CFA qualifications?

[samuelhogg]

Cheers, won't let it beat me.

I was referring to MTA Chartered Market Technician exam rather than the CFA. Would of failed that too though.

At least it is Friday.

 

[jb323]

Pick yourself up mate.. 2nd time lucky!

 

[songcon]

Could somebody some up the difference's / benefits between CMT / CFA?

The CFA relies on fundamental basis to project the future of a company. They rely
heavily on audited financial statement, cash flow statement, book value,various
accounting ratios, the status of the economy overall . . . for their opinion, ratings
on a company.

They study the causes that will generate the change in the price of a stock, while
the market technicians that are trained to study the effect (the price changes of the
stock through the charts).

Use the chart of RNIN as an example, through the chart the technician sees that
using the crossing of the 20 & 50 SMA (Simple moving average) can be an effective
tool to get in and out of RNIN for profits. Buy when the red 20SMA crosses the 50SMA
to go above the later, and sell when the direction of the move reverse.

To further study the recent pattern of RNIN, the technician finds that the stock price
did not change much from the high of Oct 09 to the high of Dec. 09 but the MACD
chart shows December high is a lower high. There is a diversion in the direction of
the chart and the change is about to happen.

The chart of WRLS below is fairly strong through the curve of MACD, the technician
is advised to wait for the crossing of the 20-50, wait for a little time after the closing
and a little distance above the magic 50 number before making the purchase.

I really enjoy studying the CMT program since I can study the chart of LZB and see why
it went up about 10 folds in the last 12 month through the simple 20-50 magic number
instead of relating it to the statement of cash flow, accounts receivable, sales increase
etc . . .

 

[SanMiguel]

It was ok. You could probably pass it in a month if you got your head down.
Structure of IMC is changing soon, see http://www.trade2win.com/boards/general-career-advice/25222-imc-qualification.html

If you are going to do CFA level 1 you can get an exemption from 1 of the IMC exams so you actually only have to pass 1 IMC exam, which is FSA regs.

https://secure.cfauk.org/qualifications/imc-exam.html
The Investment Management Certificate (IMC) is the most widely recognised qualification of its kind in the UK.
The profession's benchmark entry-level qualification, the IMC is used by most leading investment firms to demonstrate competence for regulatory purposes. The IMC offers an excellent foundation to careers in the investment profession. Many IMC holders continue their professional development by studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program.

So, not working in finance, the route would be:

IMC
then CFA?

Isn't it expensive without being sponsored?
How much can you learn without doing the exams? You talk about divergences in the last post, which is information obtainable online.
...or is it a case of one of those the exams are there to prove your knowledge to potential employers...

I'm still looking for a backup plan as a career change into finance but don't want to go into any "sales" type financial jobs of which brokerage is really sales.

 

[masandes]

personally having done CFA and IMC (in that order), I wouldnt bother doing IMC. Did it over 2 weeks of work and it doesnt compare with CFA really. Did really as I moved from South Africa to London so wanted to learn more about mifid,etc which doesnt get any exposure in South Africa. I funded all of it myself. If you are in the same positions, use the money on CFA.

Interested in doing CMT now to go with CFA.