What got you in?

R

rateesquad

Just curious, what got you into trading?
I am more concerned about what you majored/minored in college.
The job you obtained before trading/still have.
Was it the $$$?

For instance, I major in Investments.....LOL thats obvious.
Minors....1)Economics and 2) Statistics

My job title........student/ part-time trader

Yes, it was b/c of the money.


What do you say? What made you the enthusiastic forever profit seeking maniac?
 
Before I got into trading full time, I had always been fascinated by it since I was little.

I remember watching the movie Wall Street when I was like 10 and getting all excited despite I couldnt really understand what was happening...lol

I majored in business administration in 1999 and in 2002 I got my MBA in Financial Services. Nothing really related to trading.

I then took a couple of corporate jobs within the medical division of two major US companies. It was during these experiences that I figured out I had no passion for the corporate world, that I didnt want to become nobody's boss nor did I want to step up the corporate ladder. I felt utterly unmotivated to continue my corporate career and I just quit my job overnight and did some soul searching for a few days.

From then onward the decision was easy simply because trading is the only thing I am passionate about.

And no, the money doesnt matter. I'd still be a trader for a very regular salary. Being passionate about your job improves your quality of life and makes you a happier person.

Trading is like a game for me. It's about being a winner and being challenged everyday. Life cant get boring if you are a trader.
 
Quote from rateesquad:

Just curious, what got you into trading?
I am more concerned about what you majored/minored in college.
The job you obtained before trading/still have.
Was it the $$$?

For instance, I major in Investments.....LOL thats obvious.
Minors....1)Economics and 2) Statistics

My job title........student/ part-time trader

Yes, it was b/c of the money.


What do you say? What made you the enthusiastic forever profit seeking maniac?
More...

It wasnt the $$$$, it was what looked like easy $$$$$.

I remember back in 1999. I saw AMD trading at $18 and in the same day it went to $19 dollars, and i thought with just $10K margin i could make $1000 today and every other day.

If only it was that easy.
 
I am a retired USAF pilot and always loved how the market worked. Little did I know how little I knew about it!

Happy Holidays to all!

-mjh
 
I was a Computing Science major in Uni. I spent ten years in industry, occasionally trying to invest but getting badly screwed each time. I finally got a free seminar with InvestTools and I saw that you actually don't hold for years. That was an eye opener, I'll tell you. After that, it was actually Cramer's radio show that maintained my enthusiasm to continue researching.

I wouldn't recommend either Cramer or InvestTools to anyone, but I can't deny that they were instrumental to getting me started.
 
Quote from mjh:

I am a retired USAF pilot and always loved how the market worked. Little did I know how little I knew about it!

Happy Holidays to all!

-mjh
More...

So I've read before that pilots make the best traders. How true is that?
 
The money got me into it ... I realize that long-term, I need a lot more than a job and a savings account in order to retire.

I think eventually, I could see myself becoming a full-time trader, but only once I establish my trading strategies and am to the point where my trading account turns a profit a couple times higher than my day job.
 
math major in college. did a job totally unrelated to math but high stress and eventually high dollar.

not really me to be miss dragon lady nor was it me to be miss punk out. initially it's kind of a high to be able to tell other people what to do, but it gets old quick. then you just want to have communion, but you can't cuz you're the boss.

wanted something where i could report to no one but myself and feel passionate about it, where i could be the best at what i did but not feel the need to prove myself to anyone else. so this is me. i still do the other thing part-time (sort of have to if i ever want to work in that field again), but being part-time makes it a no big deal. i like the intellectual stimulation of my part-time day job, but i really feel passion for the trading. when i learn a new trick and it works, i'm elated. when i get the glimpse of me as a full-time, profitable trader, i like what i see.

as for being about the money, it is and it isn't. making money is how i keep score. (isn't it that way in any job?) the more i make, the better i feel i'm doing. when i take a loss, i don't like it, but i try to learn from what may have been my mistake.
 
I majored in Finance for Investments / Financial Planning / Accounting and Corporate.

In my senior year after doing some internships and research, I realized that most of what I learned was a waste. Came to find out most brokers are just sales men and haven't got a clue. Learned if going to a broker house that I would basically be a pusher for who knows how many years. (more likely pushing stock on clients that the Institution was losing their tail on)
All and all it just wasn't what it was cracked up to be.

So, freedom of the BS chain and the challenge of going to battle with millions around the world everyday inspired me to stay at home in my office and play it the way I want too.

I felt like I was setting myself up to get inline with the lemmings ( or penguins), So I kept on walking.


JMHO & Experience.
 
I was working at Fannie Mae in DC in 2001-2002 (right after college) and my boss at the time opened up an ameritrade account. She showed me some of her trades and I got interested so I opened one too. I traded everyday for a couple months and then one day, I bought 3000 XMSR when it was like $4 right before a meeting. I went to this boring ass meeting where I just stared at the clock hoping the hour would just go by already. When I got out of the meeting, i sat back down at my desk and saw that my limit sell got hit .40 cents higher. I just made $1200. At that time I was making $600 a week. A lightbulb went off, a few weeks later I criticised the big wig in the office for something dumb he did and basically just quit a few hours later. A few days after that, I went and interviewed at Hold Bros, studied and passed my series 7 and 55 and was hired as a prop trader. Been at it ever since.
 
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