The short answer is YES! You can absolutely earn a steady income through Forex trading.
However, many new traders underestimate how much commitment it takes to be successful. Their level of commitment isnt high enough to become a pro Forex trader. Instead of investing their time and energy in developing patience and discipline, acquiring the skills and knowledge that would enable them to be consistently profitable, they put their efforts into developing a positive attitude, a gambling attitude in reality.
As a result, they often lose more money than they should, making wild trades and even tend to give up on the slightest mistake or challenge, lacking the patience and discipline to lead a successful Forex lifestyle.
The goal of a successful trader is to make the best trades, money is secondary.
– Alexander Elder
Maintaining a healthy Forex lifestyle is one key factor that contributes to your long-term success as a full-time Forex trader. No matter whether you trade part-time or full-time, developing a well-balanced Forex lifestyle should be your top priority.
As soon as you nail that, your financial success will follow.
What is it like to be a self-employed Forex Trader?
Practically, many people mistakenly assume that a full-time trader spends as much time on their trading activities as they would on a full-time job. However, the truth is that a self-employed pro Forex trader usually has a pretty comfortable lifestyle when compared to someone who works a traditional 9–5 job. The vast majority of them do not even spend that much time trading. They call themselves “full-time Forex traders” because their trading activities provide them with income and a means of subsistence.
Some full-time Forex traders even have a separate office setup at home in order to maintain a productive Forex lifestyle. It‘s not necessary for them to wear suits and sit in traffic. While it’s nice to have a dedicated workspace or laptop for it, its even more crucial that a pro Forex trader stays comfortable and relaxed enough to focus on the markets instead of worrying about trivial details that have no bearing on the trade.
Preparation is the most crucial part of the Forex lifestyle, as it plays a key role in your success.
As the saying implies, the more time and effort you put into something, the greater the reward could be. Forex trading is no exception to this rule. To ensure that you succeed as a self-employed Forex Trader, an organized Forex lifestyle with regard to time management is crucial.
5 best practices for creating a successful Forex lifestyle
Having a good set of trading practices in your Forex lifestyle gives you an added advantage in the marketplace, making it easier to anticipate what is going to happen in the future. The following are some excellent trading practices to maximize your trading potential as a full-time Forex trader.
1. Create your trading routine.
Before you create your trading routine, understand that there is no standardized daily routine for traders. It is heavily influenced by the timeframe and the strategy you use to open and close trades.
Successful Forex traders arent the ones who wake up, go straight to the charts, and start trading instantly. They adhere to a productive Forex lifestyle that involves waking up in the morning, checking out the news for a few hours, looking for the top events during the day, and trading based on the news or events. The advantages of having a set Forex lifestyle for traders include,
The more organized you are, the better you will be able to accomplish. You will always know what you want to accomplish when you wake up in the morning.
It will be easier for you to cope with constant market changes if you maintain a consistent routine.
Developing a trading plan tailored to your timeframe will increase your chances of achieving maximum profits efficiently.
Setting up a Forex lifestyle gives you a clear path to follow as you grow your Forex account, and you can start seeing impressive returns on your trades as soon as you learn how to do it properly.
2. know how much time to spend on Forex trading.
Are you wondering how many hours a day a pro Forex trader devotes to maintaining a wholesome Forex lifestyle? Fortunately, the answer is quite straightforward. It is your decision to trade Forex long-term or short-term that determines how much time you will need to dedicate to it.
The shorter the timeframe you are trading, the more time you must spend in front of the charts.
If you are willing to venture into Forex scalping or day trading for a living, you will need to be glued to your screen the whole time as you buy and sell currency pairs throughout the day. At the same time, if youre a long-term Forex trader, you are under no compulsion to watch the market all the time and can keep an eye on your trades as needed.
It is also important to know that the Forex market is not driven by single currency exchange, but by a global network of currency exchanges and brokers. There are different trading sessions for the forex market in each participating country.
There are four major trading sessions in Forex which are as follows:
The Sydney session
The Tokyo session
The London session
The New York session
It is important for traders to understand their trading hours and pay attention to times of day when two exchanges overlap since certain times of day are more active.
3. Make sure you don‘t get distracted.
When you say you are trading Forex 8 hours a day, do you mean you stare at charts and analyze economic data releases for 8 hours? Or do you mean 8 hours analyzing charts, looking at economic data while also making breakfast, playing with your kids, watching Netflix, Instagramming, Snap chatting, and Tweeting about saving the world? Because if you do that while you day trade, you’ll probably miss a lot of entries and exits, and end up scalping your own head because of all your losses.
That‘s why short-term trading options carry a high level of risk and do not work unless you spend most of your day analyzing the market. There will be a lot of inconsistency because you won’t know how much money you‘ll make tomorrow, next week, or next month. Due to this, making any kind of trading plan or predicting the future can be challenging. It’s important to remain calm and remember that trading is a continuous process, and it is perfectly fine to miss a good opportunity. You must master the ability to stay focused and the patience to wait until all factors line up.
As soon as you make a profit and decide to celebrate or treat yourself, make sure you stop right away because we don‘t know how long the profits will last. Hopefully, it will last for a very long time, but if you fail to take a long-game approach, you might lose everything you’ve accomplished. It takes proper lifestyle choices for discipline and focuses to develop, as they are the key to profitability.
4. Be precise when entering and exiting a trade.
One of the primary reasons why novice forex traders fail to make a profit is that they don‘t have set goals. The purpose of trading goals is to keep you on track with your trading plan and to ensure that you trade consistently. Setting trading goals involves setting targets you hope to achieve within a specified period of time. You cannot manage your trades effectively without goals because you don’t know when to exit a trade.
There is also no guarantee that every trade will turn out well when it comes to Forex. Remember that even the most cautious traders acknowledge that markets can be unpredictable at times. Placing a calculative entry and exit strategy can be helpful in saving your trades since it is automatically executed if the price of the security reaches a specific level. If you can execute take-profit and stop-loss orders on time and quickly, you could potentially make a fortune — especially with leverage.
Furthermore, successful full-time Forex traders do not trade for the sake of trading; instead, they wait and wait for opportunities to trade that have a high probability of being profitable. In the face of volatility, losses, and wins, they remain emotionless because they incorporate strict stop losses and risk management into their Forex lifestyle.
The feeling of entering and exiting the market is an extremely important element for many beginners, and testing your strategies without it is not really valid. Instead, we suggest you test your strategy in a real environment, but with a small amount of money, like a Cent account. You can then switch to an ECN or a Standard account once you have gained some trading experience.
5. Indulge in a power nap for a better trade.
Sleep is an integral part of your forex trading career, no matter what trading session you are in or which trading strategy you imply. The Forex market runs round the clock during weekdays, and novice traders sometimes trade extra hours in order to maximize profits. Remember that you are always at risk of mental health problems when you engage in a full-time Forex lifestyle.
Create a schedule and ensure you get enough sleep after choosing your desired market hour. Choosing a bedtime schedule will help your body adjust to it and will allow you to maximize your trading sessions. A balanced sleep routine in your Forex lifestyle will definitely make the market chaos more manageable. The top 3 benefits that a Forex Trader can derive from a balanced napping schedule include:
Setting up time and getting ample sleep will definitely boost your trading performance while reducing drowsiness
A clear mind enhances cognitive functioning so you can make better judgments during your trade session
Besides lowering blood pressure and providing relaxation from stress, taking a nap improves overall health
When it comes to a career as challenging and engaging as Forex trading, having a good sleep is imperative. There are times when the stress of forex trading can follow you to bed. Ensure that you create a stress-free environment to help you sleep better.
Original Article: Forex lifestyle: What it takes to be a Pro Forex trader?
Disclaimer: This post is from Aximdaily and it is considered a marketing publication and does not constitute investment advice or research. Its content represents the general views of our editors and does not consider individual readers personal circumstances, investment experience, or current financial situation.