like me poker boys like to say.....it's better to be lucky than good and its even better when you can do it consistently. In the end it doesnt matter what you want to call it....
Exactly.....I traded in Chicago on a desk with one of the best traders in the business. His educational background was an average college at best. But the guy's trading abilities were amazing. I went to a very good college and got a bs in Finance.....that being said my degree has had absolutely nothing to do with success in the trading world. I worked on on institutional desk in NYC back in 1994.....I had to train a new kid who just came out of grad school....the poor kid thought he knew everything....his 3rd day in he told me with all of his background he could handle the pressure of working on the desk (bank traders calling in to do huge bond trades...and getting very nasty when their fills were not perfect...you know..buying the bid..selling the offer). Unfortuneatly for him it was a FOMC decision day and things got crazy.....the poor kid picked up the phone when our biggest client called. Guy wanted to buy a huge number of futures. The grad school kid got flustered and sold them instead. Holy crap did the client rip him a new one...I actually felt bad ....the kid actually went out into the hall and cried after all was said and done. Luckily the head trader was able to scratch the trade and actually get the client a better fill. Oh yeah..and the head trader....was a guy who barely finished high school and never went to college...but was a genius on a trading desk.... the moral of my long winded story is....in the world of trading a grad school degree and $1.50 will get you a ride on the subway.
The fact is this: The markets are a lot more random than most traders want to think it is. It is also a lot less random than most academics want to think.
then why exactly are in you a traders website criticizing a subject that you neither like nor care to aspire to? I am thinking your fancy education is not making up for your lack of common sense and social graces. Is it entertaining to you to be insulted? Do you like to insult people that you dont look in they eye? werreyou locked in a closet as a child? do you wear womens underwear? what aspect of your sparking personality thought that your posting would be a good idea?
we know that, that is why you are getting a Ph.d. You would rather WORK for traders and make 1/10th what they do