How to Trade Full Time for a Living

Trading enthusiasts often wonder whether it’s possible to quit their full time jobs and support themselves just by trading full time. The idea of being your own boss, managing your own time, and being free to work from anywhere in the world is certainly fascinating. Novice traders encouraged by early success in growing their trading accounts may feel ready to take the leap, but often end up losing money over the long-term.

The reality is that trading for a living is a difficult job, and like any job it requires learning a specific skillset acquired through experience. Making a living trading, sitting by the pool with nothing more than a laptop and an internet connection may seem like a fantasy, but it is possible as long as you have discipline, ambition, and patience – especially when the market moves against you.

Trading Requires Discipline at All Times

As a full time day trader you don’t have a traditional boss telling you what to do and when, so you need to have the discipline to be your own boss. Day traders live in sync with the markets they trade, never straying from their trading schedules and plans. Every trade is diligently recorded in a trading log, to measure performance and learn valuable lessons from each move.

Whenever a profit target is reached in line with the trading strategy a successful and disciplined trader will close the position without hesitation. The same goes for losing positions, which are closed to cut losses instead of maintained in the hopes of a reversal. Trader’s don’t hope. They plan and execute moves with a steady hand.

Invest in Trading Education

The difference between hope and analysis, lies in education. Arguably the most important step in getting ready for full time trading is spending serious time educating yourself about everything related to trading. You should know just about every type of trading that goes on in the markets, how macro events influence rallies and reversals, the role major financial institutions play, hedging tactics, and theories for both short and long-term trading approaches.

To get started with trading, you’ll need to find your own trading style that meets your financial goals, within the timeframes you want, taking the appropriate amount of risk without forgoing personal risk management principles. In simple terms, there are a hundred different ways to trade, and you need to figure out what works best for you.

Part of this process is also finding the right markets to trade in, as they each have their own unique dynamics that call for different tactics. Across the investment landscape, traders tend to specialise in specific markets like major currency pairs in forex, minor currency pairs, stocks, commodities like gold and silver.

Additionally, trading CFDs are a popular way for investors to gain exposure to the markets, with a few key features that are of particular interest such as going long and short making it possible to make gains in both rising and falling markets, as well as trading with leverage to use a smaller amount of money to gain the effects of a larger position.

Prepare Mentally for All Possibilities

As all professional traders know, emotions need to be kept in check if you want to stick to your trading plan and protect yourself from irrational moves that risk more than you wanted to initially. Before you commit to full time trading, it’s important to fully grasp the reality that financial losses are part of the game. This might mean the first weeks or months of trading result in losses. The only way to move past those losses is to identify lessons to be learnt and sharpen your skills, rather than letting emotions get the better of you and doubling down on losing methods.

Being able to learn from your mistakes is a critical skills for any trader, but there is an easier way to gather the same knowledge: connecting to a community of traders. On Pocket Trader you join the wider trading community to discuss trading ideas, validate plans, learn how to read between the candles to identify trading opportunities and overall lift your trading game to master the markets.

You can stick to a demo trading account to learn the tricks of the trade in a safe risk-free environment before you commit real money, while still getting the most out of linking up with more experienced traders. If you're one of the few who can master the art of trading financial markets, you'll get all the excitement, independence, and financial security.