Apart from the financial aspect required in becoming a full-time trader, let’s take a look at another less tangible but equally important factor, which is the passion for trading.
Passion, in its most basic sense, is defined as a strong feeling about a person, thing, or undertaking. It refers to the intense emotion that usually compels you to reach for your goals.
As cheesy as this may sound, passion will play a very crucial role in your trading endeavor because it is inevitable that you will incur drawdowns. These are times when you will feel that everything you do just goes against you.
For some people who don’t have the passion for it, quitting will become a very welcome thought.
On the contrary, those who have their heart in trading will see drawdowns as nothing more than just minor road bumps.
Being serious and passionate about trading is the healthier and more sustainable fire that will help you stick to your decision of going full-time.
Despite stacks of losses, you will still trade because you want to. You won’t let your emotions get in the way of you fulfilling your mission of becoming a consistently profitable trader.
You will understand that you still need to do what you have to do: update your trading journal, come up with a sensible trading plan, and just suck it up.
You don’t just trade because you know that if you don’t, you won’t have a day job to go back to, you could lose your house, or you may not be able to pay for your kid’s tuition.
So before you take the plunge into full-time forex trading, let me remind you to ask yourself these questions:
- Do you really want to be a forex trader?
- How bad do you want to achieve your trading goals?
- How can you psychologically withstand major drawdowns?
Remember that being passionate does not necessarily mean that you feel intensely positive and eager about achieving your desires.
Some say that passion is like an unconditional “yes” to a particular endeavor, no matter how challenging it may get.
If forex trading doesn’t merit an unconditional “yes” for you for now, don’t worry! Passion is not an immediate emotion but rather one that can be developed and that needs to be constantly strengthened.
If you feel that you’re not quite there yet, you can still keep learning or practicing on demo to figure out if forex trading is really for you.