A few guys on the desk I trade with are in their mid-30's to 40's and are down to their last straw with trading as the profits have diminished over time. I feel bad for them as all they talk about is where do they go from here? work where? what other opportunities could be out there for an x trader. I'm a bit younger and still live home with parents so could only imagine how tough it is for them.
if they were wise and diversified their holdings with the profits during the good years, then their concerns should be nill ... otherwise, they are in trouble... but it all depends on their background... they should become brokers somewhere IMO...
It's a depressing subject with no good answers. How does daytrader look on a resume? Realistically, a failed trader would have to either go get some training in a field that's still hiring people, or get a job in sales. Maybe the failed trader can start a business of some sort. I don't see many broker jobs when so much trading is electronic. I imagine that would be a tough job to get, unless your job is to cold call to get new accounts. In that case, one can go the financial advisor route. You probably have to pass the Series 7 and one or two other tests. I once knew a very successful HFT trader. His trading ultimately didn't work out, but he kept his job as a professor.
what kind of trading do they do? scalping/rebate type stuff? just wondering, what happened that they were able to make a living in the past and now cannot. it seems any kind of very short term trading is going the way of the dinosaur with HFT and algo influence... anyone doing it should know that and have an exit strategy people probably should trade bigger timeframes, then the execution speed advantage of an algo is not an issue... what does an ex trader do? same thing anyone in any other field does. lots of folks lose careers and have to retrain, others leave willingly because they are not happy, doesnt only happen to traders. so you get in on the ground floor and work your way up somewhere else, or get some kind of training/schooling for another field, or give up on life and work in min wage retail or live on govt assistance. another idea would be to become a trading vendor... most of them are failed or marginally successful traders... but there probably isnt much money in that unless you can really make a name for yourself.
Trading remains vastly profitable with anyone with a good understanding of market structure and money management. Bunch of lamers who never really got it blaming HFT, volume and what not.
stay out of finance nothing interesting unless your top dog, try medicine nursing programs or sonogram programs are fairly quick to get. Decent salary good hours
No shit. My sisters a nurse. Good Hours? Fucking comical. She's also working for an agency which will put her where ever there is an opening. Maybe working 30 hours per week. But even if it was better pay and great hours it's amazing to me how people come up with fall back careers. Yeah, just spend all of that time in nursing school while working a factory job or while your parents support you. Awhile back I heard being a mortgage broker was a good deal.
Way to help the OP. Nice contribution. Seriously. I had to bail from trading for a while in 2005 or so, and became a financial consultant for Ameriprise. Not a planner in the field. But an in house consultant in a cubicle in the headquarters in Minneapolis. A nice base salary that fed the rent, the car and the dog. And they knew I was a daytrader in the past. It's how you present yourself in the interview. But I was already licensed. Maybe that's an issue for these guys?