Over the years your life changes and therefore your trading strategies will need to adapt in order to take advantage of the market. When a major life events happen, such as getting married or having a baby, you need to know what you can expect from yourself and your trading and how much time can be dedicated. Strategies and tools will help part-time traders succeed at taking advantage of the market.
Here Are Some Strategies On How to Be a Part-time Trader With a Full-Time Job
Take Advantage When the Market is Sleeping:
Self-awareness is key to understanding why you trade. You need to understand where you are from a trading education standpoint and where you are at an emotional and environmental standpoint. When I got married and had my child, it turned my trading strategy upside down. I didn’t have the same time to dedicate to my trading that I had prior to that life change. Now that I was balancing my full-time job and family life, I ended up adopting Nikolas Darvas’s strategy of trading part-time. He was a legendary trader who traded part-time and was a full-time dancer who traveled the world. He would study the markets on nights and weekends. I adopted a similar approach and I take advantage of the market when the market is sleeping.
Place Orders That Trigger Automatically During the Trading Day:
I set my trading plan so that I don’t need to look at the markets at all during the trading day. I place working orders with brokers and have buy stops in place. So, if a stock crosses “x” price, then I’ll be in at that price. Same thing with my exits. If a stock falls below “x” price, then I’m out. I don’t have to worry what is going on in the market during the day because I’ve already figured out my plan. The plan is setup to execute automatically. I just need to make updates to the plan at night and on the weekend.
Utilize Tools to Automate Process:
In order to determine the stops, I need to do my research and figure out at what price I am comfortable getting into and out of the trade. I take advantage of the Advanced Stock Reports that Adam Sarhan writes for both trade ideas and trade management. Having a service like this really cuts down on the amount of time needed to successfully navigate the market.
