I am creating a poll just to know what proportion of traders have what kind of educational degrees, and if their degree has something to do with trading success. Your participation is appreciated...
So many Ph.D.'s? I am finding it hard to believe, well perhaps too early to conclude anything yet, the sample is not big enough yet.
Every level of education in this poll has more people responding that they are profitable rather than losing. I don't think you can draw any significant conclusions from this poll, other than the fact that successful traders are more likely to respond to polls than unsuccessful traders.
There's no way you can address the second part of your question with this poll, or perhaps at all. A Ph.D. might be just as successful without it, but he'd have no way of knowing unless he was trading long before he got the doctorate. But even then, the market would have changed by the time the doctorate was awarded. What are probably more germane are those characteristics which apply both to successful trading and to post-graduate education: discipline, drive, intellectual curiosity, perseverance, and so on. The degrees themselves are probably irrelevant. --Db
FWIW, many wall stree firms once in a while will go on a hiring "spree" for world class Chess players and world class Bridge players. They advertise in the back of the monthly magazines for each. I have no idea what advantage an education would provide a pure trader that takes directional bets. Sure, when advanced mathematical formulas are involved, it helps to have some technical mathematical understanding, but for pure trading - just someone willing to work their ass off and spend years going for it. nitro