Trading at Home: Learn How to Trade from Home (2024)

Trading from home can be an efficient way to generate more income using your flexible timetable. Online brokers provide the option to trade on a number offinancial markets, whether this be forex, shares or treasuries, without requiring the knowledge equivalent to that of a professional trader. The amount of money you gain or lose will depend on your skill set, however, and how many hours a day you commit to your trading strategies.

It is possible to make money trading, but it comes with many risks and extra costs that must be taken into consideration. Consult our section on ‘what else do you need to know’ before opening a potentially risky trade. After all, not all positions will end in profit.

New to the financial markets? Learn how to become a trader.

To see whether you could make money from spread betting or trading CFDs, you could try out our risk-free demo account, which allows you to practise first using £10,000 of virtual funds. Once you feel confident enough to enter the live markets using real funds, you can then switch to a live account.

The forex market is one of the most popular among home traders, due to its high liquidity, volatility and accessibility for information. It's open 24 hours per day during the week, due to the different time zones between continents. This makes it easier for traders who only have a few spare hours per day or per week, as they are not restricted to daily stock market hours, for example.

So, can you make money trading forex at home?

There is no shortage when it comes to currency trading strategies​. Day trading, swing trading and scalping are all popular strategies among in-house and home traders alike. The use of technical indicators also helps to identify trends, price charts and predictions for the future market. This information is easy to find online and is key if you want to make money.

At CMC Markets, we offer 300+ currency pairs, including major, minor and exotic crosses. Major forex pairs such as USD/JPY and GBP/USD have spreads starting from just 0.7 points.

Stocks or shares are also very popular instruments for trading, due to their international availability. It's possible to trade on both established, blue-chip stocks and UK penny shares​.

You don't need a large amount of money to invest in penny stocks, as these often sell for around $1 and can vastly increase in value over a number of years. Therefore, they are popular assets to trade for a living as any stock has the potential to grow, develop and start producing profits.

The table below shows a selection of instruments that we offer, along with their spreads and prices.

Pricing is indicative. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

We offer the choice of two platforms: Next Generation (CMC's platform) and MetaTrader 4, an internationally recognised platform. You can compare the differences between the twoin relation to position sizes, platform tools, installation requirements, executions and stop loss orders, among many other factors.

To see a full list, visit our trading platform comparison page for Next Generation vs MT4.

Mobile applications are perfect for those who do not own a desktop computer or are often on the move throughout the day. Our mobile trading app​​ works with both iOS and Android systems and include all the regular features of our home trading software. You can even choose to receive trading alerts and price alerts that pop-up on your phone when you download the software.

CMC Markets is an execution-only service provider. The material (whether or not it states any opinions) is for general information purposes only, and does not take into account your personal circ*mstances or objectives. Nothing in this material is (or should be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by CMC Markets or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. The material has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research. Although we are not specifically prevented from dealing before providing this material, we do not seek to take advantage of the material prior to its dissemination.