Then my suggestion is pick very very carefully there's more snake-oil and useless crap in academia than at trader's vending expo.
Should I go to college before becoming a trader?
- Thread starter Player01
- Start date
A basic college degree takes about four years and you'll likely have to work your way from the bottom up to attain a high-paying job, and you may find out that you're unable to accomplish that last part.
Learning about trading, researching ideas, developing a trading plan, practicing under simulated market conditions, messing around until you have something viable, practicing more under simulated conditions, trading live, screwing up royally, practicing again in sim, screwing up some more, and attempting to master the psychology of working in an ambiguous and uncertain environment, takes about four years and you may find out that you're unable to accomplish that last part.
The order in which you attempt these things probably doesn't matter all that much.
The thing about trading is that you can find out pretty quickly whether it will be a long arduous struggle or whether you're likely to get on the fast track to success (consistent profitability in less than a year). As Surf knows, the TopStep combine is an ideal approximation of the reality of trading for a living. If you think you have what it takes, give that try; I believe you can even do a practice combine at no cost.
Learning about trading, researching ideas, developing a trading plan, practicing under simulated market conditions, messing around until you have something viable, practicing more under simulated conditions, trading live, screwing up royally, practicing again in sim, screwing up some more, and attempting to master the psychology of working in an ambiguous and uncertain environment, takes about four years and you may find out that you're unable to accomplish that last part.
The order in which you attempt these things probably doesn't matter all that much.
The thing about trading is that you can find out pretty quickly whether it will be a long arduous struggle or whether you're likely to get on the fast track to success (consistent profitability in less than a year). As Surf knows, the TopStep combine is an ideal approximation of the reality of trading for a living. If you think you have what it takes, give that try; I believe you can even do a practice combine at no cost.
These threads always are filled with unreasonable comparisions and stories.
This is the first test to understanding if you will be a good trader:
What's the risk/reward of forgoing college for a career in trading with just a highschool education?
This becomes pretty clear to someone if they are honest with themselves. And if it's not, then they will probably fail as a trader.
This is the first test to understanding if you will be a good trader:
What's the risk/reward of forgoing college for a career in trading with just a highschool education?
This becomes pretty clear to someone if they are honest with themselves. And if it's not, then they will probably fail as a trader.
I love tests! Here's another one:
An aspiring day trader spends 6 months researching price action and comes up with a set of rules that results in a 60% win rate using a risk:reward ratio that ends up 50/50 on average when accounting for commission and slippage.
The trader takes the plan to the market and has four losing trades in a row, which s/he can't remember ever happening during the 6 months of research.
What should the trader do at this point and why?
An aspiring day trader spends 6 months researching price action and comes up with a set of rules that results in a 60% win rate using a risk:reward ratio that ends up 50/50 on average when accounting for commission and slippage.
The trader takes the plan to the market and has four losing trades in a row, which s/he can't remember ever happening during the 6 months of research.
What should the trader do at this point and why?
Question whether or not that he is "special" enough to justify foregoing a hedge on his life for a speculative out of the money call option.
The career of trading and the act of trading are very different things. And sadly, someone who doesn't get a more formal education won't even know what he doesn't know.
Be extremely careful how you act on the advice you read in these forums as 99.9% of it is rubbish. Also bear in mind that many subjects available for study for a degree are also rubbish in the harsh competitiveness of the real world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20958928
