Well, there's a lesson there. Screw what anybody else wants for you. But what is trading to you? Trying to outsmart the market maker? Options? Commodity hedging with futures? Boxing with bots? Exploiting an obscure arbitrage opportunity? Designing opaque derivatives to fuck trusting clients?
Well, there's programming and there's programming. I never met a math major who could design an algorithm to represent a new idea.
Trading to me is making deals when you feel you have a positive expectation value. However, it also involves risk management since you don't want to put all your money into one company. I prefer to trade equities, because valuing where a company will go intrigues me more than currencies or commodities. Perhaps that's just influence from all those years watching TV.
The advice I am trying to give you may be the most important of all, its called a REALITY CHECK. Let's see: 1) you went to a third tier school yet apparently have some math aptitude? Sounds like under-achievement to me. There is only one acceptable answer for me (not going to tell you what that is) for not going to a better school. Remember, if your resume somehow slipped through the cracks and you were granted an interview that would be the first thing I ask. At least the ivy league punks show some record of achievement. 2) You have no clue about trading nor have you done any research about. First thing you've done is come here and ask everyone else to tell you what to do. again-- tells me your lazy. 3) Doesn't sound like you are willing to do what it takes to succeed. I need a salary, I need someone to invest in me. Frankly, you should be paying everyone here for doing your homework for you. 4) You don't feel like learning to program. Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? I could go on and on but hopefully you get the idea. This is not a flame, this is life. You wouldn't last 2 seconds in my interview and I would probably fire the person who granted you that interview for wasting my time. The last guy we hired straight out of school (no previous jobs) came from a top 10 school, showed us 3 years of unsuccessful trading track record, is working for peanuts, now lives in a 2 bedroom apt with 6 guys here in NYC (they sleep in shifts) and apparently bribed another guy here who introduced him to the firm-- (smart guy got 2 finders fees LOL). He does so much bitch work from getting lunches, dry cleaning, making reservations, compiling music, writing programs and otherwise making our lives easier that we just may let him trade some live money soon. Do you see the difference between this guy and yourself? My guess is probably not.
The American Dream. I'll not express my opinion that value is meaningless in today's market. What trading time frame appeals to you? Scalping for seconds? Riding the waves for hours? Finding the daily direction, if any, and running with it? Swing trading for days? Investing for months? As an aside, you will note that we REAL traders only post during slow markets.
You have described Plan B to a T. I have to do all those things for my working wife because she says "All YOU do is TRADE!"
1. Uconn is ranked like 58th in the country and it's a top public school. Being a CT resident it was only $20k a year. So should I pay an extra $100k to take the same classes? I didn't even consider that at the time. 2. Coming on here says that I want to learn and hopefully learn quickly. If there are forums filled with traders and I want to be a trader why should I guess what to do when I can ask people with more knowledge than me? 3. Believe it or not, not everybody does everything for money. Some people actually want to help others. Many of them got help themselves and see it as giving back to where they came from. Not everybody is born a know-it-all like you. 4. There are different types of traders. Some program more than others. I said I'd be willing to learn how to program, but I don't want to be essentially a professional programmer. You sound like a jealous, bitter old man. You bash my generation, because you did not have the ability to learn as quickly as we do. We live in the day where it's much easier to access information.
I went to the 25th ranked university (of all private and public) and I KNOW I'm worthless. You need to talk to really smart people more. I advise first researching the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Well, I can't compete with the computers making microsecond trades so scalping seems like it would be difficult. I would like to do a combo of different techniques including both day and swing trading
Burn these conversations into your memory for when you arrive there. You will not regret not making enough money. You will definitely regret not getting laid often enough.