Advances in technology have ensured that anyone with a working internet connection can start day trading for a living. But while that is possible, how easy is it and how on earth do you do it? This page will look at the benefits of day trading for a living, what and where people trade, and also offer some invaluable tips.
Is Day Trading For Life Chances?
The first thing to note is that yes, making a living day trading is a perfect career, but it is not necessarily easier or less functional than a regular day job.
The benefit is that you are not your own boss, and can plan your working hours the way you want. Trading on a laptop also means you can do it anywhere, anytime.
Be careful – there are many out there who claim to make a profit on day trading, but usually these people are trying to sell something. Do not believe the hype or that there is such a thing as “easy money”.
There are ways to make it easier – for example, you don’t have to make much if you live in (or move to) a low-cost, low-tax country. Cutting the cost of living can also make a big difference, as “making ends meet” means that income covers expenses.
Advantages vs Disadvantages
Despite the difficulties, there are some clear benefits to day trading for a living. To name a few:
- No boss – You are your own boss. No more pandering to demanding and unreasonable bosses. You can work exactly as you want.
- Hours – You set your own working hours. In today’s world there is always an open market. Therefore, you can choose when you want to work and for how long, according to other commitments. If you want a four-week vacation, there’s no HR department to navigate first.
- Overhead – No more expensive train tickets to get to work. No more petrol and parking costs. No more expensive clothes. You just need a computer, an internet connection and some capital to get going.
- Comfort – While everyone else is ironing their shirts for the day ahead, you can slip into some comfy clothes and begin the 15-foot journey to your desk, with a fresh cup of coffee. No more stuffy offices or annoying co-workers. You work from the comfort of your own home.
Weakness
Despite the obvious appeal, reviews of day trading for a living also highlight some downsides. The most prevalent are:
- Solitary lifestyle – Your friends may have driven you up the wall at times, but sometimes it’s reassuring to have people around. Day trading for a living can be lonely. If you don’t like yourself, think twice.
- Inconsistent pay – Your pay will fluctuate wildly. You might make $3,000 one day and then lose $2,500 the next. You may not have a stable salary to rely on. Also, if you take a day off work, you won’t get paid a dime.
- Career progression – The only thing that can be improved is your achievements. You may also find it challenging to return to the business world. A few days of trading for live forums have suggested you get less work in the end.
- The battle against bots – Algorithms, automated systems, and bots are all taking over the market. They are now responsible for 60% of the total market. Although, there will always be a place for humans in the market, you need to find new ways to adapt and evolve if you want to maintain an edge.
What Are People Day Trading?
One of the most important decisions you will ever make is to start day trading for a living. What securities and markets were popular at the time, among those who day traded for a living?
- Shares
- Penny stocks
- Forex
- Cryptocurrencies
- Forward
- Eminist
- CFDs
- Commodity
- Gold
- Options
Whether you’re trading penny stocks for life or currency, the volatility and volume in your chosen market will seriously impact your profit potential. The cryptocurrency market, for example, is very volatile, allowing some to make a very good living.
Whereas, day trading stocks for life may be more challenging. It’s already a saturated market. In addition, relatively high initial capital is required and losses can be financially worse.
Again, day trading commodities or futures for life will present its own challenges. All of them show the need to be effective
Regional Differences
Whether you day trade for a living also depends on where you live, and which market you choose. Day trading for a living in India, Indonesia or South Africa, not only offers a volatile market, but you also have a very low cost of living, making life more affordable.
Day trading for a living in the UK, USA, Canada, or Singapore still offers plenty of opportunities, but you have plenty of competition to contend with, plus the high cost of living. You will not experience infertility or volume, but you have to sit down and calculate how much you need to make on average every week or month, to really live.
How to Make a Living
Day trading is not easy. You will have some potentially expensive obstacles to overcome. Below the top tips have been compiled, to help you stay firmly in black.
Preparation
The question on many aspiring traders’ lips is, how to start day trading for a living? The answer is that you only need a few basics. Get the basics right and you’ll be in the strongest position to make a generous salary.
- Hardware – You need at least a remote computer and an internet connection. Any hardware or internet crash can be costly. Many suggest having two monitors up and running, in case of an emergency.
- Broker – Make sure you choose a broker that suits your needs. They need to offer competitive pricing, reliable customer support, and an easy to navigate platform.
- Strategy – You need a strategy that suits your trading style. It should rely on charts, patterns, and technical indicators. It should allow you to make frequent profits on high volume, low value trades.
Trade Office
Location is an important topic. Will you have a home office or try and trade in multiple locations on a laptop? You may have seen the image of a single trader sitting behind 6 or 9 monitors monitoring all kinds of data – but is it necessary? An alternative to trying to dedicate some space at home to trading, is to use rented desk space.
There are also services that take it a step further. ETrading HQ offers desks and office space for rent, but also trading data and daily collaboration. Like soulful traders can exchange ideas and strategies face to face. The concept is booming in London and New York and can make day trading for a living far more viable for those concerned about market data, privacy and office space.
Capital
One of the first questions from the lips of aspiring traders is ‘how much capital do you need?’ One necessity of day trading from home to survive is capital. Roll the dice a few years and you need at least $25,000 to start day trading in the United States. Not only that, but you are always forced to maintain at least that amount in your account.
These tough rules mean that for the majority of people, trading for a living doesn’t have to be physical. However, the globalization of the financial industry has allowed many platforms to grow outside of US regulation. Today, you can start with as little as $1,000 in your account.
How much capital you need depends on what you want to start trading.
Education
If you want the best chance of day trading success for life you need to use a variety of resources. Fortunately, now you can find free educational tools with just a few mouse clicks. Among the most effective resources worth considering are:
- Books – see a list of good reads, including easily accessible Google books.
- Ebooks – eg ‘the new trade for living ebooks’, by Alexander Elder (no hassle download)
- Audio books
- Blogs
- Tutorial video
- Forum – perfect for those who want to start day trading stocks, futures, forex, and cryptocurrencies.
- Study guide
- Podcasts & MP3s
- Flipkart
You’ll get advice from experienced traders on forums, blogs, and chat rooms. You will benefit from detailed strategy examples from books, PDFs and video tutorials. Many trading days for live ebooks, epubs, and PDFs are available for free download as well and can be accessed via Kindle.
If you are looking for specific guidance on how to trade forex, see the forex page. Alternatively, check out the stock page if you’re interested in selling stock from home for a living.
risk management
If you are looking at how to day trade for a living, one of the important components is how you manage risk. As Larry Hite says, “Throughout my financial career, I have continually witnessed examples of others I know who have been ruined by a failure to respect risk. If you don’t take risks, it will take you. ”
You need a system that ensures you have enough to make the move, while maintaining enough capital that you don’t have to go back to the day job.
A good system revolves around a stop loss and take profit. This allows you to plan ahead and prevent rising emotions from taking over the decision.
- Stop-loss – This is simply the price at which you will sell the stock and take a loss. It will eradicate you holding on to the hope that it will come back.
- Take profit – This is the point where you will sell the stock and take profit. This will help you keep those gains, by allowing you to sell before the consolidation period runs.
Psychology
If you trade for a living, consistency and stability are the goals, which will require a consistently disciplined mind. As Victor Sperandeo stated, “The key to success is emotional discipline. If intelligence was the key, there would be more people making money trading. ”
It may sound easy now, but when you have $2,500 on the line and you’ve been staring intently and intently at a screen for the past six hours, keeping fear at bay isn’t so easy. An effective way to limit your emotional liability is to use as much technical assistance as possible.
Keeping your emotions in check will take practice, lots of mistakes and then more mistakes. However, a trick that helps many traders is to focus on trading, not money. Take it from seasoned trader Alexander Elder, “The goal of a successful trader is to make the best trade. Money is secondary. ”
Final Word
The daily trading volume of people for living since 2014 has increased. Is it realistic? The answer is, it depends entirely on your ambitions and commitment. It will not be an easy journey. But, if it suits your work style, you choose the right market and you use the mentioned tips, then you can be one of those successes.