What degree/master/phd would be the best for a trader?

[Clint]

Mark B Fisher, a very great and succesful trader, will tell you that of all the people he trained those who fail the most are those with degrees. The more degrees the higher the failure rate.

No hypothetical discussion, just fact.

It depends on the strategy you want to implement. I am guessing that an automated strategy with a higher frequency of trading would be better for math students / comp sci majors.
If you type in c++ finance jobs into google, you will see that many trading jobs are looking for engineering, math, physics, or comp sci majors, or masters.
I would probably agree that advanced math might not make a difference playing trend line bounces, but for the HFT trading, math or comp sci should be good to have.

 

[i am nobody]

Mark B Fisher, a very great and succesful trader, will tell you that of all the people he trained those who fail the most are those with degrees. The more degrees the higher the failure rate.

No hypothetical discussion, just fact.

This is 100% correct if i look at my personal experience. I have no "phd" but probably beat most of the "phd traders".
Extremely logical thinking, ability to think out of the box, above average knowledgde of maths and prgramming skills are for me the tools you need. And very important: ability to recognize complex and hidden relations between the parameters that are responsible for where the market is going. Behavioral finance.

 

[markettimer]

A PhD involves discovering something new and being skeptical. A master's involves learning in a classroom. Therefore, a PhD is better suited for trading. A PhD is also a much longer program, so you have time to research trade ideas. As for which discipline is best for a trader, I would guess finance.

 

[AdrianHagh81]

PhD EE Checking in,

Can confirm am profitable,
Academia booted me so here I am trading retail with the unwashed masses.

We engineers are more versatile then our pure science counterparts.
However I notice a lot of physics and pure maths grad struggle in trading.

 

[slacker]

F. Scott Fitzgerald was giving a lecture to an auditorium of students that hoped to someday become rich and famous writing the next great novel. Fitzgerald was drunk and started the lecture with, "Raise your hand if you want to become a writer..." Almost everyone in the audience raised his or her hand in reply. He looked at the audience and said, "What the hell are you doing here listening to me? You should be writing, writing, writing."

If you want to become a trader you must trade.

If you want to learn more to help you understand technology and markets that does not require a MS or Phd.

Take advantage of the revolution in education that is taking place on the web. Some Free classes available on the web include:

Yale: Financial Theory with John Geanakoplos -- he left Yale to start a Hedge Fund and then blew up. He is teaching again. The course is taught from his perspective as a hedge fund mgr. He shares his experience of what when right and went wrong with his fund and it is a very good class.
http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-251

Yale: Financial Markets with Robert Shiller (author of Case-Shiller econ metric) boring as hell but he covered the space well I thought. http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-252-11

Columbia: Econ of Money and Banking (starts July 7) might be interesting taking it next week.

For increasing your compusci skills look at the Coursera Specialization that will begin slow and teach Principles of Computers and Algorithmic Thinking using Python.
https://www.coursera.org/specialization/fundamentalscomputing/9?utm_medium=listingPage

Georgia Tech: Computational Investing Part 1 uses python to scan google data to build a diversified portfolio. Very well done. Excellent example source code to play with. More swing trading focus than buy and hold.
https://class.coursera.org/compinvesting1-002

Columbia: Financial Engineering and Risk Management Part 1 and 2 more demanding math wise but worth the effort.
https://www.coursera.org/course/fe1

Best places to look for courses:
https://www.coursera.org/
https://www.edx.org/

Balance your time trading with the money you would use for tuition and go as fast as you can. If you cannot be disciplined getting an education this way; you might not have the discipline to trade which is a solo sport (IMHO).

Just another idea for you to consider....

Good luck.

 

[GloriaBrown]

This is 100% correct if i look at my personal experience. I have no "phd" but probably beat most of the "phd traders".
Extremely logical thinking, ability to think out of the box, above average knowledgde of maths and prgramming skills are for me the tools you need. And very important: ability to recognize complex and hidden relations between the parameters that are responsible for where the market is going. Behavioral finance.

what time frame do you trade?

 

[i am nobody]

what time frame do you trade?

I never give any details about my trading. I can only speak about general rules and experiences.
But even if I answer your question it will be no valuable information. It is part of a complete system, so you need all the information about the complete system before details of how I trade can be valuable.

Compare it with a succesful carbuilder. If he tells you which bolts he uses it will not help you to built cars as succesful as he does. For that you need ALL information about his building techniques.

 

[traderslair]

It depends on the strategy you want to implement. I am guessing that an automated strategy with a higher frequency of trading would be better for math students / comp sci majors.
If you type in c++ finance jobs into google, you will see that many trading jobs are looking for engineering, math, physics, or comp sci majors, or masters.
I would probably agree that advanced math might not make a difference playing trend line bounces, but for the HFT trading, math or comp sci should be good to have.

No it's not. The industry has seen that the last 10 years, the trading strategies that these guys make are very complex and lose the most money.

HFT trading strategies are not complex, they are very straightforward and it's more about low latency code than making something new. That's why you need good experienced programmers. Not 3 year experienced C++ coders, more the types that cost 250k a year that you don't have to hold hands to create the fastest code on the planet. You need the guys that 'have been there, seen that, done that, what do you want, let me code it, here it is, that's the code, it's running, it's debugged, it's perfect and almost unable to improve, what do you want next, i'm outta here, i need something new and challenging, new york is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer, i got this job offer in san fran, i'm outta here, bye'

 

[Scataphagos]

Mark B Fisher, a very great and succesful trader, will tell you that of all the people he trained those who fail the most are those with degrees.

Learn "scientific method"... take a class in logic. Both will help you navigate risk. Non "scientific method" degrees likely of little value in trading.

 

[GloriaBrown]

F. Scott Fitzgerald was giving a lecture to an auditorium of students that hoped to someday become rich and famous writing the next great novel. Fitzgerald was drunk and started the lecture with, "Raise your hand if you want to become a writer..." Almost everyone in the audience raised his or her hand in reply. He looked at the audience and said, "What the hell are you doing here listening to me? You should be writing, writing, writing."

If you want to become a trader you must trade.

If you want to learn more to help you understand technology and markets that does not require a MS or Phd.

Take advantage of the revolution in education that is taking place on the web. Some Free classes available on the web include:

Yale: Financial Theory with John Geanakoplos -- he left Yale to start a Hedge Fund and then blew up. He is teaching again. The course is taught from his perspective as a hedge fund mgr. He shares his experience of what when right and went wrong with his fund and it is a very good class.
http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-251

Yale: Financial Markets with Robert Shiller (author of Case-Shiller econ metric) boring as hell but he covered the space well I thought. http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-252-11

Columbia: Econ of Money and Banking (starts July 7) might be interesting taking it next week.

For increasing your compusci skills look at the Coursera Specialization that will begin slow and teach Principles of Computers and Algorithmic Thinking using Python.
https://www.coursera.org/specialization/fundamentalscomputing/9?utm_medium=listingPage

Georgia Tech: Computational Investing Part 1 uses python to scan google data to build a diversified portfolio. Very well done. Excellent example source code to play with. More swing trading focus than buy and hold.
https://class.coursera.org/compinvesting1-002

Columbia: Financial Engineering and Risk Management Part 1 and 2 more demanding math wise but worth the effort.
https://www.coursera.org/course/fe1

Best places to look for courses:
https://www.coursera.org/
https://www.edx.org/

Balance your time trading with the money you would use for tuition and go as fast as you can. If you cannot be disciplined getting an education this way; you might not have the discipline to trade which is a solo sport (IMHO).

Just another idea for you to consider....

Good luck.

Cool, then what kind of trading system do you believe that would work for an individual? I assume almost no individual can do HFT by himself/herself.