New traders should not quit their job to trade.
It is tempting, as a newer trader, to think that all you need to be successful is more time in front of the screen so you can catch those big moves in price. Or, if you could just focus full time on this trading stuff then you can crack the secret code to those market moves and unlimited riches.
There is so much to learn and so little time. And those late nights and early morning sessions aren’t getting the job done. You feel frustrated with your lack of progress and assume it’s a time problem. – If I could just have more time to focus then I can make it work.
But your problem isn’t a time problem. It’s an edge problem. You keep missing good trades because you only see them as good trades long after they have shown themselves. You assume that if you had been in front of the computer at the right time then you would have taken the trade.
Well that’s just Bullshit.
You are blaming a lack of time for your lack of edge. Quitting your job isn’t going to solve this problem.
Quitting your job shows that you lack the risk management principles that you will need to be a success as a trader. You’re basically going all in on a trade. This level of poor judgement will show its self in your trading. Guaranteed.
Ultimately, if you feel that you need to quit your job to trade then it is clear that you’re are spending your time focusing on the wrong stuff.
It only takes a couple of minutes to put on a trade and set a stop loss order. Then you set a sell order at your target price. The trade may take days or months to play out and sitting in front of your screen all day won’t change that.
One of the problems I see, that leads new traders think that they should consider quitting their job, is one of perception. The term “trader” has a mixed bag of interpretations. The easiest interpretation of it is that of a day trader. Beyond that, the interpretations become vague and it is often hard for most traders to clearly articulate the kind of trader they either are or aspire to be. This lack of clarity unwittingly causes us to gravitate towards day trading in our thinking. The worst kind of trading that a new trader should aspire to emulate.
The first thing you might want to do is clear up your vision of what kind of trader you really want to be.
I want flexibility in my life. I’m not interested in my days being high stress. I want the confidence to know that I can produce consistent profits. Spend 30 – 40 minutes a day assessing trades. A little more time if things look interesting. As to how I would label myself as a trader, I have no idea. The label is of no importance to me.
The next thing is to find the kind of edge that will work with your vision. As a new trader my guess is that you are still looking for an edge to start with. After going through the new trader phase myself I can remember that there are a lot of people promoting tricks and strategies that fall short.
Some people do promote price action but somehow fail to show how to learn price action. I will put some effort into providing you some guidance on this in another article. But for now I will say, look for S/R levels and study one simple pattern. I.e. Descending Triangle. Spend the next week playing around with these two things and see what you observe.
You don’t need to quit your job to become a trader. Spending 8-16 hours in front of the computer is no more a guarantee of trading success than 1-2 hours. Once you start to learn principles of price action then you will realise that it doesn’t need to take up all of your time.
Your job provides you with income security while you learn. Use spare time to read some books on basics like, trading psychology and Support and resistance. Forget about FX, Options, Complex Technical Analysis, Day trading or any books telling you that you can get rich from trading.