Online forex trading has turned to a full-time profession for many. However, a lot of traders were involved in other professional activities prior joining the forex market. Millions of forex traders with the same agenda today came from different backgrounds. This made me think, is there any relationship between the past profession and forex trading ability?
Most forex traders used to have a stable full-time job with monthly salary, working at least 8 hours a day, receiving bonuses and benefits (including health insurance!), going on 10-day holiday if the boss allows it, having lunch exactly at noon and most probably wearing a suit or some kind of weird looking uniform.
When the transition to successful forex trader begins? Does the previous line of profession make these changes a smoother ride?
Smoother Ride for Salespeople
I honestly think that salespeople have fewer difficulties finding a forex trader within. As a salesperson, you are already psychologically prepared that not every sale brings a closed deal, that the monthly salary is affected by the amount of leads created, that the only reason the boss hasn’t fired you yet is because you deliver. As a salesperson you have the ability to judge which sales are worth going for and which are not worth even looking at. Doesn’t this remind you of some aspects of forex trading?
Successful Forex Career for Self-Employed
Self-employed individuals are used to flexible hours, self-inflicted daily planning, uncertainty in monthly income and the necessity to work as hard and as long as needed in order to succeed.
Doctors Know How to Deal with Loss
Career in medicine is extremely stressful. You have to be ready to “fly” out of bed in the middle of the night for emergencies, work crazy hours around the clock, able to operate even after 24 hour shift, deal with grumpy patients and freaked out mothers and most importantly save lives of others.
Along with saving lives comes the greatest loss of all – inability to heal a fatally ill patient. This profession allows you to experience situations beyond control and sometimes, for example during the multi-casualty accident with limited medical supplies, decide which patient is actually worth devoting these resources to. Here is something that can help you letting go of a trade.
Army Makes You Disciplined
Forex trading requires a trading plan, set of rules, money management, risk calculations, ability to control your emotions, follow the discipline and deal with losses. Ex-army people face a lot of pressure, stress, endurance, crucial decision making situations and of course emotion control. All of these factors can help tremendously with forex trading.
Only One Winner Gets the Price
How about all these game players where there is competition involved? I am talking about chess, poker, blackjack, or even sport players are the good examples. These individuals follow the well-prepared plan, practice in order to succeed, enjoy being the winners, and also able to deal with defeat in a professional way.
Science and Engineering Works Wonders
I believe that scientists, engineers and mathematicians are extremely attracted to forex trading. They are used to solve problems with their minds and not emotions, explore new possibilities and form creative ideas. Coming from a scientific background allows these individuals to develop their own system based on indicators available. Of course, some tend to overdo it in search of the world’s greatest system ever created and end up with a horrible headache at the end of the ordeal, but overall scientific skills do help in forex trading.
Control and Understand Your Emotions
Forex trading is not all about technical analysis, indicators, graphs and the right momentum. It is closely related to human psychology and ability to deal with emotions. Forex market consists of people trading in and out. If you understand how human mind works as one trader and as a bunch of traders, you are on the way toward understanding forex market as a whole.
Psychologist is not only able to psycho analyze others, but can also understand ones emotions. Psychologist also knows how to find the problem which triggers certain emotions and ways to control the situation. It is definitely not just a coincidence that there are so many forex traders previously involved in psychology or psychotherapy.
Uniqueness
I have tried to correlate ex-professions to success in forex trading and overall it is clear that many professions would probably bring a lot of good into the forex career. At the first glance being a salesperson is the best ex-profession forex trader can have. Many of you might even consider entering sales for a year or so before trying trading, however nothing is back and white. Even in sales there are many disadvantages which can poison the forex trading experience. For example, sales business is based on convincing others to buy stuff they don’t really need. Sales person is persistent and quite annoying to those who manage not to fall under the hypnotizing spell. This made me think that a sales person is probably the last likely trader to give up on a trade that isn’t going well.
And so my verdict is that everyone is unique. The set of past experience and personality plays important roles in forex career; however because of our uniqueness every trader requires different qualities in order to be successful. When one quality is well-formed (possibly with help of the previous profession) it is most likely that you will have to work on another quality needed in forex trading. No matter what, it is all about gaining the trading experience and finding the right direction.
