How to become a trader in London?

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motivatefeb

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Hi Everybody!
What are the qualifications to become a trader in London?
Actually I have a Bachelors in finance ( from France)? Is Masters in Finance enough or do I need a degree with more mathematics like MSC in financial Mathematics in LSE?
I'm not an native English speaker? Will this be a barrier for my carrier?

Thanks for your reply
 
Wow this seems very similar to the thread the other day from BuddingTrader.

Have you traded your own account before?
 
meanreversion said:
Wow this seems very similar to the thread the other day from BuddingTrader.

Have you traded your own account before?
Click to expand...

Hi,
No, I haven't traded on my account and I haven't yet created thread at Budding Trader. I don't want to risk my own money before gaining any experience.
Isn't it too risky if we hear the stories of buddies who blow their accounts within couple of months while they are novice.:?:
 
No, I wouldn't assume that. I'm more than willing to give my advice, I just need a little more info first.
 
meanreversion said:
No, I wouldn't assume that. I'm more than willing to give my advice, I just need a little more info first.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm French woman of 28 years old! Is being a woman or my age a barrier to my current project? I'm very interested to work hard. Please give any advice other than asking me trade directly on my account.

Thanks for your reply
 
Ok, first of all I doubt whether you have any interest in trading itself (correct me if I'm wrong). Depending on how quantitative you are, you might look to pursue a career in structuring (designing, pricing and risk managing derivatives). I met a lot of French people through my career and they were all very strong on derivatives - I think your education system tends to be more mathematical than ours (or maybe just better?).

The other possibility is in sales.. I presume you are interested in economic matters and so on, if you are also fairly outgoing and like dealing with people, you could try for a sales role.

Your age should not be an issue. Although most people tend to start in trading/sales earlier than this, it is understood that French and Germans spend far longer in further education than Brits do.

You might want to look at grad schemes offered by French banks (Soc Gen, Calyon, Natixis etc) in Paris, and start there with an aim to transferring to London. Your place of education should be able to assist you with this. The fact that you're a 28 year old female does not count against you, but if you wish to move to London your level of English might (but I'm sure you can pick that up fairly quickly).

I think it's more important to think about what exactly you would like to do within the particular organisation.
 
Apply to everything and everyone out there no matter how small or big the firm is. Be it a prop house, bank, hedge fund, brokerage or any other type of organization. If you want to break into the city this is the best way to go about it. As a little side note get your CISI exams done its pretty cheap to do and you can burn through it in a couple of weeks. It wont make a huge difference but most companies require you to do them so it could be the difference between getting an interview and not. Good Luck.
 
meanreversion said:
Ok, first of all I doubt whether you have any interest in trading itself (correct me if I'm wrong). Depending on how quantitative you are, you might look to pursue a career in structuring (designing, pricing and risk managing derivatives). I met a lot of French people through my career and they were all very strong on derivatives - I think your education system tends to be more mathematical than ours (or maybe just better?).

The other possibility is in sales.. I presume you are interested in economic matters and so on, if you are also fairly outgoing and like dealing with people, you could try for a sales role.

Your age should not be an issue. Although most people tend to start in trading/sales earlier than this, it is understood that French and Germans spend far longer in further education than Brits do.

You might want to look at grad schemes offered by French banks (Soc Gen, Calyon, Natixis etc) in Paris, and start there with an aim to transferring to London. Your place of education should be able to assist you with this. The fact that you're a 28 year old female does not count against you, but if you wish to move to London your level of English might (but I'm sure you can pick that up fairly quickly).

I think it's more important to think about what exactly you would like to do within the particular organisation.
Click to expand...

Thanks, for your reply. I rather prefer to be a trader in an IB for 7 or 10 years than trade on my own.
 
pozzyp said:
Apply to everything and everyone out there no matter how small or big the firm is. Be it a prop house, bank, hedge fund, brokerage or any other type of organization. If you want to break into the city this is the best way to go about it. As a little side note get your CISI exams done its pretty cheap to do and you can burn through it in a couple of weeks. It wont make a huge difference but most companies require you to do them so it could be the difference between getting an interview and not. Good Luck.
Click to expand...

Hi, Regarding CISI exams, what units are prelimanary ?
 
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