When considering trading as a side hustle (or even as a primary pursuit), we must first understand the reasons behind this pursuit. It all comes down to one simple reality: it promises “freedom from the ties that bind.” We’ve heard that trading is a means to earn money without much work and from anywhere in the world, i.e. free from needing to be in a specific place to earn.

We all like the idea of being financially free, which is why we save and invest our money. We all like the idea of having our financial needs met without having to break a sweat. I think therein lies the first problem when it comes to pursuing trading as a “side hustle”, and that is the myth that trading allows you to make money without having to work. The idea that you make money passively without any effort on your part is a trap that trips a lot of people into losing all they came with.

I’m not saying you can’t succeed at trading. I just want to show you how hard it is. Success in trading takes a lot more work than meets the eye. There’s a substantial amount of learning involved, and it also takes many years to achieve that success. One of the things that makes success in trading hard is that it looks deceptively easy. The principles that can deliver success have been repeated many times over the decades, and they all sound easy to do.

The thing people think is the hardest is arguably the least hard: Market analysis and finding a tradable strategy. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Psychology is the bulk of the iceberg because much of trading happens in the mind. And that takes a lot of time and hard work to get right.

If you’re considering trading to replace a job or to make easy money, trading is not the right path. You might find more enjoyment at a casino.

Traders share a peculiar characteristic: they’re fiercely competitive, but only with themselves. In practice this means that they see every outcome as an opportunity to learn, and they’re brutally honest about both their failures and successes. This also means that they’re hungry for knowledge. They don’t sleep easy with unanswered questions. And they’re seldom satisfied with just one answer.

Njabulo Nsibande is a founder of Village Trader, and Sakha Ingcebo investment club. His interest in trading began in 2016, alongside a rash of Instagram ‘fx traders’…

Find him on Twitter: @njabulo_goje.