I often get asked if you can make money with trading but maybe not as a full-time income stream but rather a small side income pot?
The answer is definitely YES and hopefully throughout this post I will show you a few steps and pointers to get you started.
Trading has come a long way over the last few years, it has definitely moved on from the floor trading days! Thanks to the internet anyone with a smartphone can now access the hundreds of markets available and start a day trading or investing account.
You literally have access in your hand to the many Forex, Crypto, Stocks and Commodities markets whenever and wherever you are! This is tremendous opportunity and one that can provide a nice side income stream if you are careful and trade wisely.
The key is to not get carried away. There is so much money being traded every day. Trillions of dollars in fact and your job is to just extract a small amount to top up your salary.
So, lets dive in and go over it.
Complex Setups VS Apps
The beauty of using the apps is they are far easier than the complex setups you often see people trading with from their desktop.
I am sure that having 5 screens makes them feel good and like a professional but really do you need all that to just take a modest slice out of the markets each day?
No you don’t.
You see, to trade successfully as a side hustle you really just need your app and a bit of knowledge about the markets.
For me, the multi-screen options with all the charts, numbers and colours just confuses the whole process. It can lead to errors.
In all aspects of earning a side income online the best policy is often KISS. Keep it simple, stupid.
There are many online apps you can use for trading. Here are a few I have picked out for you to check out. Note, these may not all be available for your chosen country.
- Trading212
- eToro
- Plus500
- TradingView
- IQ Option
The beauty of trading apps are the graphical user interface has to be made simple. There is only a certain amount of info they can fit on to the screen. For me this makes it easier to use.
Remember, we are not doing this full time. There does not need to be any unnecessary complexity to this.
You literally just need to know what you can to make some extra cash from the markets.
With any of these apps it’s a straightforward process to upload your funds. Some will often have a minimal requirement, but Trading212 you can get started with as little as £1.
Some may take a broker fee but others will not.
Once you have uploaded your funds you are ready to place your trades.
Have a test with a demo account first. They all will offer a demo fund account so you don’t go blowing all your real money! Use this until you are familiar with the platform. Get used to buying and selling stock and setting limits BEFORE you ever start using REAL MONEY.
I cannot stress this enough.
Spend at least a week playing around with the demo account, get used to the app and some stocks that you like.
You can either use this time to play with high-volatility day trade stocks or use it to invest in longer trade stocks. For example, a stock you think you may hold for a few days before trading out.
How Much Can You Make?
Well, how long is a piece of string? You can make as much as you want really. But you can lose it all in an afternoon if you are not careful.
I aim to make about 0.5% – 1% per trade. This sounds like a tiny amount but the beauty of trading this small is you can be in and out in seconds and it all adds up.
So, let’s say you just have a small starting pot of £200 you can look to make just £2 per trade if you want. Do several of these per day and you can make yourself a nice side income each month.
Want to go even smaller?
Sure, just start with £20 and aim to make just £0.20 per trade. This is a great way to practice with real money.
If you make just 5 successful trades per day that’s enough to more than double your initial investment over the month.
Remember to set your limits though.
Its easy to get carried away in the markets when a trade is going your way. Set your profit margins so that you will exit out once it hits that number.
And the same on the other end, you do not want to get caught out when a stock is going against you. Put in a stop loss of no more than 2% or 3% down the other way.
So, if we are using our £0.20 profit targets, it should be no more than -£0.60 stop loss. This way it will only take you a few trades to get back on track.
Like with any form of trading, whether it be stocks or sports you will incur some losses along the way.
It’s just how you minimise them that is important.
I should also point out that patience is key to this.
Do not trade unless you are confident it is going to go your way. You do not have to trade every minute of every day. This will end up bad for you. Be selective.
There is an old saying from successful trader Bill Lipschutz.
“If most traders would learn to sit on their hands 50 percent of the time, they would make a lot more money”
I cannot emphasise this enough. Do not trade everything. Do not get the fear of missing out. Just in Forex alone $6.6 TRILLION is traded each day.
If you leave it for a few hours or days don’t worry, there will still be opportunities another day.
What Is Liquidity and Why Do You Need It?
In order to make these little trades work daily you need to be trading in markets with a lot of liquidity and volatility. In other words, markets that move a lot.
Think Cryptos like Bitcoin or stocks such as Tesla. These move all the time because of various reasons. One being they are always in the news, go on Twitter on any given day and there will be a Bitcoin story or Elon tweeting some of the latest Tesla developments.
These factors can make the prices swing.
You don’t care which way they go if you are day trading. You either sell or buy depending on the position.
Its very hard to trade daily in a low volume market. Many companies’ stocks hardly move. They may be good for a long-term investment but not really as a day trader on the go.
Go for the big movers. Amazon, Tesla, NASDAQ, Snap, Nio are a few that have the option to day trade.
Obviously, there are tons more!
Conclusion
In summary, day trading can be done from a mobile. You are able to make some decent profits if you take your time, choose your trades wisely and minimise your losses.
If you want to take things one step further then check out our Siphon product which solely targets the UK stock markets which open at 2:30pm each weekday.
This product is superb for making cash just in the first 30 minutes of each trading day. That is it.
So, if you can be free to follow some basic triggers, be around for 30 minutes each weekday when the markets open then you will certainly want to check this out. You can read what customers think of it here!
