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Beginners Forex Education Forex Basics

Home-Based Forex Trading: Pros & Cons

Becoming a forex trader that works from home sounds like a dream job when you hear some successful traders talk about the benefits, while others struggle with adjusting to trading from home. This might leave you wondering if this is the best job in the world or just a waste of time. Is home-based trading for you? Take a look at our pros and cons to find out!

PROS

  1. Working from home! No need to commute, no boss to answer to, you get the luxury of working from home in your pajamas all day if that’s what you’d prefer. 
  2. Saved money: Since you don’t have to use gas to go to work, you’re likely to save upwards of $30-$50 a week (if you usually had a commute to work) that can then be deposited into your trading account. You’ll also be more likely to simply eat lunch at home instead of going through a drive-through every day.
  3. Flexibility: If your kids are sick and need a ride home from school or something comes up, you don’t have to ask for time off. If you want to sleep in, there’s nobody to answer to but yourself. This is one of the main benefits of forex trading, which can be done from virtually anywhere as long as you have a working phone and internet connection. 
  4. Making money: Although you could lose money, you also have the benefit of possible surprises when you make much more profits than you expected to. You might even decide to get away for the weekend to celebrate this surprise bonus.  

CONS

  1. Distractions are everywhere! A tv playing in the background, your children running through the house, your dog barking outside, and it doesn’t help if your spouse is trying to have a conversation while you’re trying to concentrate. Then again, you don’t have to worry about this as much if you live alone, but you still might be tempted to play on Facebook or take part in other distractions during work time. 
  2. Finding an office space: Do you want to work at the kitchen table, or is it covered in food from your kid’s lunch? Laptop in danger of having juice spilled on it if you sit it down on your living room coffee table for even just a second? Maybe you’re lucky enough to have an office or to live alone, but those that don’t may struggle to find a good spot to work. 
  3. Too much flexibility: Since you don’t have a set work schedule and no boss to explain yourself to, it might be harder to say no if your friend wants you to come out for lunch or if you just have the urge to get out of the house. Sure, you can trade from your phone, but the increased freedom might leave you trading less often than you should because of these distractions.
  4. Working in an environment that is trading friendly: Do you get fast internet connection where you live? In some rural communities, this isn’t always an option. You might even find that your internet connection barely works when others are connected, so you’ll have to battle your spouse watching Netflix or kick your kids off their tablets if this is an issue. 
  5. Profits aren’t guaranteed: With a regular job, you know you’ll be bringing home a paycheck at the end of the week. Trading is more subjective, and you never know if you’ll come out up or down.

Conclusion 

Trading from home comes with a lot of pros, after all, it really allows you to be your own boss, gives you the option to be lazy when you want to be, and doesn’t confine you to a strict schedule or force you to ask to be off work if you want to attend an event or take a sudden vacation. On the downside, some traders have issues keeping themselves disciplined once all this freedom sinks in, and this can have a negative impact on your profits. You also never know if you’ll come out with more or less money at the end of the week, some weeks you may be down, while at other times you could find yourself celebrating record profits. If you think you can keep yourself disciplined enough and you have some money to fall back on in case of bad luck, home-based trading might just be for you.

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Beginners Forex Education Forex Basics

Tips for Limiting Distractions While Trading at Home

Working from home is one of the perks to becoming a forex trader, along with the chance to be your own boss, setting your own flexible hours, and so on. However, some home-based traders might struggle to adjust to working from home instead of being in an actual workplace environment. After all, there are a lot of distractions in our home, like the sounds of television or the radio in the background, kids playing, a significant other trying to talk to us – any of these distractions can be frustrating for a trader that just needs to concentrate. If you’re struggling to focus while trading from home, try following these pro tips to help yourself cut back on distractions: 

Tip #1: Set a Predefined Time to Trade Each Day

The first thing you should do is decide when is the best time of day to trade in your household. You’ll want to avoid chaotic times and trade when you’re feeling focused. For some, the best time might be after having a morning cup of coffee, for others, it may be better to get a late-morning or early-afternoon start. Although trading offers flexible hours, having a predefined time to trade also helps with the ever-important discipline that traders need to master. Another plus is that trading during the time of day when you feel most productive has been proven to provide better results.

Tip #2: Get Away from Background Noise

If you live alone, this shouldn’t be much of a problem, but you should still think about background noises that might be distracting you, like a leaky faucet. If you live with someone else (especially children), it’s a good idea to dedicate your own space to trading so that you can have some peace and quiet. If you already have an office or can change a room in your house into one, that would be the best option, but your bedroom or back porch could work just as well. Try asking your loved ones not to disturb you whenever you’re in the place where you work, simply let them know what time you’ll be finished and ask them to wait until then if possible. After all, trading forex is still like a job and requires focus. 

Tip #3: Only Visit Certain Websites While You’re Working

It’s easy to get distracted online. Maybe a Facebook notification pops up at the bottom of your screen and you decide to check it really quickly…only to find yourself mindlessly scrolling your news feed for hours instead. Or an interesting news article could come up and grab your attention. We’ve all been there. Whatever it is that usually takes your mind off your work, you need to restrict yourself from it during trading hours. Stick with trading-related websites and consider putting your phone on silent and turning off notifications when you need to concentrate. Remember that one distraction can really take away from your focus and cause you to lose money.