Excellent advice. Besides, perhaps financial risk management and computer programming could be useful one day.
Hello young man. I was an economics major at Brandeis University, where I was taught by Phds from Harvard and MIT. I have found that there is no college degree that is best for FX. If you want to land a job in FX, then just pick a major that you like. Get a high GPA. Then impress them in the interview. They will then provide you with training. The rest is up to you. 99% will eventually fail anyway. They simply do not possess the characteristic traits to succeed. FX is a tough business. Regards, Deptrai
University is training for the corporate world. Trading is an entrepreneurial undertaking where you must draw on all of you life experience. One thing that nobody will tell you when you finish school is that you are about to enter the hardest stage of you life. Your either over or under qualified for everything. If you want to get into trading (or starting any other business) you need to have a big pool of life experiences to draw on.
---JMHO--- Trading unfolds in a totally free environment. No schools, (even psychology), will teach you how to live in that kind of environment, not that they don't want to, but because they do not know how. You are completely on your own and you need to create your own rules, stick to them and modify them when needed. It is the ultimate challenge. Online Trading is the Ultimate Computer Game. You must pay to play. If you play it well, you get a fat bonus. There are no losses. What sort of degrees do you think one will need to play THAT computer game? NONE. Just play it. There are no losses.
sub0 Welcome to life my friend....the world of ambiguity... I would not torture yourself with what degree will make you a better trader. Just finish up in a major that interests you....whether its Math or History...or Music... Although I was a poor student (overall GPA 1.9)until college with the exception of Math (straight A's thru Calculus level 3 in high school)...upon entering college I majored in Math/ Physics and I can tell you that it has not helped my trading at all. As you become a trader in FX...or what ever intruments you choose to trade...you with quickly find out that success is all about YOU...not your math skills or indicators or edge (although important).... Nope...its all about controlling yourself .... this is a simple game...not EASY ..but simple....mastering yourself is the challenging part. Good luck on your journey!
I thought about your comments when I was reading "Scaling Profits" in the Dec/Jan edition of Trader Monthly.
those that can't..teach - and those that can..trade. i have seen the dumbest fu_cks who have spent a lifetime playing warcraft and video games make very good traders and similarly some very smart people with MBA's from harvard/mit who couldnt tell their di_cks from their asses if their life depended on it and making lousy traders fx is much more sophisticated than equity - your mistakes as an equity trader get amplified in fx...i used to be an fx trader - now an equity trader...and equity is very blue-collared compared to fx. fx is more dependent on trade flows, interest rate related carry trades, bop's, and monetary policies....so it helps having some economics and political science background. But then you get into the more sophisticated instruments like options and derivatives for which you would probably want a more finance or quant background. but to top off this argument...my hiring manager and head of trading at the bank i used to work in was a masters in political philosophy....so who the hell knows...just do it for a yr..if you like it - you will do well...if you dont like..you probably wont. biggest mistake rookie traders make - they think they are on a mission from god when it comes to trading....and more times than none..god strikes them down and oh yes..one final thought..doesnt matter how smart or dumb you are as long as you can think quickly on your feet...thats what seperates the men from the boys...not having the balls to hold a $1 mio losing position only to see it come back and give you a 100k profit and you breathe a sigh of relief and start telling people what a great trader you are and how heavy your balls are....thats not ballsy..its stupid. there are hundreds of thousands of one hit wonders in this business....as i am sure you must have read about...you will never know until you try it out yourself regards