How To Go From Retail To Institutional Trader

[Fundlord]

So I reread your first post. Why do you only have 5k and working at shitty jobs if you are from a well off family?

Haha I dont have 5k I said low 5 figures.

My parents would happily spend $ on education but would NEVER give me money to trade so I have to earn that myself, trading/investing equates 100% to gambling in their eyes.

As people who grew up as poor immigrants and slaved it at high paying professional jobs I can see where they are coming from.

By well off I don't mean rich as in flying private, lavish holidays and hotel suites. I mean high earning professionals, multiple homes, good credit, mortgages.

 

[jinxu]

Then what you are asking for is a shortcut which I'm sorry to say there isn't one. Work hard and get your degree and you will achieve your dream just like your parents. Good luck.

 

[lawrence-lugar]

You need:
1) A higher degree (Master or preferable PhD) in prestigious University (whether those place really produce a top rated trader is another topic of discussion)
2) Internship, but it will be mainly driven from 1 above
3) Relationship - A recommendation from someone in industry due to your track record (Quant analysis with consistent profit) or family relationship, e.g your father know the VP in Goldman or something similar.

I agree, bulls-eye
This 'world' is very simple and competitive and Traditional. There are no other ways or shortcuts on how to land a job in it.
If you're lacking in any of those three things...you can basically forget it.

'You wonder why fund managers can’t beat the S&P 500, cause they’re sheep and sheep get slaughtered. I’ve been in the business since ’69 most of these Harvard MBA types don’t add up to dog shit. Give me guys that are poor, smart, and hungry and no feelings. You win a few you lose a few but you keep on fighting. If you need a friend, get a dog."

 

[rolando87]

If you want to be a great discretionary trader that manages huge sums of money you have to spend years honing your trading skills. If you go off and get a masters/degrees you will not be spending that time honing your trading skills. All the big shots you mentioned are there not because they have fancy degrees but because they are amazing traders that spent decades trading.

If you can trade as well as you say you can then my recomendation is to find a good prop firm as the other have mentioned and show them your track record, with enough convincing there one bound to let you in. Second recomendation is to network and learn how to sell yourself. Spend the time and money building those comnections, but you need to develop a track record to back up your story.

With the leverage they give you you can turn that 5 figures into 6 or 7 within 5 years at prop shop. And youll learn whether you can really survive and thrive as a trader and whether you truly enjoy it. It beats spending years getting a masters to only find out you cant take the heat.

Once you get there figure out how to get to the next level whether its branching off on your own or aiming for a position at a hedge fund.

If you want to be a quant/programmer then you should probably disregard all of the above and go to school.

 

[heavenskrow]

Honestly I'm in a similar position as you op. I graduated from a local state school with a degree in finance. Got me a job doing back office bs for an investment advisory firm selling VA's. I was learning nothing, wasting my time for chump change...so I quit and now I'm just trading everyday, learning everyday.

 

[Fundlord]

If you want to be a great discretionary trader that manages huge sums of money you have to spend years honing your trading skills. If you go off and get a masters/degrees you will not be spending that time honing your trading skills. All the big shots you mentioned are there not because they have fancy degrees but because they are amazing traders that spent decades trading.

If you can trade as well as you say you can then my recomendation is to find a good prop firm as the other have mentioned and show them your track record, with enough convincing there one bound to let you in. Second recomendation is to network and learn how to sell yourself. Spend the time and money building those comnections, but you need to develop a track record to back up your story.

With the leverage they give you you can turn that 5 figures into 6 or 7 within 5 years at prop shop. And youll learn whether you can really survive and thrive as a trader and whether you truly enjoy it. It beats spending years getting a masters to only find out you cant take the heat.

Once you get there figure out how to get to the next level whether its branching off on your own or aiming for a position at a hedge fund.

If you want to be a quant/programmer then you should probably disregard all of the above and go to school.

I plan on honing my trading skills until i am retired so thats no issue. I just want to be positioned best to raise money in the future. There have been many cases where guys spin out of hedge funds and raise 1b before even opening their doors through past connections.

Most of the top hedge funders are well educated with degrees from columbia, yale, harvard, wharton etc it would definately help to have those alumni networks. Plus we all know how important pedigree is on wall street....

 

[Fundlord]

Honestly I'm in a similar position as you op. I graduated from a local state school with a degree in finance. Got me a job doing back office bs for an investment advisory firm selling VA's. I was learning nothing, wasting my time for chump change...so I quit and now I'm just trading everyday, learning everyday.

Did you try to apply to investment banks, hedge funds or even private equity ?

 

[wrbtrader]

I plan on honing my trading skills until i am retired so thats no issue. I just want to be positioned best to raise money in the future. There have been many cases where guys spin out of hedge funds and raise 1b before even opening their doors through past connections.

Most of the top hedge funders are well educated with degrees from columbia, yale, harvard, wharton etc it would definately help to have those alumni networks. Plus we all know how important pedigree is on wall street....

You seem to know this as true. Therefore, your solution has already been given to you.

Get good grades as an undergraduate and then go to graduate school...a good graduate school that has a trading program and offers internships. That will allow you to build your network (connections).

Next, get a job in the industry for awhile (a few years) as an institutional trader or manager to continue building your network so that you can then raise money if that's your ultimate goal to do such.

There really is no shortcuts for you right now and getting an institutional job right now without the credentials is not going to happen. Like I said before, many Universities in Europe with trading programs and internships...it really is the only way to build your network considering you've been implying that you do not have the connections and that you're currently not at one of the top Universities and nor do you have the pedigree.

It's also a well known fact (well documented) that some successful institutional traders save their money and eventually quit their jobs and become a successful professional private trader. They then decide to stay as a professional private trader that trades his/her own account or use their connections built from the past to start their own funds.

Right now, you aren't known and you don't have the connections nor the pedigree. Your only option is to continue your education, get to a decent graduate school program with trading programs and internships to continue towards your goals.

By the way, those graduate schools with trading programs...they have top trading competitions within and internationally. Its a well known fact that the top placers in those trading competitions use it to land top internships...the European Universities graduate programs does very well internationally (often the best).

 

[onemoreshot]

Here's a step, stop wasting time asking stupid questions on the internet.

 

[garachen]

There are legit firms that hire off this board. But you have several red flags that would prevent anyone from reaching out to you.

1) Your handle is a bit presumptuous. You should ditch it.

2) You claim to have 'extensive experience' in some markets. That's a pretty bold claim for someone your age. I've never traded equities or fx and would claim to have no experience or knowledge of those markets but I'd still bet I know 10x more about them then people here who trade them daily. I met an fx trader here who, when I asked him if he had 'last look' on any venue he had no idea what I was talking about.

3) Education/ degree isn't necessary if you can otherwise demonstrate that you can do something difficult and can work hard and that you understand what working hard actually means. Difficult means something on par with winning a Kaggle competition.