My sincere congrats to her. But she is definitely defying the odds these days. I've been in the industry for over 12 years now and am seeing the changes.
There's no path from a Financial Analyst to Trader. If you live on the east cost then an MBA can get you a trading job. Probably not a commodity trading job though. If you live in Chicago you do financial math or use your network. CFA doesn't help that much. I have one. Cheapest and most certain method is through networking. That's how I got every trading job I had in Chicago. And the other guys have a point. Saying you are too busy to search for an answer to your question about your life career is an immediate turn off for any potential employer. I certainly wouldn't hire you. And any other potential employer who reads your post would not hire you. It probably also means that you are too busy to do what you need to and make the connections to get a job you want.
Listen to me, and listen to me good, really really good. You have no chance in trading. Forget about it. You got that? If you don't understand me, print my advice, and look at it 10 years later. by the way, what is FA? F*** A**?
I agree. But, I would like to commend the poster for trying to redeem himself/herself. Financial analysts do a lot of ANALing. i.e. screwing people in the ass. (They also bullshit a lot.) Now, he/she wants to be a trader. As a trader, he/she will get ANALed a lot. So, he/she is going to go from the ANALer to an ANALee. Respectable. That said, I wouldn't hire him/her either. Sounds like a freeloader. Probably will steal stuff and screw people. Nonetheless, good luck man/woman.
I'm not sure of how to get a salaried trading job, but just remember that even getting an MBA is not a sure thing, and you could still get stuck with something you don't like. There is a bunch of information that we don't know about you that is necessary to make a good decision. How old are you? Do you have a family? How much does it cost you monthly to live? Can you decrease that amount? Would you be willing to trade your own capital? Have you done paper trading to see if you actually would want to trade full time? Are you fine with the idea that it will probably take years to learn how to trade profitably? If you really want it, I say go for it. I believe anyone can learn to trade if they put the time in, but just be aware of the risks of failure. They are very real, and will you be willing to live with it? This is your life after all. No one ever made something out of himself without taking risk, unless of course you were born with so much money you never had to work (which doesn't apply here).
I am not working as a financial analyst. If you would read my post carefully, it's financial advisor. What i am doing right now is simply opening accounts for my senior broker. I didn't graduate with a finance degree mind you. I had an accounting degree. I worked over a year and a half doing public accounting which i didn't like very much. Then moved on to do something else. I always had a problem with speech--that's perhaps why i didn't become a lawyer--which is why i thought becoming a financial advisor would help get over that hump and learn something about the financial world. But i realized that the job was all about selling which didn't particularly interest me. I have no problem selling but... As far as searching is concern, i have been doing that. I've looked at First New York Securities and Jane Street. But those firms, i believe, require individuals with a certain background say math or mba? Correct me if i am wrong. What i am asking for is what sort of books or materials i should be brushing up on so when i do get an interview, i'd be prepared. As far as time is concerned, i don't have to explain to you how hard i work everyday to try to open accounts for the senior broker, i simply don't have it. The little time i have during the weekend, i read up on world news and politics, political journals, commodity journals. I wish i have the time to read up on trading books particularly william gann and his work. All i am asking is perhaps you good folks out there can point me to the right direction that's all.
You said you were a FA. Maybe in your world that means Financial Advisor, but in the investment banking world it means Financial Analyst. Here are some others: BA - business Analyst MD - Managing Director (not doctor) Unfortunately, with a background in accounting you will not get a trading job through regular channels. It will have to be through knowing someone. I saw someone get a job on the swap desk because his sister was the babysitter for a trader there. Passing over 100s of more qualified eager Middle Office people. Maybe it's possible to get a trading job if you start in the Middle Office. That basically encompasses trade support, risk generation, PnL reconciliation, ad hoc projects, etc. After 4 years or so of networking with the traders from a middle office job it's possible they'd bring you in. Back office is a dead end. But with no serious math background a real trading job straight away just isn't practical. Here are questions I would ask: Math based: Explain the relationship between Stochastic Calculus and PDE's? What are some ways to value a lookback option? How do you use PCA, Kalman filters? Options: If implied vol goes up what happens to price? What is skew, kurtosis? Explain the basic assumptions behind the Black-Scholes equation Prove put/call parity What other option pricing models improve upon Black-Scholes and how? Fixed income: What is a basis swap? If interest rates go up how does the value of a fixed/float swap change? How would you calculate risk on a portfolio of swaps and swaptions? How would you bootstrap and smooth a yield curve? What is a Libor Market Model? How would you model the short rate? There are many flavors of trading jobs and not all of them would require such an in depth understanding of markets. These questions are more geared towards a sell side company market making in derivatives (the best trading job). HFT firms or small trading companies won't have quite as many technical questions but you'd have to be able to program at least reasonably well. Nobody is messing with charts and indicators. That's left to prop trading and retail.
You need to call firms that use institutional daytraders. Talk to them and visit their trading rooms. Get your head into what trading is about. Find out about licenses you will need to get. And know that it's all about developing your own trading strategy, on your own, then they will let you trade their money if you are profitable. 80-90% of daytraders will not make it. That's the number going around. But, it's worth a shot if you like it.