By John Forman
More than likely, you feel you fall in to the large category of people who consider themselves part-time traders - or would do so if they were active in the markets. That can cover a lot of ground, though, so it makes sense to start with a definition.
For our purposes, a part-time trader is one who can, at most, spend a couple of hours a day developing trading strategies and putting them in to effect. That covers an awful lot of people It runs the full spectrum from those who can monitor the markets each day to those who only have a few hours a week, if that. Most of us fall in to that category.
There seems to be a stigma attached to part-time trading, though. All the notoriety goes to the day trader – someone ready, willing, and able to spend long hours in front of the computer screen, with market information flowing before their eyes. We have certainly all heard the tales of those who quit their jobs to trade full-time. Even when that ends badly, there is still the idea that it was a venture of worth and should be admired.
What about the rest of us, though?
If you read much in the chat boards and trading forums, where there are regular discussions about what one needs to do to trade full-time, you can develop a serious complex. It is easy to come away feeling like you are some kind of lesser breed of trader if you do not aspire to the life of a full-time trader.
The fact of the matter is that only a small fraction of traders do it full-time. Most of us have other things to occupy our time. We have jobs and families and other demands. The idea of day trading or trading for a living - giving up the life of an employee - sounds great, but we are not necessarily seriously considering it.
What's more, trading full-time is a grind. Sure, the markets can be a lot of fun, and they definitely have their excitement. Sitting at a desk watching charts and news reports all day, though, can take a major toll. It is not something most people can do for long periods of time, or would even want to try, for that matter. There is little social interaction, and when there is it can be very strained for all kinds of reasons related to egos and paranoia.
The part-time trader is the one that should be getting the acclaim. These are the people who balance an array of demands while at the same time trying to better their financial situation. They quietly go about their task with no fan-fare or hoopla. Sure, there might be a bit of bragging by the water cooler from time to time. They are aloud to be proud of what they do. For the most part, though, it is a modest group, just out to do the best they can in what little time they have available to them.
Here's the thing. Part-time trading can be extremely worthwhile. It is a huge misconception that has people believing it takes full-time effort to make big money in the markets. That is utterly false. A part-timer can certainly achieve returns at least as positive as ones seen by more active traders.
Actually, if you want to really boil it down, a part-time trader can achieve much better results than a full-time one when considering the amount of time invested. Think about it. If Trader A makes $1000 after an eight our day of trading and Trader B makes that same amount, but in only two hours, who is doing better? For those of us whose time is precious, Trader B's $500/hour seems a lot better than Trader A's $125/hour.
Effective part-time trading is really all about time management. It's about making the absolute best use of the little time you have at your disposal. The new Time Crunch Trading book is being designed to help you do exactly that. It will show you all kinds of things you can do to maximize the time you put in to trading and managing your portfolio.
About the Author: John Forman is author of the best selling book The Essentials of Trading and a near 20 year market veteran. He provides free market analysis for part-time traders at http://www.TimeCrunchTrading.com.
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