Life after day-trading??

T

tfifriday

Hi

I am currently learning to day-trade at a small company, responsible for my own individual account and look forward to a long and prosperous career spread-trading at the firm.

However, at the same time time it's always nice to know what future opportunities are available. Apart from trading my own account are there any??

Are the skills I am currently learning (more psychological rather then fundamental or technical) sought by say: hedge funds, prop houses, investment banks etc?....or do I need to back it up with further financial education? (Currently have a IT degree but no financial elements to it) If so what?

Many people tell me that once a daytrader - always a daytrader. Is this true?? Is this really the pinnacle of my career?? :)

I like the idea of working bigger books for a larger institution at some point but don't know if this is possible through my chosen route.

Any comments and advice will be gratefully received.

Cheers
 
Quote from tfifriday:


....
Many people tell me that once a daytrader - always a daytrader. Is this true?? Is this really the pinnacle of my career?? :)

I like the idea of working bigger books for a larger institution at some point but don't know if this is possible through my chosen route.

....
More...

IT degree means that you are as able a trader as anyone else.

Getting into a big financial house is possible but the process is usually quite political and unless you know the right people it is very difficult.

If you have enough capital and have a talent for trading then you can simply trade your own account. ......

Once you have been out on your own very few firms will be willing to hire you as an employee - in fact the rule usually is that they will only do so if they either bought out your firm and retained you as a key employee or if your venture failed miserably and they think that the experience shook the entrepreneurial spirit out of you - enough that you will stay as a happy employee.
 
The bottomline is that 99% of your hedge-funds are either fundamentally based or have a quant-model that they rely on. As a result, their is very little emphasis on trading, or any "skills" that a prop/day-trader might bring to the party.
 
Life after day-trading??

You seem to be a newbie trader in London. Beware of what they tell you. "Daytrading" is not a career. Not sure what you mean by spread trading. With a degree you have other options. Some of us would rather die than work for someone else and don't have any degree. So we trade.
 
Quote from CalTrader:

IT degree means that you are as able a trader as anyone else.

Getting into a big financial house is possible but the process is usually quite political and unless you know the right people it is very difficult.

If you have enough capital and have a talent for trading then you can simply trade your own account. ......

Once you have been out on your own very few firms will be willing to hire you as an employee - in fact the rule usually is that they will only do so if they either bought out your firm and retained you as a key employee or if your venture failed miserably and they think that the experience shook the entrepreneurial spirit out of you - enough that you will stay as a happy employee.
More...

I think CalTrader has a very good point here that's missed by a lot of people on this board. Independent trading, prop trading,etc. are mainly entrepeneurial activities. Working for a fund or a big ibank are usually employment opportunities.

Sure, employment is more stable(for the most part unless you get laid off,fired,etc.). But the long term payoff might not be as great as some people imagined it to be. Unless you are really high up on Wall St(making 500k-$1M++/yr).

But if you translate that to dollars that's like $2K-$4K/day trading. Doesn't sound too bad. But obviously it's not that easy to do.

But the problem I see is that most newbies will NOT have the skills to get to that level of expertise. Those types of skills require time and experience which most newbies neither have. Nor will they have enough capital to withstand the "learning curve" of trading.

For a "safer" bet, it's to go the traditional employment route for a while. Saved a large sum of money. Do swing trading on the side. Refine your methods until you are making the same or MORE than your current job. Then quit and do daytrading/swing trading a la prop model yourself. The market will always be there...
 
Good advice.

Michael B.

Quote from misctrader:

I think CalTrader has a very good point here that's missed by a lot of people on this board. Independent trading, prop trading,etc. are mainly entrepeneurial activities. Working for a fund or a big ibank are usually employment opportunities.

Sure, employment is more stable(for the most part unless you get laid off,fired,etc.). But the long term payoff might not be as great as some people imagined it to be. Unless you are really high up on Wall St(making 500k-$1M++/yr).

But if you translate that to dollars that's like $2K-$4K/day trading. Doesn't sound too bad. But obviously it's not that easy to do.

But the problem I see is that most newbies will NOT have the skills to get to that level of expertise. Those types of skills require time and experience which most newbies neither have. Nor will they have enough capital to withstand the "learning curve" of trading.

For a "safer" bet, it's to go the traditional employment route for a while. Saved a large sum of money. Do swing trading on the side. Refine your methods until you are making the same or MORE than your current job. Then quit and do daytrading/swing trading a la prop model yourself. The market will always be there...
More...
 
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