One of the most questions we receive at Phantom Trading is how one can trade while working a full-time job and whether or not it’s a career path worth pursuing if one is working a job. In this article we’ll break down why it’s not only a great option for those working jobs, but why nearly all traders start out in a job prior to becoming consistently profitable and eventually going full-time.
Where Most Of Us Start
You may feel like an outlier if you’re attempting to become a successful trader while also meeting the demands of everyday life that include working jobs, hitting the gym, making meals, running errands, etc. We want to make it very clear however that you are not an outlier. All traders start out requiring an income typically from a job to secure their base costs of living while they develop their skills as a trader.
The traditional path from being completely unaware that trading is an option, through to consistent profitability where you’re earning more than a 9-5 job would ever pay you goes like this: introduction to trading through social media or a friend, begin learning online via videos, books, programs, joining a course and community to help you hone your skills and get support, practice your strategy until you’re consistently producing profits month over month at which point you can either take on funding or trade capital of your own that you have in reserve. The important part throughout that journey is making sure you’re stable financially and feel as though you can support yourself while you learn.
So much of successful trading is having a stable and secure mindset to operate from. If you’re struggling financially, that scarcity will shine through in your trading decision-making.
Making sure to have an income you can rely on while you learn is essential when first starting out. If that’s the stage you’re at currently, know that this is where most start out!
Transitioning To Trading While Working
Knowing that the vast majority of traders start out working a job while they learn and hone their trading skills therefore eliminates any doubts that having a job makes it impossible to become a full time trader. Countless traders before you have walked the path before you and graduated from their 9-5 jobs and made trading their full time gig. We like to remind our community often here at Phantom Trading that if others can see success, you can too. We are all human at the end of the day, it comes down to priorities and making time for what’s important to us. There are countless strategies you can trade, countless trading sessions you can be involved in, endless currency pairs and instruments that can be traded as the markets operate around the clock. There is never a shortage of opportunity. What success comes down to is making time daily to progress your abilities and to over time identify what style of trading best suits you so that you can generate results while still working your job.
Replacing A 9-5 Income And What It Takes
It’s not easy becoming a consistently profitable trader, but the process is simple. When you’ve identified the style of trading that works for you and what sessions you like to trade that best fit your schedule and where you live, the key to consistent profitability then becomes all about practice. It’s moving the needle day in and day out.
Whatever it is that you earn at your 9-5 job, that of course becomes the first target to shoot for with your trading. When you’re able to consistently produce returns on your capital (funding or personal capital) for a series of months in a row, your confidence will build and you’ll feel more sure of yourself that if you left the safety net of your 9-5, that you’d be able to produce returns to support yourself fully. The nice thing about eventually leaving your job to trade full time is exactly that, you’re able to trade full time! You no longer have to juggle a job and your trading and you now have the entire work week to dedicate to your trading. For most this boosts their results, for some it actually becomes a detriment at first. There is no cut and dry strategy for leaving a 9-5 job to trade full time, it comes down to you and your confidence in yourself and your ability to produce. From experience, it’s safe to shoot for about 6 months of consistency before pulling the trigger on your job. You’ll also want some funds in the bank to support yourself in the instance you have a bad month and aren’t able to hit your targets.
All in all, the process looks different for everyone but at the end of the day it comes down to honing your skill set over time to the point that winning becomes second nature.
How To Make Full Time Trading More Enjoyable And Fruitful
Trading full time can at first feel liberating but can at times feel lonely all the same. We have experienced this first hand as well as having heard from so many of our students before they found us that trading can be an isolating form of income unless you’re someone who truly enjoys solitude throughout the work week. For those who are used to community and being around others at work, it can come as a shock to be alone with your screens on a daily basis.
Our top recommendation for reducing these feelings of isolation that may arise at times throughout your trading career is to get around others who are on the same path whether they be in your local community or abroad. There are countless communities for traders available across the web where you can network with others just like you and who can support you as you progress as a trader. At Phantom Trading, we have over 1000 students actively engaged with one another day to day as they pursue full time trading, many of whom in the community are already out of their 9-5’s trading 6 and 7 figures in capital and who simply enjoy connecting with others trading the same style as them and who share similar background stories.
As the saying goes “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.” This couldn’t be more true. If your goal is to trade long term and to eventually free yourself and far surpass your current level of income through trading, you’ll want to join a community who can support you in that mission. We hope to be that community for you!
Looking For A Strategy To Help You Get Profitable, Secure Funding, And Start Generating A Full Time Income From Trading?
Click here to join Phantom Trading and get exclusive access to our global trading community filled with like minded traders, plus learn from our team of funded traders with a combined 50+ years of trading experience featuring the founders Wyse & Warner who have institutional experience and experience with trading private capital, plus our team members who have over $1.5 million in funding through prop-firms combined!
Robert Castillo
@coldwaterfx
FX Trader & Analyst
Writer & Editor
Rob is a funded trader from Toronto, Canada, and has been trading currencies, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies for over 7 years. Outside of trading, he enjoys making music, boxing, and riding motorcycles.
