ya I f'ed up when I said floor trader, my bad. Anways, that article on ubs was really interseting, and I do thank ya for the good advice. Very intersting stuff guys.
A hard science degree is a big plus and can be used to differentiate you from other candidates. The institutional traders I've known are in fixed income derivatives (options, swaps, credit derivatives) and all have degrees (usually advanced) in math, physics or some other hard science.
I just wish some of the hedge funds/ IB's were more receptive about my major. Id rather get into trading young, so I can tell if this is something that I would want to do for the rest of my life. Its tough for me to justify going back to college to get a M.F.E when I've never offically worked in the bizz
Honestly, it's not a flame war (um, at least one my end). I'm pointing out what to me is the obvious situation. The OP (that' original poster for unitiated) has a romantic, pie-in-the-sky attitude about trading and the life of traders, and what it even takes to be a successful trader. Whoever the guy is behind the eagle488 screen name is both very knowledgeable about the game, with enough real life experience to actually know what he is talking about .. and nice enough to actually give him the exact information he requires to make an intelligent decision ... and note not once, but twice eagle488 recommended that the OP get his own thing going, even going on to actually say "there are better ways to make a dollar" (hmm, maybe there's a reason for that). eagle488 is trying to give the OP the benefits of his knowledge and experience as is ImamicPH, and yet the OP responds to their posts with well, yeah, but I want things to be my way. That's not a criticism Tuneman, that's an observation, and as eagle488 and prolly ImamichPh have both either explicitly or implicitly stated, you would be far better off learning how to put your own thing together rather spinning your wheels trying to figure out how to please the ravenous sharks in this game. But hey, do what you feel. Regards, Jimmy Jam
You sure about that? http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=78245 MRVL 20 calls did a <i>whopping</i> volume today of 1,403 contracts. Open interest is 23,096. These numbers could hardly be any <i>more</i> ordinary and mundane. Although, to his credit eagle could possibly be a complete noob to options (obviously)- but experienced and knowledgeable about other aspects of trading.
Yeah RM. One bad call (amongst 100's, or if you have a great trading career, 1,000's) don't mean noth'in ! Best Regards Big Man. Later, JJ
"I just wish some of the hedge funds/ IB's were more receptive about my major. Id rather get into trading young, so I can tell if this is something that I would want to do for the rest of my life. Its tough for me to justify going back to college to get a M.F.E when I've never offically worked in the bizz" *Whatever you do, you must do it right now.* You must make a decision and stick with it. Constantly changing paths will not yield long term results. Employers, Wall Street or otherwise, become a lot less receptive as you grow older. Right now your fresh out of college and perfect for training-mentoring programs. A 22 year old has a much better chance at getting into an analyst training program then a 32 year old. This I feel is very unfair because there are many very intelligent and motivated 32 year olds who might thrive as analysts and traders in places like Prudential, Bear Stearns, and all the others. However, these guys still have the negative mind that someone over 30 wont be able to hack it. Bottomline, make your decision now and stick with it. . .
Gates and Dell dropped college because they already had a gig while in college, a bit misleading from painting them as institutional losers who still struck out big.
Tuneman, First of all Welcome to ET. Do not pay much attention to the negative posts in this anonymous Internet Forum. You have just as much of a right, to post here as anyone else. I hope your journey is filled with information and thanks again for posting. To the negative posts, why do you bother opening this thread and spending more time than our thread starter did with negativity? Michael B.
Ok wise guy, I will give you another prime example. The Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Grew up in some rough housing projects of Brooklyn during the 70s and degree from a state university in Michigan in Communications (useless liberal arts degree). At one point in his career with Starbucks, he couldnt pay the salaries for an entire year. He didnt take a salary himself for an entire year and was having trouble paying the bills. In fact, his father in law walked had a man to man talk with him that he should find a new career as the Starbucks thing didnt seem to be working out for him. Another example, Jay Sorensen. Everytime you see one of those coffee sleaves, you will see a patent number on it. He is the inventor. He used to be a realtor and bought some coffee at a gas station on a cold winter day. He went to his car and spilled the coffee all over himself.... Another example, Jeffrey A. Citron, CEO of Vonage and former CEO of DATEK and inventor of the ISLAND. Graduated from a high school in Staten Island, NY (rough area) in 1987. Skipped college and went straight to working for a small time broker. Invented the ISLAND and raised himself up to senior management within 10 years without a college degree and a rough Staten Island background to boot. Another example, Allen Pineda Lindo of the Black Eyed Peas. Grew up in the Philippines. He was the son of a prositute and a street beggar. Once he hit the ground running in the United States, he never stopped running. Another example, Sam Walton. Grew up in the midwest, went to a state college. Military officer. First real job at JCPenneys. His experience from a state university and that job at Penneys really helped him out. He created Walmart. Now just imagine if he had the luck of working at Goldman Sachs or a hedge fund. Then he would have been a dismal failure. Honestly, I see these institutions like Goldman Sachs, MBAs and colleges like Harvard with very limited opportunity. In fact, these are the very same guys that were cheering us on to buy Yahoo and Askjeeves during the tech boom. Daytrading and working at a hedge fund is a fools game. Sit down and figure out an idea. Be creative and aggressive. Dont knock on the door of the hedge funds and Goldman. The idea is to have them knocking at your door. Im looking at a list right now of the worlds most successful men. None of them ever worked at a hedge fund or at a big financial institution.