Thought this would be the right forum to come to for some good advice. I've been playing online poker professionally for about the last 4 years. Profited six figures in each of these years with last 12 months being my best at around 375k. I had a job in the energy industry and quit about 2.5 years ago because i was making more in poker in about 1/5 of the time. Most of the jobs i held were back office type and some trade support but working mostly at a utility so it was not trading like most of you think of. I graduated with a finance degree and my goal was always to be a trader, poker was something i fell into when i saw an opportunity to make money. I love poker, but I've slowly been losing my passion . Passion is the key to success. Since I live very close to NYC, i want to pursue a trading job before it's too late (29 now) but I'm not sure what the best way to do this is. I did not attend a top tier school and my overall GPA was sub-par (2.6 but 3.7 in my finance classes) so big banks are out. I don't know anyone in the industry or have any relevant trading experience so hedge funds are out too. It sounds like one realistic option is a prop trading firm. What I want is to learn the business , work in a team environment and gain strong experience and that would give me an opportunity of a career in trading. Some of the reviews I've read it make it sound like guys are grinding out modest incomes and do not gain a lot of beneficial experience. I realize that the reviews are most likely skewed towards the negative as the unsuccessful ones are most likely to post negative things so I'm not sure what to think. Would a prop firm be a good place for me to start given what I'm looking for? Which ones should i consider applying to? Also, given i can prove most of my results through data bases, and tax returns etc is my experience something that these companies would look at positively given a lot of the skills are transferable to trading? Any input is much appreciated.
Learn the business? The business? This is so similar to all of the "grinding it out" and "it's just like a job" and "1% a day" threads. I don't mean to stomp all over your thread, but mentioning your GPA kind of makes me wonder what you think you're getting into. Good luck, of course.
I don't have a desire to trade a PA at home. I only mentioned my G.P.A because the trading jobs i was looking to apply for had minimum G.P.A requirements.
I heard that online poker is brutal. If you are close to NY (your location is listed as Houston?), you could easily get hired with a capital contribution. In my opinion, trading is 25% technical, and 75% psychological. Goodluck.
Professional poker players transition better to trading because of their understanding of game theory and thinking in probabilities, don't listen to these yahoos. My understanding is that's it's tough to get a prop gig at your age and pedigree but I assume if you are persistent enough you can get someone to hire you. Can you PM me the best site for US poker players now?
Trading and poker have similarities, can't deny it. Poker players have to calculate pot odds and think in terms of pot size/% chance of winning the hand based on their cards. Same thing for good traders.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...0-million-just-wants-guys-to-close-stall.html read the lines at the end, and weep