You can't generate positive alpha without a PhD.
- Thread starter WallStGolfer31
- Start date
I have been trading since 1992.....some of the worst traders I have been on desks with were grad school guys.....Most of them thought they were so smart, but folded like a tent when the pressure of a position going against them sunk in. We used to enjoy when a new "B" school dork came on the desk and then flip out when they couldnt handle the pressure of trading.
research, great. To each his own i guess. if you want to have do reports, presentaions, and work in a concrete jungle..then you are in the right field.
I, on the other hand...prefer sales and trading...which has afforded me the ability to live in tropical paradise with zero debt and a 4 br house in the mountains...at the ripe old age of 31. Today i am going drive my jeep (no doors...no top) to practice my golf swing, sunday i am going to the race track to do a few laps in my race car...and monday I will sit under a palm tree 9 degrees from the equator sipping a cerveza and munching on a mango.
I guess i am one of those losers with a negative alpha you are talking about.
WallStGolfer31
Guest
There's no better example of a couple of fags than these two. LOL, you guys are so fucking blind I find it amusing.
The last PhD that rolled through the shop looked like a monkey trying to hump a football. Couldn't tell her anything. She would actually collect food from the kitchen, walk down five flights of stairs, walk out to the parking lot, and stash it in her car. Her "theories" couldn't even feed her.
i agree...last time i was in NYC..i visited an EM bond desk.
1. the head of the desk was a guy that went to some half ass school in jersey i havent heard of...he cleared $2mm last year.
2. there was a guy that just entered orders that other traders shouted at him...he went to harvard undergrad with a yale MBA.
I went to a state school and only have a bachelors in business.
WallStGolfer31
Guest
There's no such thing as a "good" trader. Some people get very lucky, some lose it all, but most are centered around the mean.
Looks like Mr. Golfer stepped in a pile of doo-doo. Let me give it to ya' straight Mr. PHD. The reasons most people fail at trading is exactly the same reason most people fail at any business venture.
1. Poor research to begin with, they don't really know what it is they're getting into.
2. Lack of, or a poorly written business plan.
3. Under capitalized. In most cases grossly undercapitalized.
4. Too impatient and un-disciplined to practice delayed gratification.
That's it! No mystery, no boogie man, no whatever excuse you want to use.
By the way, I am not a successful trader yet as I have, at one time or another, been guilty of all the above. Perhaps I never will be successful, and that's OK. What I won't do is minimize the skill and dedication of others that actually had a plan and worked it.
Now go back to your books, the real world lesson for today is over.
1. Poor research to begin with, they don't really know what it is they're getting into.
2. Lack of, or a poorly written business plan.
3. Under capitalized. In most cases grossly undercapitalized.
4. Too impatient and un-disciplined to practice delayed gratification.
That's it! No mystery, no boogie man, no whatever excuse you want to use.
By the way, I am not a successful trader yet as I have, at one time or another, been guilty of all the above. Perhaps I never will be successful, and that's OK. What I won't do is minimize the skill and dedication of others that actually had a plan and worked it.
Now go back to your books, the real world lesson for today is over.
This is the dumbest thing I have ever read at ET.
most are centered around the mean in any business. but it is not a matter of luck.
a good trader
a good lawer
a good salesman
a good parent
a good GOLFER
is all based in discipline and hard work...and a special mix of traits.. sometimes you have it and sometimes you dont.
less than 5% of the people that try make it and can make a living at it...probably less. I would say the same thing about being a doctor. what % of people become good doctors of ALLLL the people that say they want to be a doctor in high school? less than 5%.
this business is no different than any other.