Day Trading While Working Full Time: How To Not Get Fired

Day trading can be a lucrative way to make additional income, but for many part time traders, the challenge lies in balancing day trading with a full-time job. Successfully managing both requires strategic planning, knowing specific trading setups, and a disciplined approach. This article will help you implement a day trading routine while working a full-time job, enabling you to pursue your trading goals without compromising your professional responsibilities.

** Warning: You will likely not be generating a full time income from trading alone when balancing a full time job and day trading. To become a serious day trader, you need to have full attention and focus on the open. Every. Single. Day. When trying to balance the two, you should manage expectations of the results you are able to achieve. Know that you are building habits and exposure, not aiming to make a full time income.

Time Management

You should firstly identify the most active trading hours that align with your business schedule. Focusing on those timeframes will ensure that there is enough volatility and liquidity to present tradable opportunities. Traders who are in meetings for the first half of the day will likely miss the opening morning session from 9:30am EST to 11:30 am EST. In that case, it may make more sense to wait for the afternoon 1:30pm EST to 3:30pm EST session. For traders not available during the regular trading hours, it may be more lucrative to focus on trading futures in the Globex session when other major markets are opening. For example the Asia open at 9:30pm EST or the London open at 3:00am EST.

You must understand where your most effective time frame is as the setups that work in the morning may not be suited for the afternoon session. And if you’re trading globex futures, there will likely be a different set of strategies and rules to follow in the post and pre market, dictated by the available liquidity and range.

A lunch break can be a useful opportunity to check in on markets as they are open and moving. However, ensure that during that time frame you are not getting into a speculative position that may take longer than your lunch break to unfold. Resist the temptation to chase the shiny object and put on a position if you don’t already have a plan in place. The worst thing that could happen is getting stuck holding a position that you can’t continue to monitor, and don’t have a longer term plan for. If one of these trades do work out, you’re doing nothing more than building a bad habit, and inevitably it will lead to a loss.

Develop a Trading Plan

Having a well-defined trading plan is essential, particularly when the time you have to observe markets is limited. Define your trading goals, risk tolerance, and preferred trading strategies. A reminder that your goals at this point should be to build good habits, and gain market exposure, not make $1,000 a session. Create a checklist of criteria for trade entry and exit, and stick to it. If you deviate from this plan, you won’t have enough data to see where things are going wrong and course correct. A trading plan will help you maintain discipline, reduce emotional decision-making, and enhance consistency in your trading.

When balancing a full-time job and day trading, you’ll likely be doing research during the evening to prepare for the morning session. To make the most of your mornings scan the market at night for potential technical setups and add them to a watchlist. Utilize market scanners and charting tools to identify opportunities. Engaging with online trading communities and forums can provide valuable insights from experienced traders. By effectively researching at night, you can enhance your day trading performance while managing your work commitments by front-loading the work and only having to focus on execution during the day. For some of the best scan criteria to use check out this article here: Click Here.

Not every day is going to present a tradable opportunity. Just because you are trying to be a day trader, does not mean that you must trade every day. It is critical while trading and working a day job that you focus on trading only opportunities that you know you can manage and present an edge based on your trading strategy.

Using Technology To Your Advantage

To take full advantage of the research you performed the night before, set up alerts and notifications for important market events, price levels that break, or specific trading patterns. You can use advanced order types like trigger orders, one cancels the other orders, and trailing orders. Depending on your strategy, you may look to use automatic stops to protect your downside, and automatic take-profit orders to lock in your upside.

Continuous Learning and Adaptation

All day traders, part time, or full time need to be continuous learners. Markets are dynamic and our strategies should be as well. Stay updated with market trends, trading strategies, and economic news by actively seeking out new information. Follow reputable trading blogs (like this one), participate in online trading communities to expand your knowledge base, and always reflect on your own performance. Adapt your strategies as market conditions change, and be open to exploring new trading approaches that may better suit your part-time trading style.

Conclusion

Day trading while working full time requires careful planning, disciplined execution, and a commitment to continuous learning. By effectively managing your time, choosing the right markets, developing a solid trading plan, using technology, and staying informed on current events, you can get some day trading exposure while maintaining your full time career. Remember, the goal of participating in markets this way is not to replace your income. It’s to generate supplemental income, and build screen time. Day trading is difficult and requires focus, adding in a full time job makes it almost impossible.

Don’t be discouraged, and do the two in tandem for as long as you can. Over time when your skills sharpen, and you find consistency, perhaps then it is worth taking the leap to trading full time. Be prepared for the pressure to perform, and no security net to fall back into if you take that plunge. It is possible to do, but is often very stressful. Relish in the opportunity to have both things happening simultaneously and don’t rush to go full time.