Time Crunch Trading

As we have indicated, there are a number of choices available to you in your trading. Do yourself a favor and consider well which one you choose. Don’t just pick stocks because everyone else you know trades them. Their path is not necessarily yours. Consider the time you will have available to trade, when that time will be during the day (or week), and what that means in terms of how frequently you are likely to trade.

Just about any market is accessible to the part-time trader who is thinking in terms of longer-term positions. You can place standing orders with your broker to handle trades that can be executed when the markets are open, after all.

If that is the case, go with the market that most appeals to your interests. Stocks are great for those who like to look at companies and evaluate their businesses (keeping in mind that a lot of work can go in to picking them out). The interest rate and forex markets are wonderful for those who like to take a bigger picture view of things. In some ways the same can be said of commodities, and certainly indices fit that description too.

On the other hand, if you want to trade more frequently – to be a swing or part-time day trader – you need a market that is going to be open and active when you have time to trade. That could narrow things down considerably.

The markets most likely to provide you with short-term trading opportunities at nearly any time of day include the major global stock indices and the bigger commodities (gold, oil). Really, though, forex has to be considered the strongest in this grouping, since it does trade actively almost all the time.

The extreme flexibility of the forex market is why we generally put it at the top of the list when asked about the best markets for part-time traders. You get the flexibility to trade on your schedule and there are alternatives for trading on a very small scale.

Just because we say that forex is a great market for the part-time trader, though, does not mean it’s the best market for you. Make your own assessment and pick the one that most suits your needs and particular interests.

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