Are there any city traders on here?
Discussion
Bruce Lee said:
Used this page as one hears all the time about traders and brokers that have supercars. Thought I could go direct.
If that is your reason for wanting to get into the business I would give it a wide birth. While there are a good number of successful traders there are many more who make very average money. Its not a quick route to riches.Unless you have a genuine stock picking talent or are a quant guru I would think you are to late. You could, as mentioned above, trade on your own account, we have a client who is a GP but has made hundreds of millions of dollars over the last three decades by being very patient and picking the real growth stories, a mini Warren Buffet if you will.
seeing that this topic has started.. can i ask for a quick bit of advise, i trade in my spare time (although since my brother-in-law told me to join PH this is progressively diminishing) on finspreads.com but dont really know what the hell i am doing and go on the news and general feeling, can anyone suggest a readily avaliable and easily digestable graphical book to buy and read.....
For what its worth, I started my interest in futures trading when I was 29 (so its not too late for trading on your own account). Unless you have an innate gift for picking winning trades, there is a lot for a newcomer to learn (before one can think of trading and risking ones capital). If you have the time, are really open minded and can think out of the box, are studious, have bags of patience, can read loads of books on the markets and related subjects (nb: 99.9% of them are pure rubbish for those aspiring to the highest levels), undertake your own laborious research to explain previous market movements, realise that most of the so called “experts” don’t really have a clue (of the highest levels of understanding), you may be able to "crack" any financial market and learn the totally predictable cycles they follow (minutes, hours, days, months and years ahead).
348CT said:
seeing that this topic has started.. can i ask for a quick bit of advise, i trade in my spare time (although since my brother-in-law told me to join PH this is progressively diminishing) on finspreads.com but dont really know what the hell i am doing and go on the news and general feeling, can anyone suggest a readily avaliable and easily digestable graphical book to buy and read.....
finspreads are a horrible company, i'd advise changing from them - i've had quite a lot of problems with them before and i'm not alone either. Depends what you trade, how often and what you're after (technicals, fundamental analysis). There's been threads on this before and it wouldn't be polite to encroach on this one without permission - but check out "The Naked Trader" for an introduction. If you start a thread i'm sure there will be plenty of helpful people along to help 
to answer the original question i would say at that age there would be little chance of getting into trading unless you could prove exceptional profitability on your PA trading (PA=personal account). Entry requirement for most trading jobs now by the way seems to be mathematical graduate at minimum, with phds etc being common among the graduate intake. Doesnt mean all traders out there are educated to that standard, as in the past it was different. Ultimately though why would any firm let you speculate with their capital with no experience. All traders are still learning as the markets are dynamic - just look at whats going on at the moment - but experience is very important. As the other contributors said, trading with you own money is the easiest it ever has been with internet trading, CFDs, spread betting etc.
One point i would also make is that in some ways if you are trading with your own money you would have a wider scope (though less capital) than trading for a bank. We are all so specialised with the exception of some prop desks, that we end up just trading a small segment of the market in one product whereas trading PA you can do bond futures, equities, FX, commodities and with that wide spectrum there is more opportunity to get in on some good long term trend - think gold or oil etc this year, equities for last few years etc etc. Plus you are a master of your own time, i did 7-7 today... the guys who trade from home tend to drift in and out depending on opportunities, volatility etc.
Good luck with it, its a pretty unique job!
One point i would also make is that in some ways if you are trading with your own money you would have a wider scope (though less capital) than trading for a bank. We are all so specialised with the exception of some prop desks, that we end up just trading a small segment of the market in one product whereas trading PA you can do bond futures, equities, FX, commodities and with that wide spectrum there is more opportunity to get in on some good long term trend - think gold or oil etc this year, equities for last few years etc etc. Plus you are a master of your own time, i did 7-7 today... the guys who trade from home tend to drift in and out depending on opportunities, volatility etc.
Good luck with it, its a pretty unique job!
I'd echo what andy says.
you'd have to pick carefully, there are certain market areas which are dying due to automated trading systems.
and of course you'll be up against the top grads from all over the world who have age and qualifications on their side.
world experience (sadly)counts for nothing, although when interviewing, i do tend to ignoore qualifications and look at what type of person the applicant is.
however that's only because if they manage to get to me, they've already been through a rigorous selection process.
i think the point i'm making is, do it PA. you'll be able to trade a wider variety of markets, and you wont have the desk head (maybe me
) breathing down your neck!
you'd have to pick carefully, there are certain market areas which are dying due to automated trading systems.
and of course you'll be up against the top grads from all over the world who have age and qualifications on their side.
world experience (sadly)counts for nothing, although when interviewing, i do tend to ignoore qualifications and look at what type of person the applicant is.
however that's only because if they manage to get to me, they've already been through a rigorous selection process.
i think the point i'm making is, do it PA. you'll be able to trade a wider variety of markets, and you wont have the desk head (maybe me
) breathing down your neck!Lol, looks about as convincing as biorhythms.
Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that markets follow a complete random walk, in fact I've added a bit over four and a half grand to my account in the last week from a decent sense of what was probably going to happen in the next hour, but long term "perfect" predictions - you must be joking or God.
As an experiment, I freely admit having no basis for this prediction, but I predict a close on the dow of 12250 +/- 150 on the 14th December, what is your perfect prediction for it?
Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that markets follow a complete random walk, in fact I've added a bit over four and a half grand to my account in the last week from a decent sense of what was probably going to happen in the next hour, but long term "perfect" predictions - you must be joking or God.
As an experiment, I freely admit having no basis for this prediction, but I predict a close on the dow of 12250 +/- 150 on the 14th December, what is your perfect prediction for it?
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