| Trading For A Living - An Illusive Dream Or A Real Possibility? |
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| Written by Peter Skonctuedt |
| Tuesday, 17 November 2009 18:33 |
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To be able to do trading for a living is a dream of countless part-time traders. One only has to look at the numerous seminars, training sessions and trading bush camps these traders attend to understand how intensely they want to do this. The lifestyle of a full-time trader looks so perfect: you never have to leave your desk, never have to face an angry boss. You can take leave whenever you want. You determine your own salary.
To be able to do trading for a living is a dream of countless part-time traders. One only has to look at the numerous seminars, training sessions and trading bush camps these traders attend to understand how intensely they want to do this. The lifestyle of a full-time trader looks so perfect: you never have to leave your desk, never have to face an angry boss. You can take leave whenever you want. You determine your own salary. It doesn't have to stay a dream forever. There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind before you will ever be a successful full-time trader though. The very first thing you have to understand right from the start is that you will not be trading against other traders. Neither will you be trading against the market. You will be trading against yourself Your own strengths and weaknesses will go with you into trading and determine whether you are successful or not. What exactly does that mean? It means that you can study all the rules, you can intellectually know the right thing to do in every possible set of circumstances. But if you have a tendency to hang on to losing trades in the hope that they will turn around, you will lose money time and again. Similarly: if you don't train yourself to be disciplined and stay with a winning trade longer, if you sell a trade that "goes into the money" immediately it shows a small profit, you will never make serious money trading. To the contrary - hanging on to losing trades and selling winning trades early will cause you to have numerous large losses and a few small wins - not a recipe for making money in trading! Another decision you have to make is which time frame you want to trade in. Do you want to be a day trader, do swing trading or be a long term trader? This will also largely be determined by your personality type and your approach to risk. Day trading is much more risky, but if you like the adrenalin rush and you can stand numerous small losses while you wait for one big win, it should work for you. You will also have to decide which market instruments you will be trading in: commodities, shares or currencies. Each one of them will require a different skill set and different tools. They also require a slightly different approach to trading. With share trading you must get intimate with the financial statements of the companies you want to trade in. You have to know the market for their products or services. With currency trading and commodities you have to study the underlying factors causing price movements in these instruments. Things like droughts, surpluses, inflation and interest rates. The right tools are of course very important as well. To start off with you need knowledge. You need to get familiar with reading financial statements and analysing charts. You need to understand technical indicators, how to use them and how to interpret movements in these indicators You will also have to sign up with a service that provides you with up to date prices for the market instruments you will be trading in. There are many free services, but they only work if you trade in a longer time frame. If you want to be a day trader you will need access to live prices. Trading for a living therefore does not have to remain a dream forever. Start with yourself. Get the necessary training, then learn to control yourself. Finally get the right tools and you are all set to become a successful full-time trader. DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice. Are you making trading for a living your livelihood? If you are struggling and not getting ahead lately, stock picking software can get you back in the black-learn how, right now! |