of hours a day doing research and analysis while waiting on the right moment and trade level to make a market entry. Managing open trades may be done on a schedule that has time intervals of say one hour or even after every 4 hours. It is advisable to use the most popular strategies for trading in 2021

Interestingly, if you examined the schedules of most full-time traders, you would probably notice their agenda looks a lot like that of a part-time trader. The reason for this goes back to the notion that there are only a few opportune hours each day in the forex market.

Trading forex can be a stressful experience; this uncomfortable emotion can lead to quitting, particularly for traders who don’t necessarily need the money. It can also be challenging for new traders to maintain a strict part-time schedule. It can be especially tricky if they have a full-time job and family obligations; which is why we recommend joining one of the daily forex trading webinars hosted by Scope Market, the best investment platform in Kenya.

Even if you don’t find the time to place orders every day, at the very least, attending a webinar will keep your mind focused on the market, keeping you sharp for when you’re able to get more screen time.