No I have never traded. In my final semester I took a class in derivatives (derivation of Black Scholes, monte carlo, the greeks) that is what sparked my interest in trading. As I understand it market makers make their money on the bid ask spread. They try and keep their portfolios delta and gamma neutral. I would imagine some traders write programs that look for arbitrage situations. In my mind trading is something that requires a lot of problem solving and analytical capabilites. I don't want to go back to school any time soon, and engineering isn't really my thing.
This part of your comment suggests that I should disregard your post entirely. But, what the hell..... As I understand it most companies give an IQ type test before the hiring process. A test that asks you to do speed arithmetic, sequences, and some general IQ questions. Why wouldn't they have some unsophisticated rednecks tale their damn test, as they might be smarter then your MIT, Penn,..etc grad. Some pretty stupid people go to Harvard...I have met them. Also, isnt NYU a pretty shitty UG institution?
I'm a newbie trader that started in 1973 as a kid in high school, bought a seat in 1978 and traded wheat as a local. Been doing it ever since but migrated to the screen.
Look for internships at trading institutions and then go back to school to get one of those internship's...then reapply at those original firms that you've mentioned along with applying at a new list of firms you've discovered at the internship. Take any job even if it's being a lacky for some trader that pays you just enough money to keep from starving. My point is that you should take anything related to trading even if you consider it to be a shitty job because you can use it at a later date to move on to greener grass. Mark
I have started applying to summer internships. Any places that you would suggest. I have been applying exclusively to trader trainee/junior trader postions. Is there another type of job posting that I should be looking at?
well, at financial institutions, traders are being replaced with algorithmic trading. And they can put in constant 12 hour days. And a lot of traders were canned after the financial collapse. At home, 99% of traders probably lose some to a lot of their money, including a few thousand hours of time. It is something to be avoided, unless the person for some reason has a rare gift or rare opportunity.