Should You Quit Your Job to Trade Stocks?

Stock marketing trading is a big business that has several appeals. Hence, it is not uncommon to see individuals of different ages that are considering the option of quitting their job to concentrate on it. If you are thinking about quitting your job, you may be asking questions such as “can I earn enough money from trading stock?  Here is: should I quit my job to trade stocks from the comfort of my home?

All you need to rely on are a good internet connection and a laptop.

Yes, you can earn a lot of money from trading stocks without the need to deal with any employer, worker, and logistics. All you need to rely on are a good internet connection and a laptop. The possibility of trading stocks from a serviced apartment in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and enjoying your life is alluring. However, the truth is that it is not as rosy and straightforward as it sounds.

In the past years, thousands of individuals have taken a bold step of quitting their jobs to focus on trading stocks.

Some of them hit the goldmine and became wealthy from trading stock at their convenience. Nevertheless, this group of people only forms a minority because the majority of those that took the step failed.

Failing — still happens today; hence, quitting your job to trade stock full-time is a step that you must consider carefully before you decide. You are likely going to fail than succeed. Although this is sad, it is the reality that you must know before quitting.

There is a high rate of failure at trading stocks. How do you increase your chances?

Because of the high rate of failure at trading stocks — you can do a few things to increase your chances of succeeding in trading stock. Take a look at those important things below.

Educate yourself

Education, in this sense, does not refer to a college degree. It is rather about having adequate experience and expertise in what trading stock means. It involves knowing the things you need to do, when you have to start or stop trading in a day, how you need to trade, and so on.

Fortunately, you do not have to return to college to educate yourself about trading stocks. You can browse the internet, attend webinars, and explore online courses to learn everything you need to know about stock market trading.

Be prepared emotionally

Regardless of how great your trading strategies are, you cannot do without losing some trades. So, stock market trading is not for the faint-hearted who get down emotionally after a few losses. Also, there are no more monthly paychecks or any form of structured income for you. You only earn after winning your trades, but these wins do not occur every day. Therefore, before quitting your job, prepare yourself to deal with the emotional wrecks that you may have to deal with when trading stocks.

Have an emergency fund

The truth is that it may take several months before you will have a full grasp of a trading strategy that you can use to make enough money. So, how will you survive during these months? This is why you need an emergency fund. Typically, make sure that your emergency fund can take care of your basic needs for a minimum of 12 months.

This will not only make life easy for you during the tough days, but it will go a long way in ensuring that you can concentrate on the strategies that can work for you. Many people were forced to quit stock market trading because life became hard for them as they did not have enough emergency funds. Therefore, you should mitigate this problem by keeping an emergency fund for the rainy days.

Find your best trading option

There is no one-size-fits-all option for trading stocks. As a result of this, you must find the best option that suits your needs and works best for you. You need to find this trading strategy or at least have an idea of what it is before you quit your job. Here are two of the best trading options that are available for you.

• Trade stock independently 

If you want a trading option that is flexible and easy, trading stocks from your home should be your choice. This option allows you to create your trading schedule around your daily life. Hence, you are in perfect control of your trading. 

Nevertheless, the major challenge with trading stock independently is that it requires lots of capital. If you want to become a day trader, you will have to start trading with at least $ 25,000 every day. Notably, if you traded (June 26, 2020) and lost some of the money, you must raise $ 25,000 again before you can trade today. This means you need to have more than this minimum equity if you are interested in trading stock independently.

Nonetheless, if you cannot afford this particular amount, you may want to consider other choices that are not as capital-intensive as being a pattern day trader. One of these choices is joining the contract for difference (CFD) market. With this option, you only need a fraction of the total cost of an asset to start trading. It is worthwhile to understand that you are not going to make as many profits as trading stocks directly as a day trader. Other alternatives include the currency market and the foreign exchange market. You only require a few hundreds of dollars to get started in these markets.

• Proprietary trading option

If you think independent stock market trading is not for you, then you should consider trading with a proprietary trading firm. Generally, proprietary trading companies have simplified the process of stock trading for traders as they provide topnotch training that can help you learn a lot of things about stock market trading. The majority of these companies also have structures that make it possible for people to start trading with a low fee.

It should be noted that when you join a proprietary trading company, you are working for the company. However, you are not their employee, but rather a contractor. You are not entitled to a structured salary. You only get your share of the profits that the company makes from trading in the stock market. Since the company will offer you leveraged capital, they will be in charge of managing the risk.

Nevertheless, this does not negate the need for personal discipline if you want to manage a decent living from the proprietary trading option. Also, proprietary trading companies may offer you free training, monitoring of trading performance, access to regular trading strategies, contact with other experienced and skilled traders, lower fees, and so on.

Before joining any proprietary trading company, enquire about their trading models and work structure. While some companies give their traders the option of working from the comfort of their home, others want their traders to come to an office to trade during some specific hours of the day. Be sure of what they are offering you before committing yourself to them.

Be ready to adapt to changes if you are trading in stocks.

The stock market changes quickly and, as such, the traders must always be prepared to make the necessary changes to get the most out of the market. To know the changes to implement, be on the lookout for the latest development in the stock market. In addition, be open to learning from other successful traders. If possible, look for a mentor who has been trading for years, so get the necessary advice on the steps to take.

Overall, quitting your job to trade stocks is a big decision that can make or break you. However, you are the only one that can decide whether it will be worth it or not. Therefore, it requires adequate and timely plans. Also, it would help if you read more trading strategy articles to understand the intricacies of trading stocks. Besides, check out various online brokers to see their offers and determine what is best for you.

Image Credit: Burak K; Pexels

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