The decision to become a trader is serious. Let's pretend you accepted it. You have money, a reliable broker, a basic understanding of the exchange structure - and some time. If you are not ready to give yourself up to trading all day long, it is worth thinking about ways that will speed up and facilitate the process.
We have collected 7 main ones.
1. Maybe it's an investment after all?
Investing in stocks or bonds for dividends and coupons means that securities are lying and generating income. Trading is buying and selling securities for the sake of making a profit due to price changes. Such short-term investments require ongoing involvement.
2. Choose your trading style
There are three trading styles in total: scalping, day trading, and swing. They differ in terms of the holding time of the transaction, and therefore, in the time that you spend on trading.
Scalping is the execution of a large number of transactions with low profitability in a short period of time. Deals last a few minutes or even seconds. The scalper works with lightning speed and has no right to be distracted because the outcome of the deal depends on the reaction speed. Such a tense style of speculation is not suitable for all beginners, and it is better to leave it altogether to professionals.
Day trading, intraday trading, means opening and closing transactions during a trading session (from 09:30 to 19:00 for the Moscow Stock Exchange). There is less risk and stress, but you need to trade several hours a day, so this trading style is more suitable for those who consider trading as their main occupation.
Swing traders can hold positions for days, weeks, or even months. Here you can take your time and devote as much time to trading as you have.
3. Trading strategies
To put it simply, a trading strategy is a set of rules and an algorithm of actions that a trader follows when making deals. There are a lot of options for strategies, and it can be difficult for a beginner to understand them.
Therefore, brokers often offer not to waste time developing their own strategy and use ready-made solutions with predicted profitability, given risk levels and starting amounts.
4. More mobility
You can save time already at the stage of opening and replenishing your account - do it online. And in order not to carry out all transactions through a computer, install the My Broker application. At your fingertips, you will have analytics of news agencies, quotations of securities of Russian and world companies, information on your portfolio. The plus is that you can make transactions directly in the application; you do not need to install a trading terminal (a program for accessing the exchange).
5. Stop loss and take profit
In order not to close the position manually and not to monitor the status of the transaction, use a stop loss. Set it at a certain level, and as soon as the price drops to it, the broker will close the trade. Take profit works the same way, but for a price increase. So you can disconnect from trading, go about your business and not worry about a possible loss.
6. Work with a personal broker
If you decide to trade on your own, keep in mind: you need to thoroughly immerse yourself in the topic, study statistics, follow the quotes. If you are not ready to spend time on this, work with a personal broker.
He is like a consultant: he helps to form an investment portfolio, analyzes the market and offers options for a deal. The strategy will not be controlled by you, but by the broker, but it saves time and reduces the likelihood of mistakes.
7. Update knowledge
The better you understand the market, the less time you spend making decisions. And trading is the area of knowledge on which books and dissertations are written, so there is room to grow. The Moscow Exchange School
will help you learn the trading rules: the site has many free webinars and courses taught by experienced traders. Surely your broker also offers training. We at BCS have created Investments 101 - a platform for learning trading with video tutorials of varying degrees of difficulty, an exchange simulator, and the opportunity to get a coach's advice right in the chat. Investment Ideas
can also save time: these are up-to-date offers for the purchase and sale of securities with a predicted profit, which can be received, for example, via Telegram or WhatsApp.
Short
Trading requires investment not only money, but also time. However, time costs can be reduced without sacrificing profits by entrusting the choice of strategy to a personal broker. Or on your own: if you choose the trading style that suits you, use ready-made solutions and constantly update your knowledge.
