Can a Graduate Degree from Oxford U help me get a salaried position in trading?

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Quote from trader99:




Freedom,

Well, congrats on your acceptance to Oxford. Oxford has a good math program. Perhaps, I can speak a little bit about your situation. I went to a top Ivy League school here in the US. I have worked on both sell-side and buy side institutions during portfolio management, trading, and quant research.

And let me tell you this SURPRISE. When I tried my hands at prop trading(almost 1.5yrs now), I thought all of this stuff that I learned in school, the complex modelling skills I've gained during my previous quant trading jobs,etc. would somehow help me in prop trading.

The truth is NONE of actually helped! At least not directly. Perhaps indirectly. I had to go through all the ups& downs and psychological turmoil of trading. Now, I admit I'm beyond my previous newbie skills. And perhaps my education did play a small role in helping me recognize or discovered certain "edge"(positive expected value strategy). But it's the psychology that helped me applied it correctly and maximize the edge. And no one can teach you psychology.

Education is good if you need to go to established institution that looks favorably on that. But if you want to trade for yourself then none of it really matters. Because markets are collective crowd behaviour and the crowd is usually irrational and erratic and crazy at times. hehe.

Psychology, emotional make-up/intelligence , and perseverance probably counts more and help you in the long run in terms of trading success.

However, education can be a good foundation if you want to become a pure systems trader or worked for a quant trading desk/hedge fund. Most of what Wall St does is NOT "trading" per se. It's market making. The public is confused. The pure traders who do well are very rare and difficult skill to obtain and can not be found in anywhere except through deep introspection.

So, again congrats on your further education. But the market isn't so simple. But the thing is most established places will pay you while you learn. So, that's a good stress reliever while you are a beginner. So, go for that.

good luck.

trader99
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Thanks for the reply. I think I will learn discipline in graduate school, the quality which I believe to be the most important to the sucessful trader. I have always known that trading is a very personal pursuit; it really is the trader versus the market. Something inside of me tells me that I was meant to be a trader just as something inside of me told me to apply to Oxford. Hopefully things will work out and I will have my cake and eat it too (i.e. graduate from Oxford and succeed as a trader)

Thanks again for your positive response. I appreciate it
 
Quote from Nordic:



LOL!! Oh come on now you Oxford bound self made guy. At least this forum kept you off the Internet porn sites. Now your wrist is sore from typing all day.
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It's funny, even though I wasted a lot of time on here today,I STILL found time to visit my regular porn sites....


I still regret the wasted time on this forum. I could have been studying up on logic or something as preparation for the fall (as my academic advisor suggested) or finalizing my loans.

Do I regret the time I took to look over the porn sites? not really cause at least I wasnt' getting fucked every which way as badly as I was on here. You guys really gave me a bad headache today. Congratulations. I hope you accomplished what you wished...
 
Quote from NihabaAshi:



Dude,

Stop with the Elite Trader or Elite Member stuff.

What's up with that?

More importantly, why are you going around at an annonymous discussion forum...

assuming you know my academic background or the academic background of others here?

I know for fact there are several members here with post graduate degrees and a few PHd's...

two of which I personally know...

and I've never seen either of them even mention their academic backgrounds here at EliteTrader...

even amongst a thread full of personal attacks when they were posting in those threads.

Your still young and hopefully you'll learn some useful social skills that doesn't undermind your academic background or underminds anything else that puts yourself in front of others...

P.S. I've competed in sports against several from Oxford and I don't remember any of them with the character you currently display...

Also...it was a good trading day and you seem to miss out with that many posts...

maybe Oxford will teach you better time management skills.

In other words...go to bed or out to dinner with friends and relax...

that's were I'm heading...bye.

NihabaAshi
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you failed to respond to my assertion that what you stated on this forum was DEAD WRONG. the replies which you claim to be the first and second responses to my post are in fact NOT first and second responses. My original post posed a question. I am sure if members of your team with PhDs had similar questions, they would pose them and therefore reveal their educational backgrounds. I don't claim to be the typical oxford guy so I am glad my personality doesn't match with the typical Oxfordian. You should really admit that you were wrong in assuming that I called elite trader members assholes for no reason.
 
"I could have been studying up on logic or something as preparation for the fall (as my academic advisor suggested)"

I suspect your advisor will not be the only one after today. Sorry, couldn't resist.
 
Quote from vanilla2:

if you encourage this much animosity everywhere you go, i feel really sorry for you. and don't give us this BS about only responding in defense, if you really wanted constructive advice you'd know not to lash out at anyone for any reason on your thread. that's not kissing ass, it just decency and common sense when you're asking for something. maybe there's a course on emotional intelligence at oxford.

face it, you came here to brag.
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I lash out at anyone who lashes out on me. bottom line!! I don't need to brag, I know the extent of my abilities (do you think Oxford is the only school I got into?).

Peace
 
You basically had two part questions.

1) Would going to Oxford help you get a salaried position in trading?
Answer: No. It may look nice on the resume, but like I stated before, both the degree and institution have very little to do with trading. You assume that "getting discipline" will help you as a trader. That is true, but trust me, college imposed discipline versus the ice cold water needed to run through your veins when the market goes limit down/up against your position is vastly different. Greed and fear are what kills trader. Plop +$1000 in your account and play the market. Forget commission costs and hammer away with 100 shares (or an e-mini futures contract) and see if you can actually build a Reward-to-Risk Ratio greater than 2. Now, you may actually be able to make contacts at college with people who might point you to the right firm and introduce you to the right people, but that's different.

2) What firms offer salaried positions as a trader?
Answer: There are some, but not many. And most require experience of some sort. Actual firm names, I believe, has been addressed by others including Don Bright.

College will not prepare you to trade. Going to Oxford will not prepare you to trade. Getting a degree will not prepare you to trade.

ONLY TRADING WILL PREPARE YOU TO TRADE. You already had a start on this with your four month stint. Only with winning and losing, wrestling with your inner demons, grappling with fear as a position goes against you or greed when it goes with you, THAT will prepare you. Not college, not Oxford, not studying mathematics or economics.

Only by following the market daily will you be prepared. Keep a theoretical/paper account if you do not have the money to trade. A hiring manager might even look at it, though it won't matter much in all likelyhood as to his decision.
 
Quote from bozwood:

"I could have been studying up on logic or something as preparation for the fall (as my academic advisor suggested)"

I suspect your advisor will not be the only one after today. Sorry, couldn't resist.
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Okay then. Hope you enjoyed that...lol
 
Quote from JT47319:

You basically had two part questions.

1) Would going to Oxford help you get a salaried position in trading?
Answer: No. It may look nice on the resume, but like I stated before, both the degree and institution have very little to do with trading. You assume that "getting discipline" will help you as a trader. That is true, but trust me, college imposed discipline versus the ice cold water needed to run through your veins when the market goes limit down/up against your position is vastly different. Greed and fear are what kills trader. Plop +$1000 in your account and play the market. Forget commission costs and hammer away with 100 shares (or an e-mini futures contract) and see if you can actually build a Reward-to-Risk Ratio greater than 2. Now, you may actually be able to make contacts at college with people who might point you to the right firm and introduce you to the right people, but that's different.

2) What firms offer salaried positions as a trader?
Answer: There are some, but not many. And most require experience of some sort. Actual firm names, I believe, has been addressed by others including Don Bright.

College will not prepare you to trade. Going to Oxford will not prepare you to trade. Getting a degree will not prepare you to trade.

ONLY TRADING WILL PREPARE YOU TO TRADE. You already had a start on this with your four month stint. Only with winning and losing, wrestling with your inner demons, grappling with fear as position goes against you or greed when it goes with you, that will prepare you.

Only by following the market daily will you be prepared. Keep a theoretical/paper account if you do not have the money to trade. A hiring manager might even look at it, though it won't matter much in all likelyhood as to his decision.
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Thanks. I appreciate that
 
Quote from FreedomPhighter:





A lot of the people on here are assholes. Why does it piss people off so much that I posted my question to every forum on elitetrader.com? I thought that each forum was distinct since I am new on here. I don't like paying for starbucks or fetching sandwiches from Panera as an apprentice trader. I hope there are other options for me...
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Suggest you change your major to anthropology.
 
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