can such a thing exist? Are there any successful traders in the industry that have no college/university education in Finance or Mathmatics/statistics? Over the long run
There are loads a great mate of mine who runs the asian trade desk at a big fund got hi degree international relations plus I know loads of guys from the floor who made a kiling and a lot of them have done well with the transition to screens. There is a lot more to trading than simply having a maths/science degree
That is a great question! Among my hedgefund colleagues, and traders I know at other private firms, there is no pre-requisite to being a successful trader. I now people who pull in a quarter million a month and they have not a single math or finance degree under their belt, nor are they deemed the "sharpest tool" in the shed. It's much like great poker players, they come from all walks of life, and every single one of them is different -Hedgefund Jim
Finally someone on this board with some intellect! Thanks very much for your answer Jim. That gives me hope, because I am currently being sabotaged by friends/family about giving up my persue of becoming a trader based on the fact that I have no schooling in Math / statistics .. I was really starting to feel discouraged! Thanks again
I have a friend who has a friend who has a hedge fund who knows a friend who has another hedged fund and he says it can't be done; need an education. HedgeFund timbo.
add, subtract, multiply, divide...can u do that?...then your fine unless you want to program automated systems.... then you need higher math.
No prerequisite skills are necessary (except a heartbeat) to go out and immediately begin loosing money in the markets! Hooray!
Hey Simon, glad I could be of inspiration. And about myself, I am a private equities fund manager and am largely self-taught. So to respond to Timbo, yes, I do speak for myself, and yes, I do speak for my friends By the way Simon, my suggestion would be to keep your day job / occupation until you can really hammer down a trading system on paper (or other means of simulation) until you are confident that it is a success. Backtest it to oblivion! Then set your money in motion. Think of it as being a professional poker player, none of them just said one day, "I'm gonna go out and make a living playing poker" and do so overnight... No! They kept their day jobs, practiced at night, played friends, then started entering tournaments, then made some money, refined their trading system, then set off 100% toward their career. The stock trader should take a similar cautious path in the beginning, Best of luck friend, -Hedgefund Jim
don't let the haters get you down. my degree was in history and i minored in government. i remember back when i wasn't making shit some of my friends used to get on me but now that i make 20x more than they do a year it's pretty gratifying. granted it has been a long and painful road but the point is you don't need to be a math or stats major to trade. you need a good creative, quick thinking head on your shoulders, an open mind, and a strong work ethic. oh yeah and it doesn't hurt to have that competitive drive to prove everyone else wrong who said you couldn't do it.