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What Do Pro Traders Say When Asked About Job?

Although the popularity of the retail Forex trading is growing rapidly, a lot of people do not know what it actually is, and of those who do, many have wrong ideas about the industry. This creates a lot of misunderstanding between traders and their friends and family.

Explaining trading to family members can be difficult

The issue with getting the approval from a person who is close to you is twofold. On the one hand, there is a positive side to be gained from such backing — emotional and psychological aid can be very powerful in FX trading. Coping with losses can be very stressful if there is no one to talk to and rely on. Having a full support from someone who cares about you and you care about is of a great help in such risky endeavor as financial trading.

On the other hand, there are situations where family's support should turn into an outright intervention — when trading turns into uncontrolled gambling with clear signs of addiction. There is nothing wrong in gambling per se of course. However, there is a clear line between recreational gambling and gambling that makes a "trader" go broke or even completely ruins his or her life. In that case, the family's interference is not only justified but is simply necessary. I hope that most of this blog's readers do not and will not require such kind of assistance. Yet, it is a good idea not to hide your Forex losses from your family, just in case.

While things are usually relatively simple with your relatives and close friends, speaking about your Forex trading job with people you've just met is for the most part rather hard.

This guide will be interesting to anyone who is getting into foreign exchange trading or financial trading in general because it is strongly connected to one's social life and to how traders are perceived by the general public.

Forex trader explains what he does for a living A Forex trader is misunderstood when he says what he does

The chances are that if you are an experienced Forex trader, you have already answered this question countless times. Unfortunately, for some unfathomable reason, the trading profession gets some negative reputation from non-trading people. Like a fellow trader has put it, there is a lot of "judgment that comes from preconceived or stereotypical views". Another one said that "people are generally prejudicial towards 'day-trading'". And the opinion that trading has a "pretty bad connotation" was also mentioned. People might even go as far as think you are some sort of fraudster.

But even if the knowledge of your profession doesn't sway people towards inferior opinion about you, they will likely start asking lots of questions: about current and future currency rates, which currency they should hold their money in, how much do you earn, how they should invest money, and so on. And some people can be very intrusive about it.

In addition to attracting lots of questions from normal people, being open about your trading career tends to attract wrong type of persons too. All sorts of scammers, swindlers, and panhandlers will start seeing you as their appropriate target.

Worse than that, in some countries, Forex trading is prohibited. In that case, it might be a matter of personal safety to come up with a plausible yet untruthful answer when someone gets curious about how you earn your daily bread.

At first glance, the issue at hand might seem like a laughable matter that mostly concerns unsociable introverts, but in reality, it is much deeper. The roots of the problem run into the real social stigma attached to both financial trading in general and Forex in particular.

Professional traders often say that they are online entrepreneurs or programmers because they dislike explaining what Forex is and that it isn't a scam (Forex trading still has this reputation among populace). When speaking to someone who surely knows what Forex trading is, traders usually just say the truth, expecting a normal reaction.

Is it even a worth worrying about? Do people even care? Did you experience being looked down upon when people found out you trade currencies? Do you have some life story to share related to how non-Forex folks reacted when they first learned about your career choice? You can use the community forum to discuss these questions.

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