Is trading a hobby or a job?
I'm often asked by readers, trading - is this a hobby or a job? To which I always ask a counter-question: How do you feel comfortable?
Many trading psychology courses are based on the phrase "Trading - is work. Of course, experienced specialists are referring directly to the approach to the trading process, i.e. a serious psychological attitude, full concentration, studying various aspects of the market, tracking news flows, developing a trading strategy, and so on. All this is taught by teachers so that a novice trader does not make hasty decisions in the first minute when he opens the terminal; so that his trades always have a basis from the moment of opening to the closing, so that emotions do not take over. The same rules help to bear losses more easily, because negative trades are also a part of the trading algorithm chosen by the trader. They also give a signal to stop when something obviously went wrong, i.e. they give a sense of the trading process. In other words, the attitude towards trading as a job - is the basis of mental stability, not profit. Sometimes what we call a "hobby", if taken seriously, produces phenomenal results. To prove my point, let me give you just two examples.
1. Woe from Wit ...
You know the saying, "Teach a fool to pray to God, he'll break his own forehead"? Well, that would be the first piece of evidence.
Sometimes, being carried away by the process of learning and searching for their Grail, traders absolutely forget why they came here in the first place. Let's just say that immersing themselves in the thick literature on trading, both necessary and unnecessary, delving into programming and the first hundred and first revision of the already "worn to the bone" tormented strategies The newcomer forgets that he actually came to trade. I do not mean to say that learning is unnecessary, but it is one of the components of success. However, if you deal only with theory, when it comes to practice, you will see that you simply cannot cope with fear, or excitement, or greed. Why? Because you also need to learn how to open and close deals.
And in this situation, the trader who has tried more will be the winner. It is quite possible that his strategy will not be so good, but he will have a sense of the market, and empirical experience will tell him what, when and where to try, because 90% strategies are variations on the theme of the remaining 10%. At the same time, a practicing trader could quite easily conduct his "field research" at lunchtime at work or in the evening before going to bed.
2- What to do in the remaining time.....
Well, the second example will be dedicated to long-term traders. Just think about it, when your trading day consists of just one trade or even just a quick glance at the terminal to see if the trading has worked stop orderswhat are you going to do for the rest of the day? "Look for new entries", - you will say, and to some extent you will be right, but not on 100%. A long term trader looks for entries long enough to make a lightning fast but correct decision at the right moment. To do this, of course, he will watch the news, read newspapers, get acquainted with various kinds of reports, but believe me, it does not always take the whole day. And then such a trader goes about his usual business, which is most often his real work.
Conclusion
So is it worth asking such a fundamentally unnecessary question for a solution? I think not. You can treat trading the same way as collecting stamps or coins, you can devote as much time to it as it is convenient for you, not to the detriment of your usual labor or health, the main thing is that this business was not a burden to you, then you will treat the profits correctly and the losses.
The best traders are usually those who are very good at something other than stock trading, because in this case they never depend on chance. And to have an interesting hobby that also brings in money - who doesn't dream of that?