About to graduate, what should I do?

DiceAreCast said:
Ha, of course. Your risk of ruin also increases exponentially. What's the point. Anyone can design such strategy. Place all your account balance on a single otm call or put. Wow.
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I am suggesting that if the average person buys leveraged index ETFs, he should use an indicator (moving average) to get him out in bear market situations. I am not suggesting buy and hold without a system in place. If you bought and held a hypothetical 3X QQQ ETF in March 2000 (which did not exist back then) it would have taken you 10 years just to get back to break even (basically ruin). But with some type of trend exit, you could have sidestepped the meltdown and gotten back in when the upward trend resumed and from then to now your annualized return would be very competitive. I still think this is a viable wealth building tool for the average investor.

Anyways, I hijacked the OP's thread. I will not add to this thread further.
 
Amatrue said:
I know this site isn't exactly the right place to ask for career prospects, but I know many users here come from finance related backgrounds and I would like your opinion on how I can develop my career in trading.

I am about to graduate with an economics degree with an average GPA. My resume is not fancy so my chances of getting into big banks are slim. I am very interested in developing my background and knowledge in trading and want hands on experience in trading for financial firms in my future career. However, I don't know what roles I should take on or what companies I should target in order to get to where I want.

The majority of trader or research analyst roles at smaller firms that I looked at require a couple years of experience and do not welcome fresh graduates. The only role I am hopeful of getting accepted is the role of dealer at brokerage firms, but I am afraid it may be a dead end job. So I am wondering what qualifications/educations I should receive or what roles I can apply now to break into a trading related role in the future.

I also read that my first position out of college is looked heavily upon by recruiters, so I don't want to make the mistake of taking up a role that would affect my chances of making it as a trader. Which is why I was debating on taking a year, after graduating, to make my application more competitive by developing my technical skillset such as learning python to develop and backtest strategies.

Is this a good choice to make? What other options do I have? If you are/were in a trader related discipline how'd you make it there?

Thank you for your time.
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Are you looking to Be a trader or to Support the traders in a firm?
 
Ok,reread your initial post and have some thoughts,as I was in your shoes when I graduated.

If trading is your passion,get ANY job you can at an IB/Hedge with direct ties to trading. If you are good and hungry,you can get very wealthy being in charge of a back office job such as stock loan..If you are really good and really hungry,people will notice.You may get a shot on a desk..

Either way,trading will always be there for you.The trade your own capital door is always open.Most important,make ALOT of money and save it. Devote as much time as possible to the art of trading.Learn to program,read up,backtest and trade,even it's just SIM due to possible restrictions from your job..

Get a good back office job. Become an MD by 30-35..

Then you can call the shots

Get on it and good luck
 
curiousGeorge8 said:
A relevant question to ask is whether trading is a sunset industry. All the evidence seem to indicate it is. To learn something for a long time with a low successful rate is a huge career risk.
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Of course it is. But if one can trade as per a proper risk management plan, it is worth giving a shot.
Trading is for those who can afford to lose money. If anyone is having a hard time making both ends meet, they should stay away from trading. It is very very RISKY!
 
It doesn’t matter from which background you are from, if you are not doing well enough in the market, you can’t make money, nor can you prevent losses.
 
kellycobb said:
It doesn’t matter from which background you are from, if you are not doing well enough in the market, you can’t make money, nor can you prevent losses.
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True! Behind every successful trader, there is years of hard work and experience. If it was easier, I would have started making money through trading since the day I started to trade with saxobank. The beginning was the toughest as it was only losses that I was making. But with time, I learnt to prevent losses and it opened doors to making profits. I also trade with turnkeyforex but use the same strategies because I can’t afford to lose unnecessarily anymore.
 
If you are taking a year off and not going for any practical knowledge or a job, you might create a good number of questions against yourself from a recruiter. If you have some interest in trading, learn in depth about it and give it a try. Maybe it opens up some good opportunities for you.
 
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