Some years ago, just the name “forex” made a lot of people shrink in fear and mistrust, especially those unfamiliar with the financial industry.
It wasn’t that long ago when the financial opportunities of forex trading were available only to big businesses and fancy bankers.
However, due to developments in technology, the Internet and the many advances in personal computing and internet connection, nowadays the global market is openly available to anyone who has a credit card or an eWallet.
The amount of people from all over the world who decided to pursue trading as a full-time career, or even as a part-time job, is growing as we speak. This comes as no surprise because in addition to the advancements in personal computing and the Internet, forex trading has a lot of advantageous characteristics many people find attractive and ready to experience.
The foreign exchange market attracts people with or without financial backgrounds with some of the following traits:
- 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
Because of these characteristics and the possibilities the world of forex can present to everyday people, many are quitting their full-time jobs and pursuing a full-time career in forex trading. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, any new adventure in life should be met with excitement, anticipation, hard work and ambition.
The 24/7 schedule and the low barriers to entry are turning forex trading into a popular career choice. Making money just by sitting in front of your laptop, mobile or tablet sounds quite good, right? Convenience is indeed a big bonus but there’s way more to it than that.
In the following article we will try to analyse the benefits of becoming a full-time trader as opposed to having a regular 9-5 job, as well give you 20 reasons why you should make that change.
Before we do that, though, we want to emphasise on one important aspect of forex trading: you can’t go anywhere without proper education. If you know absolutely nothing about forex and think that you can become a self-made millionaire in a week, we have bad news for you; it’s not going to happen.
You can’t just wake up one day and quit your job just because you felt like it. Such an impulsive act will lead to anything successful. Make a plan, calculate your savings and do things step by step. After all, every mountain is climbed one step at a time.
Think of trading as driving for a second. Drivers don’t learn by reading only. They get in the car and start driving. Get your education, carefully calculate and analyse everything, give yourself some time to plan and prepare accordingly and eventually open a trading account to gain access to the markets.
Just like any other skill in life, you need to spend time, energy and resources to master it. We can help with that.
We, at Trading Education are now offering our forex trading course, “The Ultimate Guide to Forex Trading” for free to all who want to learn and become professional traders.
The course covers all major areas of forex trading and it is available for free thanks to our partner brokers. More on that later.
Let’s go back to the reasons why you should transition from a regular job to a full-time trading career.
You will be your own boss
The first and probably the best reason to quit your job and become a full-time forex trader is that you will become your own boss. Think about it for a second - the only person you have to report to is yourself.
Many people struggle with their bosses and managers and feel mistreated, stressed and even fearful of them.
If you become a full-time forex trader you don’t have to deal with that. No one can tell you what to do, how to do your job or expect you to write late-night reports every day. You will be the boss of you!
With that, of course, comes a lot of responsibilities and you need to be ready to manage your time and finances. Think of it as your own business and treat it that way.
You decide where to work, when to work and how to do things. Nobody is going to make you do anything for them. There’s no client, no customer and no boss.
More free time
Since you’ll have no fixed working schedule, late hours at the office and the constant pressure to do things on time and keep up with all the deadlines, as a full-time forex trader, you will have a lot more free time.
What you choose to do with your free time is up to you, of course.
You can spend more time with your family and friends; take care of the kids, fix the house, etc. Or, you can dedicate your free time to learning more about forex and polishing your trading skills.
Freedom comes with a price, though. Stick to your working schedule and plan everything. Follow your daily routine and don’t make excuses. Self-discipline is important, especially when you trade from home full-time.
Freedom of choice
When you become a full-time trader no one can tell you how to do things. You have the freedom to craft your own trading style, pick the broker you want to trust with your money, follow a specific educational program and adopt a certain software or technique.
You certainly won’t get the chance to exercise such freedom if you stick to your regular office job.
There will be no boss or manager to tell you how, when or why you have to do things in a certain way or make you follow and do something you don’t agree with, especially if it’s part of a company’s policy.
You have freedom of choice but when it comes to forex and the risks associated with trading, every choice you make should be carefully researched, rational and backed up by knowledge.
Make your own schedule
We’ve mentioned that you will have more free time but another perk associated with your full-time trading working schedule is the fact that you decide when to work and place your trades.
You may prefer to trade at night or throughout the day. The market is also driven by four local sessions - Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. Also, trading volume varies from one session to another.
The highest trading volume usually occurs when the London and New York sessions overlap. Depending on which part of the world you are located, you may have to adjust your trading schedule according to time zones.
Work from anywhere
Becoming a full-time forex trader means that you can work from anywhere you want.
Whether you choose the comfort of your home or go to the local coffee shop, it’s all up to you. As long as you are connected to the Internet, you can even work while on vacation or on the bus travelling to somewhere.
Create your own safe working space
In addition to the above-mentioned benefit of becoming a full-time forex trader, we wanted to mention that such freedom of space gives you an opportunity to create your own working environment, where you feel safe and focused.
You don’t have to put up with a tiny cubicle office or work in a loud and distracting environment with lots of co-workers.
We, however, suggest that you make yourself a designated trading space where you will be isolated from distractions and you can focus on your trading activities.
Get an office space or a separate room where you can work. Trading from the kitchen, with your kids running around while you try to make pancakes is certainly not a good environment to trade in.
Create your own space. Avoid distractions as much as you can. Focus on learning and winning.
Once you become a pro, the sky's the limit
If you become a professional full-time forex trader, the sky's the limit. The market offers endless opportunities for growth, both professional, as well as personal.
You can explore various styles of trading, adopt and perfect countless strategies, try trading with various currency pairs, become a mentor yourself, join trading communities and more.
You might also start trading other markets as well, once the financial industry has peaked your interest.
In comparison, your regular job might not give you such opportunities. Sometimes, things will get very autonomous and you will end up doing the same things over and over again without being able to try out new horizons.
Thrill and excitement
Yes, forex trading is very risky. You might end up getting too emotional, losing a lot of money and eventually giving up. However, it’s also very thrilling and exciting.
Think about it for a second. If you are the type of person who stays away from monotonous, boring jobs and has always looked for some excitement and stimulating in his work, forex trading might be great for you.
The forex market offers an environment where things can change in a second; it’s a market where you have to make quick and rational decisions and constantly be vigilant. Trading currencies is challenging, interesting and overall, it can be considered as a never-ending educational process.
Responsibility Growth
Remember, becoming a full-time forex trader means that you will be responsible for many things, including: 1) coming up with your own schedule; 2) managing your finances; 3) designating a personal working space; 3) keep the learning process going; 4) research and analysis of the market, etc.
We see all this as a huge benefit because it will challenge your character on a whole new level.
You are your own authority. Everything you do is for your own sake and future. That’s one of the reasons why we keep saying that forex trading might not be for everyone. It is, however, for those who are willing to confront their daily routine, get out of their comfort zone and prove that they are ambitious and responsible enough to become professionals.
Whether you decide to be a professional trader your whole life or stop after a few years, forex trading will surely help you grow as a person and develop a high sense of responsibility which is helpful in all spheres and industries of life and work.
Low barriers to entry
Getting started in forex is relatively easy. As previously mentioned, the barriers to enter are quite low.
You need a device connected to the Internet and that’s pretty much it. In terms of education, finding a good course or mentor is not something too difficult either. We, at Trading Education, for example, provide a 100% free forex trading course, accessible to all. More on that later.
Moreover, barriers such as government regulations do not exist. The forex market is decentralised and you don’t need special permission or license to enter.
This is not entirely related to the issue of why you should leave your regular job to pursue a forex trading career but it’s definitely a huge plus!
Finally, there’s no such thing as “workplace inequality” or “gender pay gap” when it comes to forex trading. It also doesn’t matter what your level of experience is and whether you are 35 or 25 - everyone has the same chance of being successful.
You don’t need a lot of money to start
If you thought that getting started as a currency trader would cost you a lot of money, that’s not true. You really don’t need a lot of money to start trading currencies, compared with other markets, such as trading stocks, options or futures.
The majority of online brokers offer “mini” and “micro” trading accounts that have a minimum account deposit of only $25.
Of course, it’s not always the best to open an account with the bare minimum. However, this option does make forex a little bit more accessible to the everyday individual who doesn’t have thousands of dollars to put on the line as start-up trading capital.
Low costs
One thing that might also persuade you to shift to a full-time forex trading career is the low costs.
There are no exchange fees, no commissions and certainly no government taxes. The only thing you have to consider is the transaction cost which is already built into the price in forex. This is called a spread. Most brokers make profits from the spreads between forex currencies.
Don’t worry about including separate charges. In comparison with other markets such as equity or securities trading, in forex, you don’t have to take such high fees into account.
This is definitely one of the biggest advantages of the forex market and certainly something to add to your “reason why I should become a forex trader” list.
Technology to your advantage
Think about it for a second. Do you use a lot of technology at your regular job? Do you have the chance to check out different software? Can you play with various devices and install what you want on them? Sometimes you can but you have to ask your boss, try to convince them why you should do it.
If you become a full-time forex trader the chances of having such freedom of exploring various software and technologies are quite little.
Forex offers a range of trading platforms on the web, mobile and tablets. You can get access to various platforms and a wide range of features, designed to improve your trading.
You can also explore many risk management tools, interactive charts, integrated and personalised news feeds and more. You are free to use technology as you please and explore the many products designed to help you improve your forex trading.
No limit to how much money you can make
This one is pretty obvious but still, we had to mention it.
Your regular job probably has a fixed monthly salary.
You may have a raise every now and then but ultimately, there’s a fixed payment per hour/week/month and in most cases, you can’t do much to increase it.
When it comes to forex, though, things are quite different. You don’t have a fixed income which some people might consider a disadvantage since your stability is at stake, however, think about it from another standpoint, the amount of money you can earn is endless!
Decentralised
We briefly mentioned this characteristic of forex when we talked about how low the barriers are to enter the market, but let’s discuss it a bit further.
Forex is a global, decentralised, OTC (over-the-counter) market and in comparison to other professions, you don’t need any license, registrations, applications and so on in order to practice your career of choice.
You also don’t have to report to any governmental organisations or be afraid that your local government can deny you access or any other form of restriction.
Liquidity
One of the first and best advantages you will come across once you transition to a full-time forex trader is how much liquidity the forex market offers over any other market out there. There are approximately $5.1 trillion in daily traded volume. It’s said that a currency pair has high levels of liquidity when it’s easily bought/sold and there’s a lot of trading activity going on for that pair.
Such high liquidity allows for ease of trade, further popularising the profession among traders of various kinds.
This is one of the basic characteristics of forex and its biggest benefit over many other financial markets. So, for example, if you’re already part of the financial world, this characteristic of forex might be something to intrigue you and match your ideas and goals for a perfect new career environment.
Trading will develop your intellect
We’ve mentioned that trading will develop your sense of responsibility but another think on a personal character level that is worth mentioning is that trading will stimulate your intellect more than any other professions out there.
Many regular jobs involve unchanging daily tasks and robot-like activities which in there is no way to develop our ability to think out of the box and become more flexible and intelligent.
The mere nature of the forex market and its characteristics involving risks and quick changes, traders who are determined to succeed just can’t help but work on their problem-solving skills and sense of logic.
Sense of accomplishment
Many people with regular jobs are constantly complaining about how they lack motivation, feel down and unaccomplished in their career. The reason why you feel like this is that the majority of jobs include similar daily responsibilities and activities which can’t really give you any sense of accomplishment, especially if you’ve been doing them for years.
Traders, however, have things completely different. You know that when you make a winning trade it was all made possible because of your logical choices, your own efforts, education, ideas and reactions. Therefore, once you come out as a winner, you will feel proud of yourself, of your accomplishments and how far you went just by yourself and your determination.
Learn how to be in control of yourself and your life
Forex trading will give you a whole new number of things you have to worry about and overcome. From time and money management to learning and planning, forex trading will certainly teach you a thing or two about being in control of yourself, whether you want it or not.
Think about how many other job positions can teach you such valuable qualities? Not many for sure.
Forex will get you out of your comfort zone and trust us, it’s for your own good.
It’s cool, prestigious and you can become rich
There’s definitely a cool factor in being a self-taught successful forex trader. It’s tough work but having a forex trading career as your main source of income is just too cool, don’t you think?
What else says you kick ass more than being your own boss?
Many people don’t want to disclose or talk about their regular 9-5 jobs when someone asks them what they do for a living. They don’t want to talk about it because it’s either embarrassing for them or too boring to explain to other people.
If you are a forex trader, trust us, you will have tons of questions and freedom to discuss your achievements to your friends without being shy or nervous about it.
Conclusion:
Let’s be honest, quitting your stable job to pursue a career in forex trading is going to be life-changing. Your personality, emotions and most importantly, your lifestyle will change completely.
Make the transition as smooth and as carefully-planned as possible. If you start losing and feel discouraged and regretful, we have one thing to say to you; don’t be too hard on yourself. Even professional traders have losing weeks or months.
Stay positive and remind yourself why is it that you do this and what are the many perks that made you a trader in the first place.
Forex trading can provide you with a good income, if you do it right, of course. It doesn’t require any physical labour, it’s not as time-consuming as a day job and the entry barriers are quite low. For these characteristics and more, we truly believe that if you’re sick of your day job and already interested in what the world of forex can offer you, don’t second guess yourself. In life, we have to do things now or never.
If you decide to make that step, Trading Education will be here to help you every step of the way. Education is definitely something you need to start things with and here’s where we come in.
Our course, “The Ultimate Guide to Forex Trading” is now offered for free to all who are serious of becoming traders and making a great career of it.
It is free thanks to our partner brokers who want to see more efficient traders who are educated and intelligent enough to stick around long term instead of quitting after the first loss.
In our course, you will learn:
- Foundation in FOREX Trading
- Mechanics of FOREX Trading
- Advanced Analysis FOREX Trading
- Strategy Trading for FOREX Trading
We sincerely hope to welcome more people into the challenging but highly rewarding trading community.
To get more information on how to receive our free trading course, contact us at any time at [email protected].
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