Currency trading is an exciting new market for ambitious individuals who would like to test their skills in a truly competitive environment with potentially very significant rewards. It is not simple to become proficient in forex, you need to commit some time, and make some effort in learning about and practicing trading, before you achieve results that are favorable to any degree. This fact sometimes scares potential traders to such an extent that they choose not to entertain the idea of currency trading at all, due to time limits, and the constraints of offline life. In this article, we are going to take a look at the plausibility of a part-time forex trading experience for the average person.
Perhaps the most exciting feature of the forex trading experience is the almost unlimited degree of flexibility involved. The fractal nature of charts means that, ignoring broker costs, trading at long or short term is essentially the same business from the technical point of view. The fundamental point of view, on the other hand, implies that it is possible to apply entirely different methods as a long or short term trader.
Thus one can be a part-time forex trader on both a long term and a short term basis, but with different options available, and differing approaches being necessary. A part-time short term trader must follow a purely technical approach and apply money management methods with rigor and discipline. In this case the time of entry does not matter that much, but we strongly advise that periods of high volatility be avoided unless one has an ample amount of time available to be devoted to the absorbtion of the steady stream of news flooding the market. As such, the part time trader would probably thrive when the market is calmer, trading is subdued, and technical factors dominate, a scenario that is most often encountered towards the closing hours of the market.
A long term part-time trader, on the other hand, must choose the time for entry into the market very carefully. Since a position held on the long term requires strong conviction and analysis, it is crucial that a period of deep and thorough analysis precede the actual trading action. The advantage of fundamental, long-term trading is in its greater potential for very significant rewards, and also for reduced risk, contrary to common assumptions. A long trader must use low leverage since he is going to keep his position dormant for a long time, and to have it survive volatility, high or even moderately high leverage has to be avoided, which makes potential losses smaller, provided that clear criteria exist for the closing of a position.
It is not really possible to decide which firm is more suitable to a part-time trading experience merely by reading online forex broker reviews and going through ratings. You need to go and test the firm actively for a period. The part-time trader demands a high degree of accuracy and reliability from the broker because he can't afford to see his trading platform fail during the comparatively infrequent periods when he's online. So make your choices wisely; but part-time trading is indeed a workable approach with some practice.
By Carl Hayes
