How to Trade Part-Time in 2024 – Can You Make Money?

In recent years, more and more people turned to trading as a possible source of income. Among these there are those who decided to become a full-time trader, quitting their job to become a professional in the sector.

However, there are many other people who, unwilling or unable to quit their jobs, ask themselves: is it possible to make money by trading part time?

As always, the answer to this question is neither black nor white.

It is certainly possible to generate additional income by trading part time, and in the Unger Academy we have many success stories from this point of view.

However, it is important to avoid any misconceptions or exaggerations. Whether you do it full time or part time, trading is not a magic wand that can make you rich quickly and easily.

In this article, we will explore the conditions and warnings that you need to know if you expect to make money trading part-time.

Part-Time Trading Requires Preparation

We know we sound like a broken record, but it’s important to reiterate. Trading is not a trivial activity where results can be achieved through shortcuts and tricks.

To earn consistently, it is crucial to develop both technical skills and emotional skills.

These skills are certainly within reach for anyone with average intelligence. We are not talking about taking a degree in physics or managing a multinational. However, these are skills that cannot be learned in two days; they require study and application.

This is even more critical in part-time trading. The less time you spend trading, the more difficult it is to achieve results, as Andrea Unger explains in this video.

Second Income Yes, Second Salary No

By definition, a salary is a fixed and regular source of income. With part-time trading you can create an abundant second income, but there will never be anything fixed and regular.

By its very nature, trading entails a certain margin of risk. And while it is possible to devise strategies where risk is minimized, eliminating it altogether is unrealistic.

This means that you cannot obtain results that are constant over time. There will be months in which you will earn more, others in which you will earn less, and others in which you will lose money. Even the best traders in the world cannot completely avoid losses.

This uncertainty is part of the game, so if you are looking for a solution that guarantees you a fixed and regular income, like a real second salary, trading is probably not for you.

Start Doing Systematic Trading

We have already pointed out that trading is a complex and sometimes stressful activity. It is even more so if you have a hard day's work behind you.

Now, imagine going home and sitting in front of a monitor for another two or three hours, analyzing one chart after another and hopefully being lucid enough to make the right decisions.

This is what awaits you if you trade part-time with a discretionary approach, i.e., if you implement your strategies by sending all orders to the broker manually. This is an approach that we do not recommend, not because it is impossible to make money with it, but because the chances of doing so depend very much on your personal talent.

In fact, there are traders who have an extraordinary ability to interpret the market and remain lucid even when they are exhausted. These people can certainly afford to sit in front of a computer after work and manually submit every single order.

Unfortunately, however, talent is cannot be replicated or taught. That is why our advice is not to rely on the hope of being that trader in a thousand who has that innate talent, because the odds are not on your side.

Moreover, even if you had that talent, it would still be a wearying and unsustainable approach in the long term.

This is why we advise against discretionary trading and favor systematic trading, that is the trading method that we use in the Unger Academy. It allows us to be profitable on the markets without spending hours and hours in front of a monitor.

This approach consists of creating a series of commands that are automatically executed by the computer as soon as certain conditions are met, and without the need for manual intervention.

By using a systematic approach, you can create trading strategies that work 24 hours a day even if your time is very limited.

Going back to the example above, instead of drying out your eyes in front of a thousand charts in the 2 hours you can dedicate to trading, you can program a strategy that will continue to work even when you are not home.

Conclusion

Earning by part-time trading is possible, but to do so you need to invest in your training and be aware that profits will never be regular and fixed like a second income.

In addition, if you want to start trading part-time we strongly recommend that you opt for systematic trading.

This approach will allow you to make up for the little time you have available thanks to computer automations. Furthermore, your trading operations will be less affected by exhaustion or emotions accumulated over the course of the day, so your chances of making mistakes will be decreased.