This is something I like about forex trading, it’s one of the things you can do from home. And I was doing this before covid, when it wasn’t as popular to work remotely. But even nowadays it’s cool, because so many people are still going to the office for their job, so it’s not ubiquitous yet.
Is Trading Forex Good for the Laptop Lifestyle?
We all wanted to just work from our laptop at some point, maybe travel the world and do all kinds of fun stuff without being tied down to the city where our office is located. But is this life good for a trader?
It really depends on your habits. If you’re a chill trader like me, who gets all the trading done in the first 2 hours of the workday, then maybe you have plenty of time to travel. If you have kids it’s not going to be a great idea, the travelling part of course, but you might not be able to focus at home.
Some parents want to stay at home during work, so they don’t have to hire a nanny, but obviously your productivity will go down the drain. But then again, you can squeeze your trading sessions in a few hours when the kids are at school and be done with it. However you won’t get to this level until you spend full days learning and trying, so it’s easier said than done.
I myself still prefer to work on an actual desktop PC when I do my trading. I don’t really need 7 monitors, one is just fine for me, but I think it’s better to have a good, comfortable “workstation” rather than a laptop. Also, traveling is better for vacations, because if you travel 365 days per year, you won’t get those habits that you need for a good steady routine.
My day starts an hour before the London open. I’d start trading at 8 am London time and by 10 am I’m usually done for the day, or just one or two more trades running trailing stops. Depending on how the morning session went, I might do another one at the NY open, but I don’t do it everyday. I wouldn’t be as productive with this schedule if I were traveling all the time.
Is trading better at home or the office?
I prefer to do it at home. But a lot of people need an office. It’s the energy. At the office you’re supposed to work, but at home you’ll likely binge watch Netflix while trading and playing video games at the same time.
People want to work from home because they feel more comfortable there, but maybe you don’t need to feel too comfortable if you want to do some actual work. So if you’re self motivated it’s going to be perfect to work at home because you can discipline yourself (assuming you have a nice quiet place at home). But a lot of people need external motivation so they’ll do better at the office.
How many hours per week do day traders work at home?
As a day trader I work 10 hours per week on average. Basically I work 2 hours per day from Monday to Friday when the markets are open. On the Wednesdays I typically work a bit more, just a habit, but at the same time I work less on Fridays, so it evens out.
It really looks like a super part time job, but I used to spend 13 hours days in the beginning when I was learning how to trade, but that’s a story for another time. With only 2 hours per day of work, I have the time to do my blogging, play video games and other hobbies.
Most traders I know don’t need to put in many hours, because they’re smart enough not to overtrade. Although if you have multiple EAs, or trading robots, you might spend more time managing them, tweaking them, improving them, or building new ones. But that’s like a passion/pleasure kind of thing. You’re going to do something with your time anyway, might as well do that if you love it.
To conclude…
Trading at home is something I wouldn’t change for any office. It’s one of the things that is part of who I am, so I can’t even imagine how it was to work a job in an office. I’m not going to bash the 9-to-5, because it has its benefits, mainly watercooler talk. But hey, at the end of the day, you should trade where you feel you’re most productive.