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Thinking about trading

uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx

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Graduated with a business degree from a top 15 school last may, thinking about becoming an assistant trader. Anyone go a similar route? What did you like and not like about trading? Is there anything you recommend that I brush up on? How much of technical trading will I have to know prior to interview?
 

Hombre Secreto

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Good luck with that.
 

ter1413

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Hombre Secreto

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NVM
 

uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx

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lol. i guess i know what i'm doing at work tmrw.

so far what i've gathered is i need to get ******* familiar with vba for starters right? any recs on how to start learning myself abt ULAs n swaps?
 

RSS

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I thought this was going to be something exciting ... like trading (in) a wife for a new one.
 

Hannerhan

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Originally Posted by uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx
lol. i guess i know what i'm doing at work tmrw.

so far what i've gathered is i need to get ******* familiar with vba for starters right? any recs on how to start learning myself abt ULAs n swaps?


It depends on what you're talking about. There are approximately 4.2 million different types of trading jobs. I had one for years and don't know a thing about VBA. Your focus ought to be on narrowing it down and making connections with the types of companies that might actually want to hire you. But unfortunately you're already way behind the curve and should have made this decision 2.5 years ago.
 

Biggskip

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Originally Posted by Hannerhan
It depends on what you're talking about. There are approximately 4.2 million different types of trading jobs. I had one for years and don't know a thing about VBA. Your focus ought to be on narrowing it down and making connections with the types of companies that might actually want to hire you.

I do agree with this.

Originally Posted by Hannerhan
But unfortunately you're already way behind the curve and should have made this decision 2.5 years ago.

I don't agree with this.

If you are planning to live in NYC or CHI there are a million little trading shops that do quite well, have been in business for years, and hire unexperienced trading assistants every year straight out of school. If you went to a Top 15 school getting into such a company shouldn't be that hard.

Getting there isn't the hard part, deciding whether or not you can handle it is.

Trading, in my experience, is something one should do for about six months. If after six months, you like the lifestyle and you are on your way to making an excellent bonus congratulations you are one of the few. If on the other hand you are struggling to make a net positive P&L and you view each trading day as a 12-hour heart attack (as I did) you should find another job.
 

uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx

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Originally Posted by Hannerhan
Your focus ought to be on narrowing it down and making connections with the types of companies that might actually want to hire you.

so i need to find a shop that i'm interested in working for and start reaching out to them?

Originally Posted by Biggskip
Getting there isn't the hard part, deciding whether or not you can handle it is.

Trading, in my experience, is something one should do for about six months. If after six months... If on the other hand you are struggling to make a net positive P&L and you view each trading day as a 12-hour heart attack (as I did) you should find another job.


what, in your experience, were important lessons that you took away from the experience? was it a reliance on technical analysis, overemphasis on fundamental analysis, not reading the market closely enough, or a combination or derivative of the three?
 

Biggskip

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Originally Posted by uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx
what, in your experience, were important lessons that you took away from the experience? was it a reliance on technical analysis, overemphasis on fundamental analysis, not reading the market closely enough, or a combination or derivative of the three?

The type of trading that I was engaged in was used a model to determine when the recent historical relationship between two products was out of whack. We would then buy one product and sell the other hoping that they came back into whack that we would make money. I guess I would file that under technical analysis. Our trades typically lasted less than 5 minutes in duration.

The part that got to me is that you would put a trade on, and once it's on, you just sit back and pray that it worked out. And that, for me, was a quick way to burn a whole in my stomach.
 

uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx

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thanks for the clarification. been reading wallstreetoasis the entire morning. i have work to do.
 

deepitm

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For what it's worth, I decided I wanted to go into trading mid-way thru my senior year in college. It would have been easier had I decided before I even got to college, but it just meant I had to pay more dues than some.

So did you end up going into trading?
 
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VelvetGreen

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Son,

Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others.

I look at a hundred deals a day. I pick one.

I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.

Ever wonder why fund managers can't beat the S&P 500? 'Cause they're sheep, and sheep get slaughtered.

It's all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation.

We're all just one trade away from humility.
 

deepitm

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Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others.


Yes, even if you break into trading and have success, at the end of the day you will very likely feel bad about your lack of creation. It is not a very fulfilling job.

We're all just one trade away from humility.


While this is true, we're also all just one trade away from early retirement.
 

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