How to Become a ‘Full-time’ Trader…From Ten Mins a Day!

Trying to become a fulltime trader can really be a mine-field. However, this article will empower you to see that you really can learn how become a "fulltime trader",  trading for only minutes a day!

Imagine thinking you have mastered how to become a fulltime trader and throwing in the towel, exchanging the 9-5 grind for trading at home in your slippers and dressing gown.  Face it, if you are reading this then it is very likely that you have.

But you do not have to quit your day job or make any sacrifices to your existing lifestyle if you did want to try your hand at trading fulltime because the good news is that, as you will discover in this article, people, just like you can and are making fantastic returns being a fulltime trader, but spending only minutes a day doing so.

Time does not equal money as a fulltime trader

The cliché "time equals money," may be ubiquitous in the workplace, or at least, as an expression hot pressed on the lips of any boss who is worth their salt. However, when it comes to financial markets trading this cannot be further from the truth. You can learn how to become a fulltime trader by only spending minutes a day trading!

You see, many trading newbies who have often come from fulltime jobs are often under the illusion that demonstrating how to become a fulltime trader means spending more time sitting and salivating in  the hope and expectation that this will net them more money. This is most definitely not the case! It is the opposite, in fact.

However, if you want to know how to become a fulltime trader spending only minutes a day doing so like us Lazy Fulltime Traders then you need to consider the concept of "opportunity flow". Opportunities are like busses; they can all arrive at the same time as winning or losing trades, or not at all. If the rules for your trading strategy are met then you do not know if it will be a winner, loser or a breakeven trade unless you take it and wait for the outcome. But the trick is always to be in it and this depends on the timeframe which you trade in anticipation of a string of winning trades.

Opportunity knocks

So, if you trade the 5 minute chart on, say, GBPUSD, does this mean that you have to spend all day and night in front of the screen scanning the markets every five minutes? Or, if you trade the four hour chart, does this mean that you have to return back to the charts every four hours to see if there is a tradable opportunity? Quite possibly.

It therefore makes abundant sense to be in the opportunity flow according to our chosen timeframe - granted that our trade-set up can manifest itself at any time when the markets are open. This is how to become a fulltime trader. From not being in front of the screen all the time but simply being in the flow of opportunity for your chosen timeframe!

Imagine trading your chosen strategy on the 15 minute chart in the London session in the morning and enduring 3 consecutive losses only to go and walk the metaphorical dog, return to your screen an hour later and find that, to your disgust, that your strategy had yielded 3 further opportunities in your absence - all of which went on to hit what would have been your profit target. If a prospect like this leaves a sour taste in your mouth then in may be worth considering how you are going to deal with 'opportunity flow'.

With forex trading, this could be at any point from Monday to Friday, day or night (as forex markets are open on weekdays, 24 hours a day). But what does not make sense is the making trading a big part of your life when it does not have to be - especially when profitable trades are never guaranteed.

Unless you automate your strategy with an EA or robot then this is a necessary evil and is the 'ball and chain' effect that many newbies inadvertently fall into where they end up "working" for longer hours in pursuit of trading profits which are not guaranteed. After all, markets do not care who you are, what you do or who you worship - they will do their thing regardless.

Financial markets are random. They can do anything at any time and, as technical "fulltime" traders, it is our job to objectively execute our edge in the form of a strategy and take advantage of reoccurring nuances in the market which have probabilities stacked in our favour.

How to become a fulltime trader - The winning approach

So, what is there was a way where you can be in the opportunity flow and potentially profit from every opportunity that comes your way where you can spend little or virtually no time watching the screen?

This is possible with trading the daily chart. After all, unlike the 5 minute chart which has a new bar form every 5 minutes, or the hourly chart which has a new bar form every hour, the daily chart forms...you've guessed it: once a day! So to be in the opportunity flow on the daily chart, you only need to look at the chart once a day, as opposed to once every five minutes or for every hour.

This approach will free up plenty your time - a luxury that many intra-day traders cannot boast so that you can enjoy more lifestyle whilst reaping the benefits of your money working harder for you, passively.

Once you have adopted a trading strategy which resonates with your personality and thus have a very fixed idea as to what price action set-up you should be looking for, then you can very happily flick through the charts at the end of the day before you go to bed (if your time-zone is GMT), after the Daily bar representing that's day's price movement and underlying sentiment has closed. The opportunity will either be there or not.

If the market does not give it to you then you do not trade it - if it is, and it fits your rules, you do. Imagine waiting all day for the trade-set up to manifest itself and it simply does not. Or, worse still, you sustain a loss or a number of losses as a result of your labours - even if you execute what is a profitable strategy according to its rules. That would suck, wouldn't it?

As a "fulltime trader" you are better off with the Daily timeframe

However, if you trade the daily timeframe, at least you can achieve a far better monetary gain for the reduced time spent in front of the screen in a month of gain. In addition, if you sustain a drawdown for the month then at least, thanks to the hands-free nature of trading the daily chart, you would have spent less of your time enduring this drawdown!

Take Jack and John for example. They are both "fulltime traders" and both achieve an 8% gain for the month, yet Jack trades end of day for no more than 30 minutes an evening as an end-of-day trader who is relatively new to it all, and John spends four hours a morning trading as an intra-day trader.

Consider there are on average 22 trading days in the month and Jack has a total of 11 hours spent glued to the screen while John has a total of 88 hours!

Who makes the better return on their money for the time spent "working" for it? You may have guessed it, Jack Even if both traders had made a % loss, Jack would still be better off granted he has made the same amount as John but has spent infinitely less time labouring for it.

So now you know how to become a full time trader without actually working full time. This, in our opinion, is a smarter way to trade!

Summary

So now you know how to be a fulltime trader from being fully in the opportunity flow from minutes a day.

Trading the daily chart enables us Lazy Traders to be in the flow of opportunity from only minutes a day, and it is being in this flow of opportunity for our chosen timeframe that means we known how to become a fulltime trader but without swapping time for money.

Providing you know your strategy and are prepared to follow its rules meticulously, there is no reason why you cannot do the same and enjoy the benefits of lifestyle trading, and the expanses of free time trading the daily chart can give you.

When people ask me whether I trade fulltime, I respond with an enthusiastic "yes". Even though I trade for ten to fifteen minutes an evening I am always able to benefit from being in the opportunity flow "fulltime", safe in the knowledge that my money is working overtime for me while I go about my merry day doing, often, more interesting things than watching a bunch of moving bars on a chart in a darkened room!