becoming a trader

eternalnewbie · #1 01-11-2006, 10:00 AM

I would welcome any advice on possibly becoming a bond trader, as follows:

I am currently a young (mid-20's) attorney working in the securities law field (my particular specialty is turning various forms of streams of payments into bonds). I decided to enter my particular field because I thought that I would be playing a substantive role in the creation of securities, which hasn't been the case. Instead, most of my work is fairly dull administrative type work, and I do it in (on average) 80-hr/wk chunks.

I became interested in proprietary trading after reading the book "fooled by randomness". Basically, I am looking for something where my hours are fairly flexible, where they are reasonable, and where I am judged on my results after a particular time period rather than being micro-managed. I also need something where I can be fairly sure of making around 6 figures a year - this is a function of large school loans and the fact that my wife stays home with our children and of the fact that my law degree is worth around $150K/yr easily and it would be hard to justify giving up more than about $50K of that.

I should also say that in college I went to what was basically an engineering school (although I had a non-technical major) and lived for years with fairly bright engineers. I therefore got pretty used to hanging out with people who thought that conversations about chess openings and string theory were pretty interesting. Given that I work in a field of law in which our clients are so incredibly mathematics-savy(which is why I chose it in the first place) I had hoped to find something similar, but have been disappointed.

So, I know that many professional traders post here, and I'm wondering if my expectations are realistic?

Also, is the fact that I do not have a formal mathematics background disqualifying (although if it helps I did have very substantial coursework in economics in both law school and undergrad).

Paluka · #2 01-11-2006, 02:14 PM

I think you'll have a hard time finding a job where you start off at 100k+ without any connections in the industry. You probably would want to brush up on probality and statistics. That is the most important math to know.
Where did you go to school?

mrbaseball · #3 01-11-2006, 02:30 PM

[ QUOTE ]
where I am judged on my results

[/ QUOTE ]

No problem there [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But nobody's gonna pay you 100K+ without experience or track record. And even then you'll eat what you kill. Experienced traders have no problem making 100K+ but getting to that point is the tricky part. Typically about 1 in 10 make through the first year.

fflaque · #4 01-11-2006, 04:22 PM

its all about who you know...

bigdog23 · #5 01-11-2006, 05:03 PM

BigDog23 used to be a prop trader. If you want flex hours and little supervision you can get it. You just won't get a salary. Have to earn what you get paid and you wont start with alot of trading capital, have to earn that also. Not many people are really good at it though. Though the few who are can do whatever the hell they want and make alot of money.
Im not sure about big firms (goldman sachs types) but im sure there you will start small and not have alot of freedom. So that is not exactly prop trading but you will get some sort of salary.
So what im saying is you cant probably have it both ways. You either risk a big chunk of your salary to trade and possibly earn zero or keep your job and get paid well.
Life's tough.

mwgr5 · #6 01-11-2006, 06:16 PM

I have a similar question I thought I would post here incase in traders could comment. I am a senior in high school and have had a great interest in stocks and finance for the past 5 years. I have been investing in stocks for a while now. I am going to a very good school next year and currently have declared my major as finance. What do most Traders major in or what classes are stressed? I might decide to double major in econ and finance. Would this be an appropriate major for a trader? Thanks.

edtost · #7 01-11-2006, 06:38 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I have a similar question I thought I would post here incase in traders could comment. I am a senior in high school and have had a great interest in stocks and finance for the past 5 years. I have been investing in stocks for a while now. I am going to a very good school next year and currently have declared my major as finance. What do most Traders major in or what classes are stressed? I might decide to double major in econ and finance. Would this be an appropriate major for a trader? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

math or statistics would probably be better doubles than econ.

fflaque · #8 01-11-2006, 07:18 PM

yes only do finance if you wanna be an office jockey doing budgets, all the stuff i learned in my finance major i don't use in trading or hasn't helped me really...... but if you must choose 1) math/stats 2)accounting.....

Paluka · #9 01-11-2006, 10:55 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I have a similar question I thought I would post here incase in traders could comment. I am a senior in high school and have had a great interest in stocks and finance for the past 5 years. I have been investing in stocks for a while now. I am going to a very good school next year and currently have declared my major as finance. What do most Traders major in or what classes are stressed? I might decide to double major in econ and finance. Would this be an appropriate major for a trader? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd suggest mathetmatics/physics/engineering.

Sniper · #10 01-11-2006, 11:45 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I am a senior in high school and have had a great interest in stocks and finance for the past 5 years. I have been investing in stocks for a while now.

[/ QUOTE ]

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