CFA traders

JonLivingston · Mar 22, 2023

Tradess0610 said:
Just one thing to consider - CFA is much more known and will open much more doors for you.
CMT is a bit more nichy and you are much more limited, various hedge funds, or various trading floors would be interested in you as a candidate.

Also, with the CFA title you are often pardoned first level of various other professional qualifications.

Thanks. But this is the thing: I'm turning 36 this year and the probability I will manage to transition to a new career in finance, whichever role that may be, is low (me thinks).

So I'm doing it for the learning as well as to force myself on a sort of structured learning path which has the added plus of giving me "industry recognition" (and legality as well, should I want to push this further in the real world instead of just trading for myself).

newwurldmn · Mar 22, 2023

JonLivingston said:
Thanks. But this is the thing: I'm turning 36 this year and the probability I will manage to transition to a new career in finance, whichever role that may be, is low (me thinks).

So I'm doing it for the learning as well as to force myself on a sort of structured learning path which has the added plus of giving me "industry recognition" (and legality as well, should I want to push this further in the real world instead of just trading for myself).

a proper education will help with the second part much better than a CFA Like a 1 year night school masters or an executive MBA.

JonLivingston · Mar 22, 2023

newwurldmn said:
a proper education will help with the second part much better than a CFA Like a 1 year night school masters or an executive MBA.

I'll have to check what's available in the UK

newwurldmn · Mar 22, 2023

JonLivingston said:
I'll have to check what's available in the UK

that's why i used the word "proper"

JonLivingston · Mar 22, 2023

newwurldmn said:
that's why i used the word "proper"

Now I'm not sure how to interpret the message lol

newwurldmn · Mar 22, 2023

JonLivingston said:
Now I'm not sure how to interpret the message lol

“Proper” is a proper British term.

JonLivingston · Mar 22, 2023

Now I understand that properly

Tradess0610 · Mar 22, 2023

JonLivingston said:
Thanks. But this is the thing: I'm turning 36 this year and the probability I will manage to transition to a new career in finance, whichever role that may be, is low (me thinks).

So I'm doing it for the learning as well as to force myself on a sort of structured learning path which has the added plus of giving me "industry recognition" (and legality as well, should I want to push this further in the real world instead of just trading for myself).

Well what did you do until now?

And where do you want to reroute your career path?

JonLivingston · Mar 22, 2023

Tradess0610 said:
Well what did you do until now?

And where do you want to reroute your career path?

Write software and write/build/run/maintain the platform/architecture on which software would run. That's the last 15 ish years.

I don't know where I want to reroute my career path. That's another thing.

Becoming a quant/quantitative eng, perhaps? I don't have a PhD, nor am I a math/stats magician.

So far I have automated a lot of stuff like scraping/pulling data here and there. And I have laid out the groundwork to do backtesting of a couple of silly strats written in Python (a programming language). But that's coding again...which yes I enjoy doing but at the same time takes time away from learning about the markets and all things finance - hence my take at the IMC+CFA 1 exams.

I am well aware I am a bit all over the place now.

I even started looking at arbitrage betting the other day! But that's for another thread..

Tradess0610 · Mar 24, 2023

JonLivingston said:
Write software and write/build/run/maintain the platform/architecture on which software would run. That's the last 15 ish years.

I don't know where I want to reroute my career path. That's another thing.

Becoming a quant/quantitative eng, perhaps? I don't have a PhD, nor am I a math/stats magician.

So far I have automated a lot of stuff like scraping/pulling data here and there. And I have laid out the groundwork to do backtesting of a couple of silly strats written in Python (a programming language). But that's coding again...which yes I enjoy doing but at the same time takes time away from learning about the markets and all things finance - hence my take at the IMC+CFA 1 exams.

I am well aware I am a bit all over the place now.

I even started looking at arbitrage betting the other day! But that's for another thread..

Why dont you then look into the CMT - and then try to code the things you learn in the program? It is the #1 professional qualification for technical analysis.

Would make an amazing candidate in the hedge fund business - if that is what you are interested in, of course!

CFA curriculum is more for portfolio managers, as in evaluating stocks, bonds, composing portfolio by applying various weights, how to reduce risk, etc. Like pension funds or mutual funds love the CFA Charterholders.

If you already have an extensive career in coding than maybe go for the CMT and target hedge funds?

Just thinking out loud.

Oh and one more thing. Never let anyone tell you you are too old for anything. When I got my charter, I was older than you are now