I'm certainly not knocking the CFA program, I definitely learned a whole bunch, and I will say it was challenging. But in my own personal experience, I haven't yet received any dividends from it (and I can't stress enough that I don't use any of the networking resources available from the local society). I also don't see how it could be useful for intraday trading. That said, I don't trade anymore, so how much is my opinion worth?
Ya agreed--if you want to day trade--CFA in completely useless---oh wait there was a short technical analysis section in stats for level 1 --so maybe not completely useless LOL But if you are looking to have a back up if trading does not work out and you want to raise your profile and resume by having a recognized designation---then for sure its worth it-- better than just having a BA or something-- but like some people have said it does not guarantee anything--I am sure there are lots of people with CFA only making 40-50 K a year. Personality, drive, and how you apply the knowledge makes a world of difference...but that is true of any job or degree. If you love finance and investment analysis then why not take it? If your only reason for taking it is for trading on the side or day trading---then prob not worth the effort.
If you would like to make yourself 'hirable' for a job in finance, become a top C++ high level programmer. Not the cheap 3 year college IT programmer, but become the top, with a lot of real world heavy programming low latency experience. That's the only thing they are hiring. Why wouldn't they. Computers follow trading plans, people do not. I guess they didn't told you that when you went to college hugh? Good luck.
Might be better off pursuing a big4 firm job as an accountant; they will pay for your CPA, and you can move side ways into finance after a year or 2.
You're about 20 years too late for that career path. Most of the CME & NYMEX floors are gone, the rest are nearly dead, and the NYSE floor is mostly just for show (half-museum, half-TV studio). Good documentary about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCcxr-fyF4Q