Trading alongside a day job....

So, who else out there, like me, is an enthusiastic aspiring trader attempting to learn and practice alongside a busy day job?

Does this sound familiar....the markets open and I am in rush hour traffic, I get to work, open the charts and from thereon in attempt to trade, trying out numerous ideas and strategies but constantly missing the action and best entry....not to mention the fact that I am doing all this whilst the Boss is not looking! My working day ends, travel home, spend time with the family, pay attention to the wife...sleep!

I am a technical trader, and also recently entered the world of automatic and semi automatic expert advisor's...I've tried trading the short term time frames thinking I would have more of a chance to find a trade only to get horribly violated by the lure of scalping...so I then moved on to the long term time frames hoping to have the opportunity to catch long term moves and less time on the charts...only to get stung with the need for larger stops and and my losers significantly out stripping my winners......

The really frustrating thing is though, I know I can do this, and despite keeping things very simple with trend lines, support & resistance zones and using pivots for entry, stop losses and limits something just isn't clicking...............maybe its me not yet getting totally comfortable with a style of trading, consistent strategy and discipline....

So the point of this thread is for like minded people out there to also have a rant, but please, if you have become a profitable trader and hold down a busy day job, I urge you to share what transformed you from a wannabe to a winner.....

Hi its through perserverance and and hard work that it will pay off, stick at it and the more time you can study the better. If you can find a decent honest mentor out there then even better (should not cost a fortune, none of these people selling courses for 5k or 10k as they make money from them not from actual trading). Cheap does not necessarily mean poor. The main thing is to read the market as a whole, it tells a story from start to finish. Check all timeframes before entering a trade not just the timeframe your trading. Like before you trade euro, do you always look at eurgbp. Before you trade eurjpy, do you check eurgbp and usdjpy for clues of direction etc. Hope you find what suits you

Trading needs concentration, discipline and time. And the skill you learn by trading and making mistakes and learning more from them.
If you don't have a lot of time to spend then you must go to the longer time frames and forget day trading, IMO its not possible for you along your other chores.
And be patient and use demo account first. Maybe for few months.
Read some good books, I'm currently reading old classics(?):
Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom
Smarter Trading (Perry Kaufman)
They should give you some insight what to expect of trading and how to start you own trading style.

Just my 2 cents,

I am on the same page as you and found audiobooks to be a great source of information. www.audible.com has a lot of good tittles.

As I spent 1hr daily going to home-work, now I can use that time more productively :)

Hope this helps.

in the forex world,there are 4 main markets:
-Asian(JPY)
-american(USD)
-europe(GBP and EUR)
-Australia(AUD)

i believe if you miss one of the market opening,you still can go for other.
AUD and JPY could last up to 4 hours.
USD could last for 2 hours
EUR-GBP last for 3 hours.

So i am not sure where do you live,but i believe you can match one of the market opening time.
Like me,i am working during asian market,So i could play the US market only.
So i believe it would be best for you to play during your free time.
It is unwise to play it during working hour.

For free forex guidance,you can read basket trading system.I learned a lot of thing from it.
It's free of charge as well.

I have learned forex since 4 years ago but till now my system isnt perfect yet.

If you still want to do day job, start to use Expert Advisor.

Thank you for all the responses so far.

I am very keen on Expert Advisor's and currently learning how to programme them. Despite there being hundreds (if not thousands) of free ones to download it is a mine field to pick the good ones so thought it best to try and learn how to do it.

I am running a live account with The Striker from the Forex Police, which, so far, has done well, despite a bad May.

Am hoping to devise a set of EAs which will alert\email me to potential trading opportunities on numerous currency pairs and indexes and then take the decision whether to trade, hopefully this will eliminate the need to keep trying to check the charts all day long.

Has anyone had any success with mirror trading\social trading? I have run demo accounts for eToro, Zulu Trader and Mirror Trader and as yet not one has proved profitable despite only following 3 to 4 of 'the best' traders? Have just opened an Autotrader account here with myfxbook.

trade copier is simply bs..the best way is to find or develop ur own trading strategy/ies, stick with it..second thing is to monitor economic calendar b4 u go to work so that u'll know when exactly u need to open any positions or stay the f**k out..Im currently trading part time but planning to trade full time in years to come..

Hey all. I work about 10 hours per day in my day job. I don't even know how many hours I have spent studying and trading the market over the last 4 years. All of my trading is done on my Android phone.😲 I'm not super successful yet, but I have made a lot of progress. It's very hard to trade while working a day job.

Hey all. I have just joined the Autotrade, using 4 systems. Anyone joined the Autotrade and what are the results?

I wouldnt use an EA if I was you, they dont have the ability to change around market conditions. EA's have to work off the past but its anticipation and current price action that is much more reliable. Just need to put a few hrs in over time and learn as much as you can.

yup..agree..EA couldn't react to the news release.

JMichael posted:
Hey all. I have just joined the Autotrade, using 4 systems. Anyone joined the Autotrade and what are the results?

Yup have done the same and being very conservative by following just two systems, started with a demo balance of $1000, currently $860ish.....

TRADING is full day job and if done correctly can earn good money

jimmybh posted:

JMichael posted:
Hey all. I have just joined the Autotrade, using 4 systems. Anyone joined the Autotrade and what are the results?

Yup have done the same and being very conservative by following just two systems, started with a demo balance of $1000, currently $860ish.....

shocking progress so far on my demo autotrade account....

https://www.myfxbook.com/members/jimmybh/jbhsocialtrading/603591

JMichael, how are you finding it?

Well, for those of you out there still trying to trade alongside the day job I have discovered these guys https://www.daytradingforexlive.com/

Very interesting take on the markets, lots of free education and videos, and a method that I think will work around a day job.....am still learning their methods but so far so good....if anything it is has expanded my knowledge and added more robustness to my own style of trading...

I don't know. I trade during my working hours. Maybe it is not something that everyone can do, but my time frame is H1. It is enough for me to look at the chart 3-4 times during the working hours. I tried the EA, but discovered that they are still need to be controlled. There is a possibility i choose a wrong one)) Any advises are appreciated.

I am a truck driver and work 12 hour days. For me the best results have been using daily time frame and waiting for the New York close to determine entry, exit, or stop loss placement and adjustment. I use a simple crossover system with ema-2, ema-5, and ema-10. I haven't been trading long but so far it has been profitable and it takes me about 10 minutes a day to analyze the charts. Good luck with your trading. My progress -https://www.myfxbook.com/members/landshark/landshark/517730

Не смотря на все отрицательные отзывы о Советниках пробую пока на Демо со своими настройками. По не известной причине не могу прицепить сюда Счет на котором у меня торгуется на 5-ти парах.
Начало работы Советников можно посмотреть.
Все замечания будут интересны.
Всем стабильного Профита!