Trading
alongside your job

First, I want to clear up a common misconception among private traders and people interested in the markets: trading is not the same as day trading. When most people hear the word trading, they immediately picture a day trader. To some, that means someone sitting at a computer watching charts from morning until evening. Others imagine a person on a beach with a cocktail and a laptop, apparently making money on the side — or perhaps not.

Day trading requires attention during the chosen trading session, as well as preparation and follow-up work. Whether that fits around a main job depends on working hours, the trading system and personal circumstances. There is no universal number of active screen hours. Anyone trading independently must also allow time for tasks such as maintaining a system and dealing with taxes.

Besides day trading, there are other trading styles with different holding periods and time windows. Whether one suits you depends on your daily life, knowledge and approach to risk. If day trading interests you, compare trading hours, preparation and learning time with your job. The learning phase can take months or years.

Whether both commitments remain manageable in the long term depends on your working hours, trading system and capacity; profitability does not follow from that. Other trading styles may fit better around a job; whether they lead to profits remains uncertain.

As I said, you do not necessarily have to train as a day trader: there are other ways to trade alongside your job. In swing trading and position trading, positions can remain open for several days and sometimes for several months. That longer holding period can make fixed review times possible alongside your main job. It does not, however, create a reliable second income.

Day trading and swing trading mainly differ in their trading routines; no general income advantage follows for either style. Perhaps you want to keep your main job and are looking for a trading routine that still leaves room for holidays, family and other parts of life. Do not plan on fixed additional income or a reduction in your working hours as a result.

Swing trading uses longer time frames than day trading. As a result, you will generally place fewer trades overall. The market does not have to be watched continuously for this approach. For the trading routine of TradeNeon's six swing trading systems, the current programme specifies around 30 minutes a day; lessons and practice take additional time during training.

Whether the routine fits around your job also depends on your working hours and the system you trade. In the swing trading approach we trade and teach, we make a more detailed review of the markets once each weekend. Allow extra time for this weekend analysis. How long it takes depends on experience, the markets you follow and the system. We use it to identify which markets may be worth watching for a trade in the coming week.

During the week, we scan the markets once a day to see whether setups have formed and whether an entry or exit is possible.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of swing trading approaches, and other traders may give you very different figures from ours. How much work it takes to develop a swing trading system and follow it consistently depends on your prior knowledge, method and practice. If you have no trading experience yet, I recommend first spending time learning about the subject.

Read as many books as you can and watch videos from traders you find trustworthy. That is not always easy, because there are also dubious providers in this industry. If someone promises quick profits with very little time and almost no risk, examine the offer critically. High returns cannot be planned, even alongside a job; losses are possible.

Even if you find a profitable system or learn one from an experienced trader, that does not mean you can put it into practice immediately. As with most skills, practice matters. That is why it is important to practise in a demo account during the first few months and start with very small amounts when moving to real money.

Whether you take a trading course, and who teaches it, is entirely your decision. When choosing a trading programme, examine its content, teaching practice, risk rules, costs and the experience of its instructors. A provider cannot assess its own offer neutrally. The returns you ultimately achieve depend heavily on your system and approach. Your willingness to take risk also matters.

Before you even consider trading alongside a job, it is important to be on stable financial footing and to have thought about your long-term investments. Use only capital for trading whose loss you can financially bear. Money needed for daily life and long-term investments should not depend on trading profits. A trading system's results vary with market conditions and execution.

For well-trained swing traders after the learning year, TradeNeon describes an ambitious orientation range of 10 to 40 percent average annual returns, depending on the system and consistent application of risk rules. This is not a promise; losing months and years are possible. One suggestion: take time to learn about options trading. Options are complex instruments.

They can form part of a rules-based system, but they also carry substantial risks of loss. An options premium is not a predictable income.

If the subject interests you, you can of course also look for a suitable system yourself. Trading systems are highly individual, and no single approach suits everyone. You will probably need to search for a while before finding the method that fits you. If you understand a system and can apply it alongside your job, profits remain possible.

Whether they continue over time also depends on market conditions, execution and risk; a substantial boost to your salary cannot be promised.

Yes, trading alongside a job is possible. If you have questions about swing trading or trading in general, you are welcome to contact us. If you already trade, compare your time commitment, holding period and risk rules with the approaches described here.