I don't want the job tie down. I make 40-50 an hour on most contracts. It is drying up somewhat though and I am not too happy with some of the future outlooks. I have done most of my work in bay area and Chicago. I am moving back out to the bay area soon. My gf has a giant house in Sonoma. California definitely pays a bit more, but Chicago isn't bad either. vr trop, I double majored in management information systems and economics @ FSU (just down the road from GT), I just went the IT route so far, which I have been burnt out on for the last few years... I traveled for about 8 months straight recently, now back in it... I hate it.
I don't know if its a fact or not. During the trading day today, I saw it as a headline running above the crawl on CNBC. Take it for what you will. The television wasn't turned up and because I trade equities, I didn't really care that much whether it was true or false.
As far as making more money on the floor goes, I think it depends on which product(s) that you trade, your strategy and your edge. There were a few successful former NYSE Specialists that came to my firm that were laid off from NYSE Specialist firms and they tried to transition to the screen. None of them are around any more. The floor and the screen are two different worlds that require different skill sets. I've never traded on the floor (I'm 26 years old) and this is my first job out of college. This is my 3rd year in the biz. I would imagine that it is much easier to trade multiple positions electronically as opposed to standing on the floor. Most guys on the floor are daytraders (those who trade for their own account that is) unless they are large position traders that make enough money to justify their overhead expenses. The advantages of trading on the floor are extremely low commissions and maybe you know some market makers that typically handle orders for certain institutions and you're able to spot a pattern in their entry or exit and you can trade that. There probably are other edges to the floor, but I don't know them b/c it is something that I will probably never do. Since you have a friend that knows what he is doing, your best bet would be to follow his shadow and learn everything he knows about trading while you lose money as you learn. The money you lose is the tuition you pay to become a trader. Unfortunately trading tuition is no different than college tuition. Some people can use the degree, some people can't...but every participant pays the price.
funny you say that, that is exactly what he did, the guy who taught him actually took a bit of commission for it for his first (I forget the sum) amount of profit he made.
I was hoping to help you, but I think your posts really got me confused. On the very first post (intro), you said you like travelling. Then now you said you hate it. So do you like it, or do you hate it? And you are naive. You seem to have no idea what it means by "working on the floor" of a stock exchange. Our very own NYSE for example (assuming you are in the USA). And you want to work on the floor of different stock exchanges in the world so you can travel? Do you want to work as a janitor on different exchange floors? Or you want to be a specialist buying/selling stocks on the exchange floor? - they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a seat, let alone having all the training and years of experience it requires. You want to be a day trader, with absolutely no experience. A BS degree... wow! Economic major, wow wow!!! You don't like your current 9-5 hour and you want a change. Wow wow wow!!!!! Who the hell cares! Those are all non-factors to be successful in trading. If you can become successful trading, you can travel to anywhere you want: London, Milan, Singapore, Tokyo. You don't need to try to locate a job in the stock exchanges in those countries. You can continue to trade just the US stock market from virtually anywhere in the world and continue to travel in those places at your leisure.
hate it, and back in it, referring to IT. I am not naive, I am asking the questions I do not know and frankly stated that several times, hence me being on the forum. I thought I was rather humble, however I see you would rather act belligerent on an internet forum to boost your ego or something. I already travel, I am looking for stuff to generate money *while* traveling. I am glad the other posters replying aren't as pompous as you. I did not come here for belittling.
What a wonderful idea. You're just going to pop into the local exchanges where they haven't learned anything in 350 years, and show them how it's done. Great hotels, fancy cars, beautiful women. All yours. (You'll do better going from country-to-country standing on busy street corners holding out a tin cup.) Or, you might want to take a better route and learn about this new thing called the internet (it's international now, you know), and a computer (you plug it into the internet.) If you're real lucky, in about 5-7 years you can master trading something in the U.S. market, then you can start your traveling. It's kind of fun putting on trades in Rome, then leaving for the day on a tour while you wonder how much your net worth is being crushed. Always a relaxing way to see the world.
The problem is that your question is no different than going on a poker forum and saying you want to become a professional poker player so you can make 70k a year, not work 9-5 and travel from casino to casino...but you don't know how to play poker.. That would sound a bit naive to you wouldnt it? Exact same thing with trading, but becoming a professional trader is much harder. Of course what you want is possible, just likes its possible you could become a professional poker player.. You probly want to start with actually learning to play the game first though before making career plans.