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.
There are a few things you will need before you can make this a reality. Without these trading full-time will always remain nothing but a distant dream.
The first prerequisite for a full-time trader is that you have to realize something: you are not actually trading against other traders, or against the market. You are trading against yourself. If you are unable to overcome your inherent weaknesses as a trader, you will never be able to trade successfully over a long period of time.
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.
The same is true if you do not develop the discipline to let a winning trade ride - to allow it to reach its full potential and make some serious money. Selling winning trades the moment they have made a little money and staying in losing trades forever are the two major causes of failure for newbie traders.
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 need to decide whether you are going to trade in shares, in commodities or in currencies. Each one of these requires a special set of skills and tools. Share trading will require that you study the financial statements of the companies involved and the underlying market conditions for those companies. With commodity trading you have to get familiar with the market in that type of commodity. The same goes for currency trading.
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.
For anyone wishing to perform trading for a living, it is essential that you start up with stock picking software and at least $100, 000 cash. Trying to enter the business with less than that will require huge returns year after year to make a decent living.
Tags: business, day trading, day trading for living, finance, investment, make money, socks, stock, stock trades, stock trading, trade, trading