Brent's Journey to success Journal

Today I picked up 3 books from the library for reading over my break. Currently I am rereading reminiscences of a stock operator for the 3rd or 4th time.

I picked up Stock Market Wizards by Jack Schwager, this will also be a reread for me, i own the first two books. I also picked up Trader Vic- Methods of a wall street master, and The logical trader by Mark Fisher. I am interesting in trying to get an internship at MBFCC this summer so it would be to my benefit having read his book.
 
Im done the first half of The Logical Trader by Mark Fisher, system seems to make sense and i like the associated ideas. So i took some steps to look more into the internship offered by MBF, a student at my school interned there so i contacted him on the experience, he advised that it is NOT a prop trading internship rather your working more for the clearing firm itself but you spend a lot of time with floor traders and the screen traders.

Without starting too much of a fuss here about what i should or should not do I would like anyones input on prop trading firms that offer summer internships. DO NOT contact me about putting money down that is not what i want to do. I want to WATCH and LEARN. Any help on helping me compile a list of possible firms to send my resume to would be greatly appreciated, again NON deposit prop trading firms for an internship I am more interested in learning and assisting the team or individual traders than i am doing things on my own at this stage of the game.
 
So in the past month I compiled a list of firms that i wanted to intern at during this summer and kept up with some of the industry contacts that I have. As of today I have applied to around 10 firms and have yet to hear back from any of them. This is dissappointing but not a total loss. I am confident I will find something. I have around another 10 firms i would like to apply to but these are the much more competitive firms in particular the large IB's where i honestly feel i do not stand much of a chance when compared on paper to the IVYs.

Will post an update if i hear anything back or anything developes.

Over break I finished up with Mark Fisher's The Logical trader, the idea behind the significance of the openening range, pivot points, and the Macro ACD appealed to me the most.

I also read Trader Vic over break. I feel like i gained a lot more of a broad understanding after reading this book. In particular I found that the blend of using technical analysis, price action, fundamental analysis, economics, psychology, and statistics in a robust manner one of the most balanced approaches to trading I have ever read.
 
still no word from any of the firms ive applied to but I do have a couple more leads. Ive realized this business is a CONTACT sport, the more people you CONTACT the better chance you have.
 
Not much to update in the past couple weeks. I did find a very interesting internship opportunity that I stand a good shot of getting. It is still going to be competitive. No interview yet, will post most on that if it develops.

I started paper trading again this week for my finance club. Stocks are so much slower than options or futures, my volatility has been very low so far. Right now I am working on building some core positions and getting a better feel for particular stocks. I am going to be using 50% position/swing trades and 50% day trades. I am using a hybrid for my picks. Fundamentals/economics/statistics/psychology for the macro view and long/short bias, and technicals analysis with heavy emphasis on support and resistance and trend following for my timing of trades.

Today turned out great with BF, the german chemical giant they reported earnings and beat the street. I have been and still am bullish on chemical stocks.
 
Had initial phone screen today with one of the firms I am looking at. Was a little suprised that it was actually an interview rather than just setting up an interview as i originally expected.

Was asked to answer a couple questions which I feel confident in my answers. I feel i answered the questions to the best of my ability. I consider myself a good communicator but today it really hit me kinda like being starstruck. I realized the importance of saying everything right and the impact everything I said has. Its very intimidating. Despite the nerves shattered in the pit of my stomach I feel I did the best of my ability. I made sure to add a little personality to the end once the interview was over.
 
It is a dog and pony show at times but just get past the initial screen and then you can get your foot in the door.

Thing is you have to be in NYC or Chicago, nothing in our town here for trading/investing internships really.
 
from Life over at 21 thread;
Quote from makosgu:

Unfortunately, this is true. I went to Columbia also (Engineering). My brother went to NYU, right down the road. At Columbia, we found internships to be plenty. HOWEVER, alot of that had to do with our location and our Career Services. Our Career Services was extremely pro-active. It also helped to have many of wall streets major ibanks down the road. You name it, me and my friends usually spent summers covering the range of banks and reporting back what we like. Goldman was usually the top of the stack but they brainwashed their interns and had you spending your entire summer in the cube farm. There wasn't excuse you could find to have a life at GS. If you wanted to go to the gym, take the elevator down to the 10th floor (if i remember correctly). Great food, take the elevetor up... In retrospect, it was all quite obnoxious cuz even then, applicants we're complaining that there 3.5+ GPAs weren't high enough or that they weren't ethnic enough??? All sorts of excuses. The point is, the field is competitive. However, being proactive, somebody will be bite. How about any of the big 3 consulting firms? Or Management Consulting (ie. McKenzie)??? They usually have far more slots to fill...

Anyway, what's your background? High level, I may be able to set something up with a buddy of mine. They're always looking for interns and we may too. Ironically, I hated people like me cuz the reality was that I was going to work with them. Nowadays, I just care about hardworking, a good noggin, and great personality... [/B]
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