Want to be a Financial Trader?

Are you looking to start financial trading as a part-time or full-time job? There’s never been a better time to enter the field. Not only are more people working and investing from home due to the current pandemic, but anyone with a decent internet connection has the potential to benefit, as long as they can learn and adhere the basic principles.

After acquiring a grasp of the essentials, it’s imperative to gain real-world experience on a live brokerage platform. The better online brokers offer many training tools like detailed tutorials, up-to-date libraries, and trade simulators.

After you feel comfortable placing and closing trades, consider specializing in one particular market to hone your expertise. Later, you’ll have the chance to take advanced video courses and sit for licensing exams in several areas. But, as is the case with every new career, you’ll have to start with the fundamentals.

Learn the Basics

Before putting one dollar of your own money at risk, and even before working with a demo account in a simulated trading bot, take time to understand how the securities markets work. There are hundreds of worthwhile books and online tutorials to choose from. Consider reading about the different kinds of orders, how to place stops, what the most popular technical and fundamental tools are, how to set up an account, how to measure profit and loss on transactions, and which markets are best for beginners. Check out some of the most reputable brokers’ websites and take advantage of free educational content, videos, tutorials, and other resources available to site visitors.

Get Experience

What’s true for every other job is true for financial trading: it’s imperative to gain real-world experience in order to develop an acceptable level of competence. No matter how much research, reading, and studying you do on your own, there’s no substitute for trading with a broker. Fortunately, the better brokerage companies offer informative learning resources like video tutorials, trading simulators, online libraries, discussion forums, and customer service reps who can help you understand how to use all the platform’s features. Everyone has different goals and ways of learning, but you should expect to spend at least a month or two acquiring the essential skills in the real world by making online trades of various kinds.

Specialize in One Market

It’s a rare trader who can follow multiple markets, especially during the first few years in the business. That’s why it’s essential to focus on just one general asset class, like stocks, forex, cryptocurrency, or something else. One of the main benefits of specialization is that you’ll learn the unique characteristics of your market more quickly.

Take Several Online Courses

Never stop learning about the area you choose to specialize in. Fortunately, there are all kinds of free resources out there, including online courses. Some sites charge a nominal fee for classes, so don’t be put off if you’re asked to pay for a course. However, avoid websites that charge exorbitant amounts for lessons. There are just too many excellent, low-cost choices. Eventually, consider testing for one or more licenses, like the Series 7, Commodity Trading Advisor, Certified Financial Technician, or others.

Favorite Techniques for Action Loving Traders

Some people love the chase and the non-stop action of the daily securities markets. Whether it’s stocks, options, futures, commodities, forex, or precious metals, there’s something about non-stop price movement that gets the adrenaline pumping for certain kinds of investors. Fortunately, there are many opportunities for those who want to be in the thick of things, making dozens of trades per session and always having a fresh one in view. If fast-paced buying and selling is your cup of tea, here is a short summary of four ways that you can get involved. The best part is that you won’t need to put a ton of money on the line, nor does it take months of intense study to learn how to use any of the techniques.

Precious Metals Scalping

Precious metals scalping is not for everyone, but those who like fast price action and the chance to make a daily income from speed-based transactions love nothing more. Unlike day trading, precious metals scalping only involves the four precious metals, gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Additionally, the size of each trade tends to be larger than a standard day trade, and lasts for much less time.

Day Trading

Day traders make multiple round trips (a purchase and associated sale) per session and don’t hold positions overnight. That’s the basic definition of the strategy that many people engage in every day of the year. The good news is that learning how to day trade only takes a couple of weeks, and you can get started with a modest amount of capital as soon as you feel ready to go live. If you’re attracted to this kind of activity, remember to seek out a broker that is day trade friendly and offers plenty of educational resources to new account holders. Also, make sure that whoever you end up working with has a simulator available so you can practice quick order placement for a couple weeks before putting real money on the line.

Options

Stock options have long been a favorite among people who like to balance higher-risk investing with high potential rewards. Options contracts are complex instruments and there are unlimited mathematical strategies for setting up positions. However, sticking to simple vanilla options, contracts that give you the right to buy 100 shares of the underlying stock, can be the best way to get started in this fast-paced niche where prices often change rapidly.

Commodities Futures

Buying futures contracts on commodities is a favorite strategy for investors who like to take part in active markets. Prices change quickly on individuals’ commodities, which is why so many who follow this approach diversify their holdings among five or more assets at a time, like cotton, oil, copper, and wheat (just to name a few of the most frequently traded commodity’s futures). There are mini contracts for most of the major categories, so don’t expect to have to put thousands of dollars on the line to get started. Additionally, futures brokers usually offer high leverage to traders and the markets are very liquid.