What formal education does one need?
- Thread starter c.chugani
- Start date
That sounds fine. But vague.
Which instrument & market ?
Which trading platform?
Where can I learn to develop a strategy tailored to my own temperament?
Its tought to admit, and as much as I have already dedicated time to the markets, I have no clue about any the answers to any of the above questions.
a lot of money to lose and a lot of time 2-3 years minimum for futures...
If trading were easy, everybody would be doing it.
Jobs as an institutional trader are extremely competitive, and the working conditions and culture of greed are deplorable. The only benefit is the potential to make a bundle of money and retire early. You can do that and still not know how to trade for yourself.
Trading for yourself has a lot of parallels with farming in the old days. It was a feast or famine existance, and you didn't have anybody to rely on, or answer to, but yourself. The outcome often depended on factors out of your control (i.e. the weather). This way of making a living has unfortunately fallen into disfavor.
That is exactly what a fellow I know did. He got a two year degree in Economics, then got a job on the floor of the CME running orders.
He now runs a Hedge Fund in Chicago, he didn't do investment banking, but he does quite well for himself.
There are so many options when getting started with trading, wall street, etc. Explore them all, and find what works best for you. Imo there isn't one exact 'right' way to do it.
I highly second that. One of the most valuable books I have read. I have read it several times and get something new from it each time.
Literacy and numeracy are all you really need. Not even that if you plan to become a floor trader 
Other useful skills: logic, epistemology, statistics, economics.
If you plan on going to work for a trading/investment/finance company first (the most common route, and probably easiest to eventually turn into trading success), then it's more important to go to a top university and have strong extra-curricular activities on your CV than exactly which degree you do. Although some kind of quantitative degree e.g. maths/physics, or one in finance/economics, will probably give you an edge over other applicants, and obscure arts degrees will count against you.
But playing the CV/interview game is entirely different to succeeding at trading. 95% of Goldman employees who went to its prop desk ended up blowing out, and they had top educations just to be able to step in the door. Trading success (pure directional trading) has almost nothing to do with normal measures of educational achievement. It's more about a certain mentality and personality, along with high intelligence - those things can't easily be learned or taught.
Other useful skills: logic, epistemology, statistics, economics.
If you plan on going to work for a trading/investment/finance company first (the most common route, and probably easiest to eventually turn into trading success), then it's more important to go to a top university and have strong extra-curricular activities on your CV than exactly which degree you do. Although some kind of quantitative degree e.g. maths/physics, or one in finance/economics, will probably give you an edge over other applicants, and obscure arts degrees will count against you.
But playing the CV/interview game is entirely different to succeeding at trading. 95% of Goldman employees who went to its prop desk ended up blowing out, and they had top educations just to be able to step in the door. Trading success (pure directional trading) has almost nothing to do with normal measures of educational achievement. It's more about a certain mentality and personality, along with high intelligence - those things can't easily be learned or taught.