The popularity of forex trading has significantly risen over the past few years. The reasons why so many people with or without financial background are drawn to the foreign exchange currency market is its advantageous characteristics, some of which include:
- Accessibility
- Open 24 hours
- Decentralised
- Low transaction costs
- High liquidity
- You can use leverage
- Wide range of currency pairs
- Large number of tools to help you trade
- Etc.
Due to the above-mentioned characteristics and the fact that nowadays a huge part of the population on Earth has access to the Internet, the barriers to enter the forex market and become a trader are quite low.
If you want to truly make the most of it, though, and be able to enjoy all the perks and advantages of forex trading, you have to first get the proper education.
Trading Education is now offering a 100% free forex trading course, “The Ultimate Guide to Forex Trading.” More on that later, though. Let’s get back to what makes people of various backgrounds choose forex trading as their full-time job and also, what might be the cons of doing so.
With its 24/7 schedule, easy accessibility and high liquidity forex trading has become a popular career choice, especially for people with a financial background. Making money using only your laptop/mobile/tablet sounds quite appealing, right?
Convenience is a huge bonus but what else is there?
Why is becoming a full-time forex trader better or worse than having a day job?
Why do so many people prefer to become their own bosses and ditch the day job while others prefer their regular 9-5 responsibilities?
Let’s find out.
Before even considering becoming a full-time forex trader make sure you have prepared accordingly. If you are absolutely sure it’s time to quit your boring office job and focus on making money by trading, you have to:
- Invest time and effort to get the education you need to become a trader;
- Don’t rush into such colossal career change decisions unless you can afford to;
- Do your research and find as much information as you can on the environment you are about to enter;
- Make sure you are aware of all the risks involved in forex trading;
- Don’t risk money you don’t have or need for other things, such as mortgages, family responsibilities, children, etc.;
- Seek advice from friends or members of communities who are familiar with forex trading;
- Create a career plan for the next 6 months - 1 year. What do you want to achieve and how much time/money can you dedicate to this new venture of yours?
What are the advantages of becoming a full-time forex trader over having a full-time job?
Flexibility like no other
Becoming a full-time forex trader means freeing yourself from limited office hours. The forex market is open 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. You are free to design your own trading schedule and don’t have to think about how long will it take you to go to work or whether you have to stay at the office for another few hours to wrap things up. Having a flexible schedule can fit in with your life much better than any office job. If you have kids or other family responsibilities, the flexibility forex trading offers might be very useful.
Easy to start
Once you’ve set your mind on it, starting with forex is relatively easy as the entry barriers are quite low. Of course, in addition to the hours you must dedicate to get a proper education and research, all you need to do to trade is a connection to the Internet and a laptop/smartphone/tablet.
No central regulation
No boss or management to report to! You are the master of your finances and the only person you should report to is yourself.
Forex, being an over-the-counter market, operating all over the world has no central regulation, central exchange, monitoring or reporting. Decentralised and deregulated markets avoid the surprise factor and there’s no way for you to one day go to your office and find out that your company is firing you or declaring bankruptcy.
Moreover, there are no insiders in the forex market, as it is dependent on global factors and perceived economic developments.
Low costs
Another thing to consider as an advantage of full-time forex trading career is the low costs. Technically there are no commissions in real sense. Forex brokers make profits from the spreads between the currency pair.
You don’t have to worry about paying brokerage charges. Other markets, such as equity or securities trading have a different brokerage structure and a trader should take their fees into consideration when drawing the final line.
This is not necessarily an advantage over your full-time job but it’s certainly a positive aspect of forex trading to think about.
The power of liquidity
The forex market has the largest number of market participants in comparison to other financial markets. Being the most liquid market in the world has its perks.
Price manipulation, price anomalies and deviations are quite difficult to occur within the forex market, leading to more efficient pricing. Excluding major events happening within the country, you can observe similar price patterns occurring throughout the non-stop trading.
This advantageous nature of the forex market is not something that we can compare to your regular job but is another factor to consider when becoming a full-time forex trader.
Various technologies and trading strategies at your advantage
To become a full-time trader, we would assume that you had an initial interest in the world of finance and currency trading. As you know, there are plenty of tools, tactics, methods and strategies to help you spread your trading wings and explore your financial horizons. You may never get such freedom to explore on your own if you work in a company. Following strict rules and guidelines can become tedious but if you become a full-time trader you are free to learn as many strategies as you want and use automated signals, software, tools, trade copiers and more to create positive returns on your trading account.
Not just that but you have the chance to develop your own personal strategy and style of trading, compatible with your aims, goals and personality. There are hundreds of forex technical indicators you can adopt, many fundamental analysis theories and tools that present an enormous choice in front of a trader, whether he is an experienced one or just a beginner.
There’s nothing wrong with making the most of technology, skills and tactics to help you achieve your goals. You may not have such freedom if you stick to your 9-5 office job.
How cool is it?
We can’t just deny the cool factor. Becoming a successful trader by having a forex trading career as your main source of income is just too cool. It’s tough work but you will inevitably encounter losses but what else says you kick ass more than being your own boss and make money from home?
What are the disadvantages of becoming a full-time forex trader?
Let’s talk about some of the cons of becoming a full-time forex trader over having a regular day job.
Time
All the good things in life take time and effort. Therefore, the fact that learning forex trading takes time is not necessarily a con but rather something to keep in mind before you start using your savings.
Forex can indeed offer financial freedom and more free time which you can dedicate to yourself and your family but to get to that point you need to first learn how to become a trader and master the art of forex. You also have to spend time polishing your strategies, learning new tricks and constantly update yourself on the latest happenings in the market.
Just know that a full-time forex trading career doesn’t mean you will have all the time in the world to sit at home and relax. Dedicate at least a few months to learn everything you can about forex.
By the way, Trading Education can absolutely help with your learning process.
We offer a comprehensive course on forex trading for 100% free!
“The Ultimate Guide to Forex Trading” is available now to those who are interested in pursuing a career in forex.
We are offering it for free because of our partner brokers are interested in seeing more well-educated traders who are serious about trading and will stick around for longer. More on our course later. Let’s get back to the cons of becoming a full-time forex trader.
Risk
This is probably the biggest disadvantage of forex trading not just as a full-time (or part-time) job but in general. You have to remember that you are putting your own money on the line and if you suffer losses it’s going to come out of your pocket.
There are, however, many risk management strategies you can learn and with proper education, planning and self-discipline it’s something that you can learn to manage.
The risks won’t disappear but at least you will have more control over them.
Stability
We do have to mention stability. As boring and monotonous your regular job might be, at least you are certain that at the beginning of the next month you will get a salary. Having a regular income that will come in every month gives you peace of mind.
Meanwhile, becoming a full-time forex trader might bring you financial challenges. For example, you can’t say for sure how much will you earn each month and whether the success you harvested this week will continue in the following one.
If you enter a series of losses, you won’t be able to bring any money to the table and you might even lose your initial deposit. If you plan on trading full-time, make sure you have enough money for living and don’t sacrifice savings dedicated to your family, mortgage, kid’s college tuition, etc. Also, make sure you have enough money to uphold your account balance if you experience a streak of losses.
Still, if you are consistent and keep developing your trading skills, your improvement will bring rewarding results.
Fraud
Not every broker out there has your best interests at heart. Some are out to get your money and disappear without any notice. Good luck getting your money back.
It’s up to you to do your research, gather information and read through as many reviews as possible before you start trading. It’s a con that’s completely avoidable.
There are many ways that can help you spot a suspicious broker. Check out our guide to making sure your broker is trustworthy.
Forex trading as a part-time gig?
We should also probably point out that many young graduates, as well as experienced professionals, go down the forex road, however, not as full-time forex traders but rather part-time traders. They are usually highly intrigued by the thought of making extra money after they come back home from their regular job, but still prefer to keep their stable monthly income, instead of fully relying on winning from their trades.
There’s nothing wrong with that. It can turn into a great and more secure start that can eventually develop into a full-time gig or it can just remain an additional source of income (which is always a great thing).
However, there are some downfalls to that decision. Professionals recommend starting as a part-time trader and eventually becoming a full-time professional trader because of the following reasons:
- If you trade only when you have the time or only when a sudden urge kicks in, your trading activities will simply have no structure.
- Markets can act differently at different times of the day. Therefore, trading at casual intervals won’t really allow you to apply or develop a consistent trading strategy.
- Periods of high trading activity, followed by taking a few days off trading will leave traders less focused and slow down their reaction times, which can lead to making more mistakes.
Of course, you can certainly be a part-time trader, however, try to be a consistent one, instead of trading casually every now and then.
Trade on your computer at an allotted time each and every day. Don’t trade on your smartphone during your lunch break or while you wait in line for your coffee. Be serious about your trading career and it will pay off.
If you do not refine your techniques every day, you will lose money.
Ultimately, whether you decide to be a part-time or a full-time trader, do it right. Think of it as a business or don’t do it at all.
Final Thoughts
Can Forex Trade be taken as a full-time job? Absolutely!
A lot of people, especially in the marketing management, IT and engineering sectors are either considering it or have already made the transition. In our fast-paced modernised world where you can make money just by using a computer or a smartphone, there’s nothing wrong with trying new career paths and taking advantage of the benefits the market can offer.
Keep in mind that forex is not an easy money-making career and if you want to explore its diverse horizons, you have to be ready to learn, study money management techniques, learn how to take and manage risks and most importantly, be consistent, ambitious and hard-working.
Although there are fewer disadvantages to a forex trading career than the number of advantages, study the impact of each one of them and make the right decision. Take your time - the world is yours!
It’s highly likely for beginners to quit during their initial phase. Once you’ve quit your job and became a full-time forex trader, it’s important to not give up because you have made losses due to limited knowledge of forex trading and experience.
Don’t worry! We got your back.
Trading Education supports traders who are serious about their career in the market.
You can now get our course, “The Ultimate Guide to Forex Trading” for free thanks to our partner brokers.
In our course, you will learn:
- Foundation in FOREX Trading
- Mechanics of FOREX Trading
- Advanced Analysis FOREX Trading
- Strategy Trading for FOREX Trading
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