Thinking of getting into trading!! Help!!

Hi

I have just finished University and got a 2:1 and live in London. I have always been facinated in Trading, and would really like to give it a shot as I believe I could be good at it.

The problem is that I dont really know where to start!! I reckon it might be best to try to get into a junior trading scheme at an Arcade like Refco, but do I stand a chance of getting my foot in the door??!! And if not, what is the best way to go about it?

I have recently applied to a few junior trader schemes and sent my CV to a few Arcades but will not hold my breath, as I know how many people they must get applying to these roles.

I am a bit of a entrepreneur and have made good money from buying and selling various things on online auctions, which has helped to fund me through Uni, so I believe I have the right prerequisites.

I have had a good read through the site but still unsure, how to start!

Guys any advice you could give me would be great as I need to decide what to do, as otherwise it might be best for me to continue with a career in computing

Thanks:cheesy:
Lee

P.S what is the best book to teach me the basics of trading?

Lee,

I am also a fresh graduate who has a 2:2 in degree and desparately want to get into trading as a career. I applied for Refco for their junior post now await for their reply. what other stuff have you applied for?

Will

Lee and Will,

What subjects have you graduated in?

Do you have an maths or programming background?

Why dont you consider trading for your own account?

FWIW my advice is to look at banks or funds, rather, it won't be easy to get in, but it'll be a better career path IMO, as you've a better chance of learning something useful along the way. A red brick Uni would help, and a 1st would have been better, but maybe show signs of commitment by getting some preliminary certificates under your belt, and do tons of reading. Just get in any way you can, then look for internal job changes. Or you could seek a trading related IT job if you're any good, C++ is always in demand as long as you have good maths and some decent financial knowledge.

GL !

rog1111

hamertime said:

Hi

I have just finished University and got a 2:1 and live in London. I have always been facinated in Trading, and would really like to give it a shot as I believe I could be good at it.

The problem is that I dont really know where to start!! I reckon it might be best to try to get into a junior trading scheme at an Arcade like Refco, but do I stand a chance of getting my foot in the door??!! And if not, what is the best way to go about it?

I have recently applied to a few junior trader schemes and sent my CV to a few Arcades but will not hold my breath, as I know how many people they must get applying to these roles.

I am a bit of a entrepreneur and have made good money from buying and selling various things on online auctions, which has helped to fund me through Uni, so I believe I have the right prerequisites.

I have had a good read through the site but still unsure, how to start!

Guys any advice you could give me would be great as I need to decide what to do, as otherwise it might be best for me to continue with a career in computing

Thanks:cheesy:
Lee

P.S what is the best book to teach me the basics of trading?

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hamertime said:

I have had a good read through the site but still unsure, how to start!

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hello....
stick some money in an account and buy low sell high. then starts your lessons, it will likely be longer than a uni ed. and could cost a lot more. No matter how you get initial advice self found out or corporate etc youll begin to be presented with lessons when you put trades on.These lessons you may get are feelings, yours. about you..

best books, ? well take a few months and look through this website again, and again etc..to assemble starting routes (basic information) . fascination in trading wont be enough to keep you in it... just imagine your at uni and the teacher says, trading 6 months to research and present me with a skant 10,000 word paper covering concepts, theory,methods, positives,negatives and anything else you care to throw in. Then is perhaps a better time to put money in an account if you choose to, then. again your lessons will BEGIN.

just my take on things.

hamertime said:

Hi

I have just finished University and got a 2:1 and live in London. I have always been facinated in Trading, and would really like to give it a shot as I believe I could be good at it.

The problem is that I dont really know where to start!! I reckon it might be best to try to get into a junior trading scheme at an Arcade like Refco, but do I stand a chance of getting my foot in the door??!! And if not, what is the best way to go about it?

I have recently applied to a few junior trader schemes and sent my CV to a few Arcades but will not hold my breath, as I know how many people they must get applying to these roles.

I am a bit of a entrepreneur and have made good money from buying and selling various things on online auctions, which has helped to fund me through Uni, so I believe I have the right prerequisites.

I have had a good read through the site but still unsure, how to start!

Guys any advice you could give me would be great as I need to decide what to do, as otherwise it might be best for me to continue with a career in computing

Thanks:cheesy:
Lee

P.S what is the best book to teach me the basics of trading?

Click to expand...

Hamertime,
The first thing you should do is to read Aleph Sigma Chi's post on trading. Move very slowly and cautiously in making your decisions on chosing an online brokerage firm. There is no rush so I would advise you to check out several before making a decision. Put what monies you can afford to lose into a trading account and give some serious thought as to what type of trading you want to do whether it be plain old stocks, options, or futures. Since you really don't know much about any of this it might be better to stay away from the more exotic things such as futures an options on them or stocks. Developing a discipline, strategy, style, call it what you want, takes time and alot of hard work. Some would advise doing some paper trading in advance of real money to get a feel for it and to work out some basic strategys. That would be good but it lacks the force of the emotional side of losing your own real monies and making the related decisions of entry an exit points with a position. There is a great book by William O'Neil, actually he has several books on the subject, describing what he calls the CANSLIM method of trading. This method is very good in learning what to look for in fundamentally sound companies that you might want to invest in at some time. He is the founder of the investing related newpaper called, "Investors Business Daily". I'm not sure if you have it available to you in England but most likely do. I'm not a proponent of his style, which if you read his first book explains how he goes about trading, or his disciplines (strategys) but for someone new to all of this it will provide a decent point to learn how to find fundamentally sound companies which is important to know. Everyone will have a different idea or concept about how to do this. Listening is cheap and won't cost you anything. Being able to sort through what is good and worthwhile is what separates the chaff from the wheat. Be a good listener and remain openminded to everything as you never know when someone will lay something on you that will fit your needs. Read an absorb everything that you can about this and perhaps in another 10/20 years you will be able to say that you know what you are doing and talking about. It's a slow process that needs to pyramid off a sound base. Good luck and remember to move slowly and cautiously. The basics that become ingrained into your style now will be harder to reshape later on down the road as you evolve into whatever discipline suits your personality.

RUDEBOY said:

2:1, is rubbish. Go back to SCHOOL. You'll never make it. What are you thinking about? PLEASE, give the the markets a rest, for the sake of mankind, go away!

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What a rather strange and in many ways contradictory reply

“2:1 is rubbish” Now there's a well reasoned argument. The fact that this candidate got a 2:1 tells us that quite a lot. He's in the top 30% or so of his peer group and at least indicates that he has a certain level of intelligence a capacity to undertake research, work unsupervised, get himself out of bed in the morning. You don't even know details of the university or in which subject the 2:1 was obtained. A 2:1 is basket weaving from scum town polytechnic of course perhaps isn't the intellectual equivalent as a 2:1 in mathematics from Oxford. You know nothing of the level of intelligence of his peer group, or the circumstances in which his degree was obtained. Maybe he worked his ass off, maybe he spent very second smoking crack in a whore house. Regardless of the university or circumstances “rubbish” it certainly isn't. It may well be of no advantage to a career in trading, it may be a disadvantage, but I'd resist making comment until I knew the facts.

“You'll never make it”. This may be your opinion, god I wish I had a pound for every time Id heard that one. Its only a generalisation but I often find that its those who judge by their own standards who tend to perpetrate this sort of nonsense.

“Please give the markets a rest” ? WHY what possible advantage is there to you in this member “giving the markets a rest”, if he'll never make it as you imply Id suspect you'd want to welcome him and countless others who you consider to be losers to take the opposite side of your trades !

“go away” if you dislike this members postings so much put him on ignore.

Hi RUDEBOY

I would genuinely be interested in hearing your opinion. There's certainly no need for anyone to be banned

If you need to scream, shout, swear, or whatever then PM me your opinion, hey, if its possible and I think it would be useful I'll even edit it for public consumption, and with your permission we can post it

Im not trying to wind you up, you occassionally express opinions I happen to agree with, but I was suprised by your attitude to this particular post

regards
mick

RUDEBOY said:

Regarding your original post........what's the problem? You seem to be full of answers. Can you not work things out, or does that take a 2:1?

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To be honest I've never really had much difficulty working things out. That's generally the easy part, the hard bit is asking the right questions to begin with.

I really do hate to say this but in my experience the ability to define and ask the right question is generally what differentiates the 2:1's from the firsts

Of course there are many who have this ability who have little or no formal education so a 2:1 or any other classification of degree of course isnt necessary.

What a complex way to communicate and we seem to be getting off topic !

RUDEBOY said:

You got off your topic from the start......didn't you? What do you want? What can the markets offer anybody? 2:1's don't matter. What does matter is you. Can you become part of the market? I don't know. Just become part of the market in the right way. 2:1, you are obviously not stupid.

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Hi Rudeboy

I dont really want anything, it would be nice if the weather brightened up a bit tommorrow but apart from that Im quite content.

The reason I posted originally was that you didn't really provide any positive feedback to the questions asked by the original poster. Your advice to “give up” is of course equally as valid as anyone else who may be providing what at first glance could be perceived to be a more positive response.

It may even turn out that your suggestion to “give up” could in fact be the correct advice, but its not helpful without presenting the reasoning behind your thinking.

I have to agree 100% with your statement “what does matter is you” and that pretty much sums it up. In the final analysis any advice offered is to anyone through these boards regarding trading will be of immense value to some and practically useless to others (possibly even damaging to some), but that shouldn't stop us from providing answers to basic questions such as “can anyone recommend a good book on trading”. If we don't at least try to make some efforts to assist others I cant see the point of forums such as this. I think the questions asked in the original post are valid, after all these questions where posted in a forum dedicated to general career advice.

If someone gives me an opinion (or a view) I generally like to look a little deeper behind the reasoning. You advised that the original poster should give up, I was interested to know why, and Im still not 100% sure why you feel this way. Im even more confused now your advising he should become part of the market !

By the way do you really live in Warrington, as a youth I used to drink occasionally in the red lion in town, its a small world

regards
mick

lordy lord, when I see a question like the title of this thread you look at the post..... now i reason that uni ed's must be hmmm, correction guessing that this person is a young adult 21/23 ? with a uni degree..... I'm very surprised at the question for the age and level of study a person has aquired.... maybe its the shear volume of information available which has paralysed the poster being caught in headlights with it all as to know where to absolutely take first steps to find info for himself in a way that will benefit him most. its either that or a wind up......... uni degree's come on guys......
more effort required.... ? understatement and big...

Thanks for those of you who have given positive advice, its really appreciated and sorry to those of you who have got a bit upset about my post for some strange reason. I thought a forum was to ask professionals for some advice, I guess I must have been mistaken.

For those of you who are interested my degree is in computer science so I am not an idiot and am now working as a software developer, which is going quite well. I am still interested in trading so will be buying a few books and reading up as much as possible as I will need time to get to know what I am doing properly. I have also opened up my own account so will start to have a play around and see how it goes, I am also thinking about moving into a trading related IT job as ‘rog111’suggested as that could be a good option too.

Thanks again

RUDEBOY said:

Hold on.........You are asking for advice.......then........questioning it! OH! I MUST BE GOING MAD!

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I dont recall asking for advice, if you could point out in which post I asked for advice this might perhaps help me understand where the confusion arose, and may help us communicate better in the future.

Im also glad to hear hammertime got a job offer, hope it works out for you

regards
mick

good stuff hamertime, thats the step youve been looking for....

best wishes to you , enjoy the trip.

Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas.... get psychology right and you could trade by flipping a coin and make money

hamertime said:

Thanks for those of you who have given positive advice, its really appreciated and sorry to those of you who have got a bit upset about my post for some strange reason. I thought a forum was to ask professionals for some advice, I guess I must have been mistaken.

For those of you who are interested my degree is in computer science so I am not an idiot and am now working as a software developer, which is going quite well. I am still interested in trading so will be buying a few books and reading up as much as possible as I will need time to get to know what I am doing properly. I have also opened up my own account so will start to have a play around and see how it goes, I am also thinking about moving into a trading related IT job as ‘rog111’suggested as that could be a good option too.

Thanks again

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You're going to get negative feedback throughout life so get used to it. Some of the negative responses will really be positive in that they will only disagree with what you're trying to illustrate and will be accompanied with factual evidence backing up that persons position. Those will be from legitimate people trying to carry on a legitimate dialogue. The othe type will be useful in the bathroom or barn to help in clean up after yourself or the horses. I'm sure you'll be able to distinguish between the two.
You weren't mistaken in any sense by asking for help from more experienced traders. 99% of them will be more than willing to offer advice and help in your finding and developing your techniques in all of this. Don't give up with the questioning and trying to learn an understand by asking questions or for advice. It's all part of it and will eventually lead to your becoming a good trader. The other guys will still be working with the mops and brooms and hating everything about themselves and their mediocre lives.

Fader said:

Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas.... get psychology right and you could trade by flipping a coin and make money

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Fader, you obviously want to emphasise psychology, you are however, not suggesting to them to trade by flipping coins, because you dont do that either