How to Trade Forex Even With a Full-time Job and Earn on the Side

Many consider Forex trading as a potential source of passive income, but most of them find it hard to pursue currency trading while working from nine to five. What if we tell you that you can learn to trade and develop essential skills without quitting your day job? You can do both without necessarily sacrificing one for the other.

All you need to do is to establish core guidelines that can help you day trade with a full-time job and make a profit.

How to Trade Even with a Job

1. Run all your analysis at the best times

This simply means studying the charts when work doesn’t get in the way.

One of the reasons day trading with a full-time job seems like a stretch is that people have a preconceived notion that they need to study the charts all day.

Far from it.

If you only want to trade part-time, you can do all your analysis around your job. If you work days, you do all your analysis at night. Do the opposite if you work nights.

You can do your research before or after work, whichever is most ideal for you. Another option is to work out potential trading strategies on the weekends or outside market hours.

Now, whenever you run your analysis, remember to always:

• Set a time limit and stick with it.
• Do your analysis when you’re in a great mood. Like most things, you won’t see clearly if you’re emotional or stressed out.
• Study the charts based on a specific trading strategy. If you don’t see your set-up, you’re done for the day.

2. Know when not to trade

We’ve previously mentioned mood and specific set-up, and there’s a reason for this. Both will tell you if you should trade or not.

If you can’t give 100% of your attention on trading or that your strategy isn’t there, don’t trade. Don’t even think about switching to a different set-up either. We’ll expound on this in a bit.

Say, for example, you don’t see your price action trading signal on the chart, call it a day (or night). Do the same if you’re distracted.

3. Set aside time to solely focus on trading

If you have a full-time job, Forex trading often calls for creative time management and a firm resolve to not do anything else when you’re trading. This is why it’s important to set aside time within the day when you can concentrate solely on Forex trading. Day traders usually spend one to three hours to trade and you can too. But you may not need to take that long with a few strategies.

Trade at times when your currency pair is most active. If you want to trade the EUR/USD pair, for example, set aside time for trading from 8:00 a.m. to about 11:00 a.m. EST or from 1:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. EST.

Most movements for this currency pair happen during these times or around and a few hours after the US stock market opens.

Find out when you can catch the best price movement for certain currency pairs and then organise your schedule accordingly.

4. Don’t hold your positions longer than you should

How long should you hold an open position when trading with a job? Quickly. So you can get on with your day.

This is where scalping and day trading present good options. The former is best when you have a limited time to trade and access charts, while the latter gives you anywhere from thirty minutes to four hours to work on.

A four-hour chart will give you a clearer view of the market and increases your chances of getting higher-probability signals.

5. Be consistent

Consistency and practice let you reap amazing rewards in Forex. This is how you develop your skills and discover high-earning strategies. This is also why we don’t recommend switching strategies frequently.

What does consistency mean exactly in Forex?

• Trading regularly on a part-time basis following the same schedule.
• Trading using the same set-up and strategy even when you close with a loss.
• Having a set of rules and guidelines that you follow without fail.

By being consistent, you will become a consistently profitable trader, which is without question the dream of every Forex trader. Moreover, it will help you develop a routine that will come handy when you decide to quit your job and trade full-time.

Ready to become a part-time trader?

In closing, we want to let you in on a secret — full-time trading is fundamentally a part-time activity. Because once you have a sound strategy and routine, trading becomes automatic. So there’s no need to study the markets or watch the price movement all night or day.

We also highly advise against quitting your day job until you’ve acquired the skills and knowledge that will make you a profitable Forex trader. Think of your nine-to-five as insurance, providing you with a regular and consistent income while you earn on the side.

If you quit and then start learning to trade, you’re likely to make emotional trading mistakes. Because all you’ll be thinking about is that you must earn a profit or there won’t be food on the table.

As a way to make trading easier on your part even with a nine-to-five job, consider automating your trades through copy trading. By investing in an experienced trader, you can make a profit on autopilot.

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