5 Steps to Make Online Trading Your Main Business
September 28, 2021
Online Trading is an activity that can be interpreted. Of course, it requires some standards and a minimum dose of commitment, but it can be practiced both as a part-time and full-time activity. In the latter case, it takes the place of professional practice and, unless one is already financially free (for various reasons), it must be able to generate sufficient earnings to at least "sustain" the practitioner.
Consequently, the transformation of online trading from an occasional or part-time activity to a full-time activity is a goal for many, perhaps to break free from work logistics (which some find restrictive).
In this article, we address the topic, proposing some tips, steps if you will, to reach the rank of full-time trader. Incidentally, the phases we will describe should not be understood in a sequential perspective. Rather, they should be traversed together.
Online trading as a full-time activity
Before suggesting the necessary measures to transform online trading into a full-time activity, it is necessary to understand what "full-time" really means when it comes to speculative investment. Well, net of automated approaches, which represent a complex chapter apart, it is counterproductive to refer to full-time trading as an activity so different from full-time work, from the continuous exercise of any profession.
Exactly, online trading, when elevated to the main source of income, must be managed as if it were a job. Therefore, the trader must dedicate time (as is logical), self-denial, and commitment. In addition, they must engage in updating or professional activities.
Even in this perspective, however, differences remain between work in the strict sense and online trading. Work, even when it is autonomous, produces a more or less regular income, at most oscillating between not too wide intervals. Online trading, on the other hand, guarantees nothing, and from this point of view is characterized by a significant heterogeneity of results.
Those who earn a living by working, then, must always "account" to someone, be it an employer or a client. The trader, on the other hand, is alone. There is him and the unpredictability of the market... And no one else.
The emotional pressures are also different. Work can be stressful, of course, especially if the professional environment is not the best. However, the trader has to endure different and often heavier pressures, also because with each order they put a piece of their capital at stake.
Having specified this, we can move on to the tips to become full-time traders.
#1 Create a routine
Routine is important in any activity that requires a minimum dose of commitment. This importance proceeds from the dynamics that involve the cognitive system of the human being, which works "better" when it has to deal with actions performed in the past over and over again.
When a trader creates a routine, they optimize processes. On one hand, they speed them up, on the other, they make them efficient. Therefore, they lay the foundation for higher earnings and for the consumption of a lower amount of intellectual and physical energy. In short, they transform the trading activity into something much more similar to a job, and manage to sustain long trading sessions of five, six, seven hours.
#2 Develop the right mindset
The goal is, again, to learn to endure long trading sessions and, at the same time, not compromise the effectiveness of one's action. Much of the fatigue, when practicing trading, is essentially emotional. Now, in order to be able to emotionally endure continuous and prolonged investment activity, the only solution is to develop an adequate mindset.
What does an adequate mindset mean? The definitions can be the most varied. In general, however, traders with the right mindset are able to emotionally manage losses, to frame them in an overall path composed of ups and downs. In addition, they manage to impose a strict discipline on themselves, just as in the professional sphere.
It is not easy to cultivate a mindset suitable for trading. However, it is possible. It must be said, though, that some individuals are decidedly more inclined than others.
#3 Adopt a clear strategy
It is literally impossible to think of trading as a full-time activity in total absence of strategy. Among other things, the elaboration and implementation of a strategy falls within the broader commitment to create a routine. What is meant by trading strategy? In essence, it is a system that suggests more or less exactly what to do and when to do it.
Every strategy, starting from a very precise objective and vision, must involve all areas of trading: from analysis to operations, from risk management to capital management (risk and money management) up to the techniques for identifying entry and exit points.
#4 Develop protocols based on the various market phases
The best strategy is the personalized one. The advice, therefore, is not to invent one from scratch, a very complicated undertaking, but to adapt one to one's needs. Even so, however, it may not be enough. The ideal is to launch specific strategies, or rather protocols, for each market phase.
From the perspective of full-time trading, this measure takes on the character of absolute urgency. After all, if trading is continuous and prolonged, sooner or later all phases will occur. It is therefore worth preparing, so as not to interrupt the routine and not to jeopardize one's capital during settling attempts.
#5 Develop knowledge in all areas of trading
This is perhaps the most intuitive indication. In light of what we have said so far, it goes without saying that the full-time trader represents an evolution of the part-time trader. In some ways, they are more prepared not only from an emotional and operational point of view, but also technically.
Therefore, if you want to become full-time traders, you should develop in-depth and advanced knowledge about all areas of speculative investment. You should "know" (and a lot) about analysis, strategy, operations, money management, risk management and - why not - psychology.
It's not easy, but not impossible either. It just takes commitment, energy and time... And the finish line will be within reach.
