I am a 16 year old high school student who has been investing since I was 11 and trading since I was 14. I currently trade crude oil and emini s&p's and manage a $10,000 account which I have had consistant profits in. I am not saying any of this to brag but to mearly tell you what I have done in the past and the passion I have for trading. I have recently been thinking about college and am pretty set on going to iowa state. I have to admit I am no genius. I have an average 3.0 GPA in high school. As you know when you are trading you dont have a lot of time to do homework. I really would like to trade for a prop firm or hedge fund after high school and college. My question is will going to a state school with a degree in finance (like every other joe out there) affect my chances of getting a job at a good prop shop or private fund? Even if I have good market feel and can trade well? Also what is the deal with guys getting math degrees and quant degrees for trading. Don't people realize that basing you trades off of numbers and automatic programs is useless. Nobody will ever be able to master the markets, they move the way they want to. You need market feel and instinct. Thanks in Advance for the advice.
If YOU wanted to make a point and feel superior to someone you should have ran spellcheck and learned how to use punctuation properly. "U sound like a 14yr old grl on myspace" And as for advice* for the poster. Finance degrees are mostly the norm so you might have a problem distinguishing yourself from the thousands of other recent graduates with BA's in Finance that you will be competing with in the job market. From what I've heard (I'm still in school myself) is that quant guys are in high demand. If you're like me and hate complicated mathematical equations then I would suggest looking into a double major in Econ. And I don't think most prop shops require a degree.
Since you're only 16, I won't make fun of you for this remark. I will politely say, however, that you don't know what you're talking about.
You will find that most of today's market wizards are accidents. Ordinary people finding themselves in the right place at the right time with the right skill sets. Success leaves clues. Don't ask anyone on et for advice. If you are smart enough to be trading at 16 you can figure it out on your own. Pre internet, I had to go order books at the bookstore, read em and leave em, to find the clues. They didn't even have a Starbuck's in the bookstore back then. Good luck in Ames. Iowa City is much nicer.
Screw what these a##holes say on this forum. Half of these losers are 45 year old trader wannabes who live with their parents. That's awesome that you are 16 and trading. The sad scenario is that you have to go to a top 15 school with a finance degree for top firms to look at you. Iowa state won't cut it. Develop a track record while in college. If you have 10k to trade with that's a good start. Show them that you have a talent at trading. I'd recommend getting the C.F.A. after college this will give you more credibility. Don't get an M.B.A Also kick ass while at Iowa state get a 4.0 in finance!! Good luck!!
Goto college, get a degree to fall back on, hook up with as many woman as possible, party hard, and treat trading as your job while your in school! you'll have the best time of your life in college....the markets will ALWAYS be around but you'll only be young once....who knows, maybe you can be the next Tim Sykes and make a million from your dorm room; if not and you blow up an account, big deal you'll have a degree to fall back on.