It’s an interesting statement to make, saying that one trades part-time. It means different things to different people. It could mean that one uses an automated system, and only intervenes every now and then to adjust settings. It could also mean that one is a long term trader, and only bothers to check on that trades once a week, or even less. I think a more common interpretation would be someone like me, who has never had any professional training; perhaps works another job fulltime, and “investigates” forex trading in his spare time, mostly in the evenings.

I’d like to clear something else up. I am NOT a professional trader. I have no intention of ever becoming one. I don’t have the time. I still do other things during my day. I get to travel all over the place for free. As long as I’ve got access to a computer that I can check in the evenings a few times a week, I’m good.

I have to admit, this is not what I thought trading would be. My first forays in to the world of Trading came when I was a student in England when I (along with a friend) ran a web development firm (well, we called it that). We were commissioned to build a website and chatroom for a client who was a Stock Day-Trader. I remember walking into his study the first time. He had two big computer screens with charts and data, all of that in real-time. I was amazed. I thought only banks got that kind of information. I could feel the energy in the room. I almost felt like I was on the Trading floor.

He had a formula he used for Technical Analysis, and he asked us to spend a day trying to program his own formula into the software he was using (eSignal, I believe). We failed to do this successfully in the one day we had, as we didn’t really understand the concepts properly, and the website was more important to him at the time. Still, I knew I would be returning to that world. The possibilities seemed endless. Programming my own formula…I knew I was going to be rich.

That’s ultimately why I got into trading; the ability to use my Programming skills to automate my trades and make a ton of cash. That way, I could do other things while my money was working for me. After trying for ages to do this, I eventually took the time to understand a bit more about the Forex Market, and I finally began to get the results. Now, I achieve the goals I had wanted previously, without having to invest a large amount of effort or time.

The point is we all come to the markets hoping to make money investing as little effort and time as possible. This is achievable, once some simple concepts are understood and applied. Anyone can do this. There isn’t that much to it. Maybe there was back in the day, but no more. You do have to apply consistent effort over a period of time though, if you really want to understand Forex Trading.

The other option is to follow a professional trader and trade according to their rules, or maybe get someone’s system and use that. Either of these is not really advisable if you’re a complete newbie, not unless it comes with some training. I think once you’ve got a little bit of knowledge, you can follow one of these guys. It will be possible for you to understand the reasons for the moves they make, and you can make an informed decision whether to follow or not.

Once you’re there, it will be possible to trade profitably without having to spend ages watching price movements and charts.