Making Real Money From Forex Trading - Do You Need to Be Trading Full-Time?

Profitable forex trading is something very few people manage to achieve. In fact it's estimated that 95% of people end up losing money from trading forex. However in this article I'm going to focus on the 5% of people who do manage to become successful forex traders.

A question many people ask themselves is whether they need to be trading full-time in order to make a successful living as a forex trader. Well the short answer, in my opinion, is no. In fact I would actively encourage people not to quit their day jobs in order to take up forex trading full-time.

Why? Well there are several reasons. Firstly you should ideally have a few years trading experience under your belt before you even think about going full-time. In this time you should have demonstrated an ability to generate consistent profits. You may have previously traded on a part-time basis knowing that you had a full-time income coming in from your main job, but nothing can prepare you for the pressures you face when your sole income depends on you making profits from your trading.

This pressure can be extremely intense and can even lead to rash trading decisions being made. For instance after a few losing trades have occurred it's not uncommon for traders to lose their rationality and chase their losses, which nearly always results in disaster.

Another reason why I don't recommend people try their hand at trading full-time is because it is definitely not for everyone. Trading the markets every day from your home computer can be a lonely and sometimes depressing experience. Sure you have forex forums and chatrooms but they are no substitute for real face-to-face interaction.

Finally I just don't think you necessarily need to be at your computer screen all day to make good money from forex trading. There are plenty of sound trading strategies which rely on daily or weekly charts, for instance, that can be traded quite easily using end of day data. All you do is analyze the markets at the end of the session and place your orders for the next day along with your limit and stop loss orders.

I myself consider myself to be a full-time trader yet for most of the day I'm working on my various websites and paying little attention to the markets. That's because my main trading system relies on the 4 hour charts so I only need to check occasionally to see if there are any good set-ups.

In general my advice to people thinking about taking up forex trading full-time is to put all your efforts into finding a solid part-time or longer-term trading strategy. This way you have the safety cushion of a full-time income and yet you can also make substantial gains from forex trading at the same time with a good solid trading strategy.

For reviews of profitable forex trading systems please click here to read about the 10 Minute Forex Wealth Builder and the Blade Forex Strategies.