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Nial Fuller

NIAL FULLER Nial Fuller
Professional Trader, Author & Coach

Could Part-Time Trading Improve Your Results?

part-time tradingYou’re a busy person. You have a lot going on in your life. But, you are very interested in the opportunities provided by the market and you are wondering if you can somehow successfully fit trading into your daily routine. You’ve read a lot about trading and it seems very time-intensive and basically like another full-time job. So the question becomes, can you trade successfully part-time, and if you can, will it help or hurt your trading results?

The short answer is, yes, you can be successful trading part-time. In fact, it could actually be very beneficial to your trading. In this lesson, we will discuss how you can fit trading into your busy schedule and how it can actually improve your trading results and make you a better trader.

How to trade around your busy schedule

Despite what you might think or may have read on some online trading forum, you do not need to be at your charts for hours and hours each day. The way that I trade requires only 30 minutes to an hour of your time each day, that’s it.

How’s this possible you ask? The answer is simple; focusing on the daily chart time frame. Whether you have a job, business, full-time school or just a ‘busy routine’, the daily chart time frame is the key here. By focusing on the daily chart, you only have to check the charts once per day if you want, twice if you’re feeling ‘ambitious’.

The New York close occurs at 5pm NY time and it represents the close of the current Forex trading day and then the next one begins. The daily chart close is really the most important closing price of the day, because it shows you what happened that day in one price bar. If a price action signal formed, you will see it on the daily chart after the New York close. This makes the whole process of analysing and trading the market very simple, quick and easy; if you see a signal that day that meets your trading plan criteria, you place the trade and walk away until tomorrow. If no signal formed, you walk away and check again the next day.

This is basically how you can use the daily chart time frame to fit trading in around whatever busy schedule you have. Also, don’t worry if you don’t live in the New York time zone. I get emails every day from people asking me what they should do if they live elsewhere. It’s simple, you just pick a time that’s convenient for you each day to analyse the daily chart time frames. If you want to check the markets twice a day then just do it in the morning and in the evening, no more than 20 to 30 minutes each time. If you do this, trading should not cost you more than 1 hour per day.

Now, let’s talk about the awesome ‘hidden’ advantages of spending so little time in front of your charts…

Why you NEED to be away from your charts

Focusing on the daily charts and end-of-day New York close data is not just a good way to fit trading in around your schedule. It’s also a far superior way for the majority of people to trade and it will greatly improve your chances of trading success.

Trading ‘part-time’ means you are doing other things, be they work, school, hobbies etc. The point is, human beings have a tendency to over-trade and become addicted to trading. When you are gone all day at work, school or just busy with other things, you have a ‘natural’ distraction from the market.

So, do not feel like you’re ‘missing out’ on opportunities because you’re busy all day, these feelings are simply greed and fear getting to you. Instead, believe that the only thing you’re missing out on is losing money due to trading too much, and stressing yourself out in the process.

Here’s a tip; the best / most obvious and lucrative trade setups are the ones that form on the daily chart time frame anyways, because the daily chart carries more weight than any time frame underneath it. These are the setups that have the most significance and ‘power’ potential behind them. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather risk money on that type of trade than on one of lesser quality.

Also, spending less screen time monitoring your trades will reduce the mental screw-ups and catalysts to over-trading and over-analysing the market. I’ve written other articles on why ‘less is more in trading and the ‘set and forgetstyle of trading. The point is, the less you interact with the market each day, the less of a chance you have of ‘shooting yourself in the foot’, like entering a trade that you knew you shouldn’t have, or messing around with your stops and targets. In this way, part-time trading on the daily chart time frame will significantly assist you by giving you less temptations and thus less chances to cause yourself to lose money by making stupid mistakes. Not to mention, it allows you to fit trading in around a busy schedule, whether that means a full-time job, a business, school or anything else.

Being ‘distracted’ can help you trade better

You don’t need to be in the market all the time, nor should you be. If you have a busy daily routine such as a job, school, or maybe just a lot of hobbies, they should be viewed as a good thing, and something that can actually help you achieve trading success.

First, having distractions from the market provides you with something else to do besides trade; no one can trade successfully by sitting in front of their computer all day staring at the charts, this will cause you to over-trade and lose money. So, if you don’t have some hobbies or a job or school, or any type of routine-like ‘distraction’ from trading, you should consider getting one. This will provide you with a natural way to help avoid over-trading.

To be honest, if you don’t have something ‘else’ to do besides trade all day and night, you will have difficulty achieving the proper trading mindset because you will become a trading addict.

You should think of your job as a good way to force yourself to not look at the charts all day, in other words, it’s like ‘easy’ discipline. If you simply look at the daily charts after you get done with your market ‘distraction’ each day, you will develop a routine and you’ll be seeing the most important view of the market; the daily chart view. While you were away, the market was ebbing and flowing; doing its thing. Most of the price movement in a market is meaningless; it means nothing and is a waste of your time to sit there staring it. All it does is induce you to jump into the market because you ‘think’ you see ‘something’.

Thus, having a distraction from the market such as school, a job, or hobbies, is a sort of ‘shield’ from a lot of the meaningless price action in the market. You really can have it ‘all’ when it comes to trading and keeping your daily routine…you can fit trading in around it and it may actually improve your results. All you need to do is realize and accept the power of the daily chart time frame and focus your time and energy on it. If you would like to learn how to integrate daily chart trading into your busy life, check out my trading course.

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Nial Fuller

About Nial Fuller

is a Professional Trader, Investor & Author who is considered ‘The Authority’ on Price Action Trading. His blog is read by over 200,000+ followers and he has taught 25,000+ students since 2008. In 2016, Nial won the Million Dollar Trader Competition. Checkout Nial's Professional Trading Course here.
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  1. Janine

    Thank you so much! You are a legend.

    Reply
  2. Благодарность

    magnificent article!

    Reply
  3. Chris W

    Hi Nial, great as usual, Have been watching your website for over a year now and have printed out most of your material so I can read it over. I must say out of all the sites I’ve come across yours I’d the most informative and honest. Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  4. Georges

    This is 100% true, personally my trading results drastically improved once i enrolled in a University, i take my trades and let the markets do its thing while i am busy studying. Nial you are just the best, am a big fan & a member of the forum. Georges.

    Reply
  5. victoria

    I swear, after four years, the less I trade more profit I make. Daily charts, set n forget, aiming SL 200pips TP 100pips. And now that I am beginning to be comfortable i.e. don’t need to win every week, the more relaxed I am and again more profits. Going four weeks without profit ( around new year ) didn’t even care. And guess what – correction and trades turned green. Again. Eventually

    Reply
  6. tee

    trading daily time frame has increase my trading success greatly, thanks Nial.

    Reply
  7. Marisa

    Spot-on. This is exactly what I am concerned about. I was wondering how I am going to fit trading into my busy schedule, when one day I will start trading.
    Well done Nial, you are a real star as you make everything seem so easy.
    I am glad I have come across your blog and become a member as I am sure I will learn loads. Thank you.

    Reply
  8. Phil Johnson

    Thanks for sharing Nial. it is a pleasure to read your well laid out blog.

    I trade indices and shares myself, but still an interesting read.

    Thanks

    Phil

    Reply
  9. Rob Reid

    Hi Nial,
    Great article on part time trading.
    Puts things into perspective again. Thanks.

    Reply
  10. Michael

    How many trade opportunities do you see, on average, per month, on daily bars, on forex majors?

    I know it likely vary a lot from month to month, so please provide some range.

    Just so we have a benchmark and know how many trades will likely indicate over-trading, even if taken from daily bars.

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Nial Fuller

      Michael, there are multiple opportunities each week across major forex pairs, stock indicies & commodities. Whilst we do primarily use the daily chart, we are not restricted to trading from the daily chart, we also trade 4 hour and 1 hour chart timeframes. If you are trading just the daily chart timeframe then you could expect a few good setups each week.

      Reply
  11. Derick

    I second Steve’s comment. I’m great-full to have found this blog.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  12. CedTrade

    Maybe if u want to make few extra £ per month

    Reply
  13. sridhar

    nial, as always, you give the best tips to follow. if followed with discipline and focus the daily chart can give multitude of opportunities. keep up the good work.

    Reply
  14. PKW

    thanks Nial for the newly added print function on articles

    Reply
  15. nwachukwu

    I was once a victim of that mindset till I got myself employed in other activity(job).Trading is more of mind game. To trade profitably, you first conquer your mind.

    Reply
  16. steve

    I really appreciate the wisdom you share. It makes me a better trader everyday

    Reply