Hi,
I am currently a final year undergraduate Maths student, I am on track for a 2.1. I'm 20 years old and I really feel my passion is trading, I spend countless hours in front of the screen trying to find edges that I can apply to the markets. I have tried out stocks and currencies. My long term UK equity trades have worked out well, however, for me, I do not like this time-frame and like to be doing something everyday. I have tried various tactics with currencies but remain strictly break even. More recently I have begun trading a trend following system on the DJIA 30 stocks, I have spent a lot of time developing this myself and it can be applied to most high volume stocks and currencies. So far so good however I've only been trading it since 10th Feb and personally feel I need at least a year to know if the system is a winner.
I feel I that I have some deep down desire to develop a "mechanical" system, i.e. a set of rules by which to trade. If I had the past performance to know I was capable of doing this for a living, this is a path I would certainly follow. At the same time I also have the desire to sit in front of the screen all day, waiting for setups and going for it. I always follow strict money management rules. I have tried this approach in the past and kept record of all my trades so I could look back to search for mistakes and learn from them.
Anyway these are just my thoughts on trading. Onto the career part... I am graduating but have little relevant work experience. I worked at Fitch Ratings in operations for 6 weeks before uni and have spent both uni summer holidays working at an accountancy firm doing personal tax returns. From ages 13-18 I ran an online business selling online gaming servers, radio stations, web hosting, broadband, datacentre services, etc, with an average turnover of £25,000/year. I also had two part time staff, so overall I feel I was able to develop communication, team, leadership skills as well as those required for the day to day runnings of a business. There was also a lot of time management involved as this was all alongside school. Should also note I have enjoyed programming in the past, I have done PHP, Visual Basic, Java and C.
I would love to pursue trading as a full time career but this is not realistic unless I am employed as a trader, I don't think my family would be OK with me going down the self-employed route, especially since I have no proven, consistent way of taking money from the markets (although I really feel I am onto something but too early to say).
I did not send any graduate job applications but am applying for MSc Finance. I am applying because academically, finance is my passion. However, I'd rather be trading than studying. I honestly feel a bit lost. I have no internships or graduate jobs. I have this undying passion for trading but have no confidence in having a way in. I feel like I have a lot of experience for my age in trading, however, this is 'retail' trading and from what I understand, very different to how it's done in the banks.
Just wondering if anyone has any advice for me. Should I bother doing this MSc, will it even help me in my career? Do my own experiences studying the markets count for anything to employers? Can anyone provide any guidance... I feel I have the skills required but have zero experience. How should I approach this?
Help would be much appreciated!
I am currently a final year undergraduate Maths student, I am on track for a 2.1. I'm 20 years old and I really feel my passion is trading, I spend countless hours in front of the screen trying to find edges that I can apply to the markets. I have tried out stocks and currencies. My long term UK equity trades have worked out well, however, for me, I do not like this time-frame and like to be doing something everyday. I have tried various tactics with currencies but remain strictly break even. More recently I have begun trading a trend following system on the DJIA 30 stocks, I have spent a lot of time developing this myself and it can be applied to most high volume stocks and currencies. So far so good however I've only been trading it since 10th Feb and personally feel I need at least a year to know if the system is a winner.
I feel I that I have some deep down desire to develop a "mechanical" system, i.e. a set of rules by which to trade. If I had the past performance to know I was capable of doing this for a living, this is a path I would certainly follow. At the same time I also have the desire to sit in front of the screen all day, waiting for setups and going for it. I always follow strict money management rules. I have tried this approach in the past and kept record of all my trades so I could look back to search for mistakes and learn from them.
Anyway these are just my thoughts on trading. Onto the career part... I am graduating but have little relevant work experience. I worked at Fitch Ratings in operations for 6 weeks before uni and have spent both uni summer holidays working at an accountancy firm doing personal tax returns. From ages 13-18 I ran an online business selling online gaming servers, radio stations, web hosting, broadband, datacentre services, etc, with an average turnover of £25,000/year. I also had two part time staff, so overall I feel I was able to develop communication, team, leadership skills as well as those required for the day to day runnings of a business. There was also a lot of time management involved as this was all alongside school. Should also note I have enjoyed programming in the past, I have done PHP, Visual Basic, Java and C.
I would love to pursue trading as a full time career but this is not realistic unless I am employed as a trader, I don't think my family would be OK with me going down the self-employed route, especially since I have no proven, consistent way of taking money from the markets (although I really feel I am onto something but too early to say).
I did not send any graduate job applications but am applying for MSc Finance. I am applying because academically, finance is my passion. However, I'd rather be trading than studying. I honestly feel a bit lost. I have no internships or graduate jobs. I have this undying passion for trading but have no confidence in having a way in. I feel like I have a lot of experience for my age in trading, however, this is 'retail' trading and from what I understand, very different to how it's done in the banks.
Just wondering if anyone has any advice for me. Should I bother doing this MSc, will it even help me in my career? Do my own experiences studying the markets count for anything to employers? Can anyone provide any guidance... I feel I have the skills required but have zero experience. How should I approach this?
Help would be much appreciated!
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