Quote from lasner:
What I mean by a wall street trader is anyone trading for a legitimate firm. I know a kid younger than me getting ready to graduate from Princeton with a financial engineering degree. He just got hired by a hedge fund. Most of the people on this site seem angry and pissed off (like yourself)
Quote from FreeMarkets:
I trade for J.P. Morgan Securities. I'm on the Euro-Bond desk. JPM encourages us to post on message boards catering to illiterate retail day traders. Plus, even though I make a little more than a grand a day in compensation, I'd rather type anonymous messages than dine at nice restaurants and spend time with the choice looking girlfriend that my 340k in comp landed me.
In fact I look upon making it big as the well earned chance to hang out for endless hours sparring with make believe "colleagues" on Elite Trader.
Quote from Anaconda:
Yes, incompetence and idiocy does piss me off. Sometimes I feel like venting so I respond to silly posts like yours. I bet you did not know, but financial engineering is Investment Banking NOT trading. You may just want to learn exactly how the bulge bracket firms break down, in terms of what department does what.
You still have yet to describe what a "legitimate firm" is. Do you mean the top 5 big Wall Street firms? In that case, you need to realize that it is against firm policy to post on message boards and reveal your position. Some do it outside of work hours but they have to stay anonymous. Most forums are firewalled & blocked.
As for traders working at some of the NYC hedge funds, only the overly pompous dummies would actually risk revealing their positions & where they work. There is little to no benefit in doing so. They may & have done so through PMs if it's a potential networking or business opportunity.
I'm still curious as to why do you ask?
Quote from Gabfly1:
So a trader is only "true and legitimate" if someone else deigns it to be so?
Quote from Martinghoul:
Just out of curiosity, what would be my upside in stating that I am a pro (assuming I am one, of course)? What would that achieve? How will it help me?
Conversely, of what value is this information to you?
Quote from m22au:
I agree with Martinghoul.
I don't care if poster X on Elitetrader is:
> a fulltime trader or a fulltime McDonald's employee
> Trades 40 hours a week or 5 hours a week
> Works for an investment bank or a fast food chain or is unemployed
> Trades with an account size of $10 million or $10,000
> Has a PhD from Harvard or didn't complete high school
All I care about is the value that I get from their posts.
I'd rather read a post of value to me that is written by a fulltime McDonald's employee, who didn't complete high school, who trades his $10,000 account when not working at McDonald's, than read a post that is of no value to me, written by a fulltime trader at an investment bank, who trades a multimillion dollar portfolio.
In the same vain, I don't think my educational background, number of hours that I trade per week, employment status, account size should matter to anyone when thinking about the value (or lack thereof) that I provide in my posts.