Have you always been fascinated by financial markets but haven’t found the time to actively trade?
Have you given all of your capital to someone else to manage due to time constraints?
Have you always dreamed of trading but have never gotten involved because you are busy at work all day?
The good news is that financial markets are accessible to anybody, regardless of how much time you might spend at your day job.
Here are four key issues to consider that could allow you to trade actively even while holding down a 9 to 5.
Choose The Markets You Can Be Available For
Today’s financial markets are largely electronic and can be accessed nearly 24 hours per day. The global forex market, for example, may see movement all night long with the movement of the sun. These markets may see significant movement during U.S. off-hours as they trade in Europe and Asia.
You may miss the bulk of S&P 500 trading during the day, but there is nothing to say you cannot trade currencies at night. Other markets that may potentially be active outside of regular U.S. business hours include foreign stock index futures and certain interest rate contracts.
Choose The Strategies That Suits Your Time Frame and Commitment
Guess what? You can still actively participate in markets during the day while not being glued to a trading screen. You simply have to focus on strategies that are conducive to this type of trading. Selling limited-risk credit spreads in stocks or commodities is one such strategy.
Another option would be to look to enter trades after the close based on closing prices, and to enter an automated trailing stop. The point is that there are many ways to “skin the cat,” you may just have to explore the possibilities.
Trade Specific Time Frames
Have to be at the office by 9am? No problem. The U.S. bond market day session opens at 7:20 am CST. You could look to utilize trading strategies that focus on the open. These types of trades can potentially allow you to be in and out of the market in an hour, or even a matter of minutes. If you work from 6am CST to 3pm CST, you could look to trade the opening of the night session in bonds or many other markets. With the vastly extended trading hours available today, you can always find a time to trade.
In addition, the weekend can be a very useful time for examining charts, plotting strategies and doing your trading homework.
Use Mobile Trading Applications
Did you know that you can trade from your smartphone? There are so many apps available that allow you to not only access charts and real-time market action, but also enable you to execute orders right from your smartphone. Many of these applications are available at no cost through your FCM or brokerage house.
Trading while holding down a full time job is not only quite possible, but can be easy to do. You just have to be a little more open to markets traded or strategies utilized.
