I am really into stock market and I want to do it professionally in the future. The thing is that I am studying Business Enterprise Systems and I am wondering if this is the right course for a carrier as a trader. If is not can you tell me what qualifications do I need?
Here’s some CAREER advice - learn to spell and write properly. It will be a great assist to whatever line of work you choose.
That was ironic and offensive. English is not my first language.
hmm…a little blunt i must agree
Qualifications that can help towards trading include the CISI - The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment is the largest and most widely respected professional body for those who work in the securities and investment industry in the UK and in a growing number of major financial centres round the world.
It must be noted that you can do this on your on behalf, and do not have to do it through employment. It can be expensive funding the qualification, but it will definitely give you a head start when applying for a career within a Stock Market based organization.
However, and here is the plus side, why do you have to enter this career working for a broker, would you not rather learn how to trade and do it as you own personal career? I understand that with trading stocks, as apposed to currencies that you do need a significantly larger amount of capital. But, in the long term you could start small and work your way up. Also if you do become good at this when doing it for yourself, along with having a CISI then you will have an even stronger board of knowledge.
Hope this helps.
James
Thank you for your answer
Do you think that a degree from university does matter for a future career in stock market? I do business studies. If I change the course to “finance and banking” will give me an extra advantage?
Well put it this way, im doing a finance degree right now as we speak.
Any business related degree, preferably more finance related would be good. But there is no actual degree that I have heard of that is directly linked to trading. The next step is the professional qualifications, like the CISI i mentioned before. A degree will only give you exemptions to professional qualifications, they still need to be taken after any degree.
I’m planning to trade from home after my degree is complete, I’ve also been trading the past year while at uni, but having the complete day to concentrate is going to be a much better choice.
OK man thanks for your help
I think that this is generally a more helpful, pleasant environment if people keep their responses constructive. Killbillgr21 asked a perfectly fair question, the meaning was perfectly clear, and as we discovered subsequently English is not his/her first language.
While I agree with you that good spelling almost always makes for an easier route to impressing a potential employer, we were being asked for any professional insight and advice we might be able to offer, not to critique someone’s prose style. Had the question been rude or aggressive, I could understand it eliciting a response along similar lines - but it was a fair question and not asked rudely.
I have myself worked overseas in the past, and have had to work in the native language, and while my language skills are pretty good - I can pass for native in one other language - I am sure that I made the odd spelling mistake along the way and still do. Yet I consider myself pretty employable, I have a good degree, some professional qualifications, a strong and varied cv… so don’t judge someone’s chosen career based on them spelling one word wrong, please - it says more about you than it does the recipient of your view.
I am sure that to some on here I am coming across as pretentious, or interfering, or even just plain smug, but to be honest I’ll take that, as I saw your post and just didn’t want to bite my tongue on this occasion. Please, if someone comes on here asking a fair question without being rude about it, don’t be so aggressive - it does not paint any of us in a good light. It’s the old adage… if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.
Quite apart from anything else, this is not a career as a copy editor, author, any of that - the odd misspelled word will make no difference to whether one succeeds as a trader, or whether one should be employed as one, imho.
For what it is worth, I do not think that there is a degree that would directly give you a major advantage in finding employment in trading. My previous career was one without a directly-related degree course available, so I read modern languages at university, figuring that as my chosen career could entail travel it would be of generic assistance. This was the case, but the subject was not directly relevant to the nuts and bolts of the work. I think that the same is true of trading - a potential employer might look kindly upon an application supported by a degree, particularly one related to finance, but imho much of that impression would be because of what the degree said about your commitment, breadth of perspective, general intellect etc. rather than because you had picked up skills which would be directly useful in a career as a trader.
So personally if you want to do a degree I would do one that you enjoy and that demonstrates that you have intellectual capacity and are not afraid of hard work. Then go out into the workplace and convince an employer that you are the one for them. If you can trade alongside gaining that qualification then that could say at least as much about you.
As a previous poster said (Jezzode, I think, from memory), an alternative would be simply to trade for yourself. Particularly with Forex, the rewards would generally outstrip any salary that anyone is likely to pay you. If it were me, I would sit the degree, and use that time to learn to trade in the margins. After the three/four years, you might just find that you don’t need to work for anyone… ever. And if you do, pitching up to a firm of traders, showing them your energy, your understanding of trading and a good degree in a sensible subject and then interviewing well will tell them a lot about you - and I’ll bet they don’t ask you how to spell ‘career’, so don’t worry about the naysayers.
Just my thoughts,
ST
Any type of top drawer degree is better than none at all, but to be honest you should already know what level & value of educational entry requirements firms are seeking for the type of trading environment you’re interested in, because believe you me, your potential interview competitors most definitely will & that already puts you behind the curve.
Even at this early stage the guys & gals you’re going to be competing with for jobs at these firms are already waist deep networking their way into internships, putting themselves in front of people who will be in a position to open doors going forward, preparing themselves for the intense & brutal interview process & constructing the basis & framework of their cv/introduction pitch.
Initiative is not only a requirement in that world, it’s an absolute necessity & it will separate the doers from the dreamers. It’s an extremely harsh environment you’re looking to break into. You might want to give it some more serious thought before wasting any more of your time.
If indeed you are actually considering venturing down the corporate route & intend to make an impression, then you’re going to need to wise up fast & get a whole lot more committed than this if you want to even make it past the reception desk, let alone onto the selection list. That is of course assuming you’re looking to get onboard with a top tier firm.
Why take the middleman route with your enquiries when you can go direct to the source/s?
It’ll save you time & skirt around all the misinformation, however well intentioned.
Probably the most valuable piece of advice in this thread. Well said Simon. I completed my B.Com degree last year and it has not help me at all in terms of finding employment with regards to trading. It will however show a potential employer “what I’m worth” as Simon says it shows you have intellect, commitment etc.
It has however given me a solid base and understanding about finance in general.I did B.Com Finance, If I had to choose over again I would have properly gone with B.Com Economics but they much the same. You will learn a lot doing your degree but in my opinion it will be more a better benefit to you in that it “raises the bar”. It will take you to the next level, get you more focused and throw more fuel on the “desire fire”.
I learn’t more this past year than all 3 years combined while doing my degree.If I was you I would go study and in the meantime learn how to trade. You could also do an internship as DoubleEcho has said and build up a network that will help you get in the front door later on. With that said… that route is not for everyone, Its competitive and as he said an extremely harsh environment, I did not go that way and don’t intend doing so. I have taken Jezzode’s route in that I decided to trade from home. Both are not easy, both require an absolute dedication and desire to make it. You have to really want it and work for it. Both paths have their pro’s and con’s its all up to you. My decision was based on the fact that I’m still young and have nothing to loose so why not go for it? In 2 years time should things not be working out then ok, plan 2 but you wont get a shot at something so rewarding later on when you have responsibilities/ a family etc.
Looks like it’s all been said by now…but i’ll put in my two cents.
I had a friend who wanted to be a trader. he got a finance degree, and MBA, and his series 7 securities license (requires in U.S. to be a stock trader/broker)
After over a year of trying to get a job in the “trading” industry, he ended up working for an insurance agency.
He’s now management, and makes a good income. (my educated guess is around $90,000 a year).
But he’s not a full time trader by any means. He’s doing good just to manage his 401K and beat the S&P.
As for myself…I dropped out of jr. college, never got a degree, much less an MBA. And although I had a securities license… mine was only for selling mutual funds… of which I did for about 2 months…12 years ago.
I trade full time. I’ve had to turn money down from people who couldn’t throw it at me fast enough…because they want me to make them money.
“pro trader” is like “pro fiction novelst”, “pro actor”, and “pro artist”. These are careers that can be held purely based on merit and merit alone. No degree or “formal education” will increase the chance of success in any of these careers. You either have the aptitude and learn the skills, or you don’t.
to further illustrate my point…go ahead and ask any professional trader you ever come across “how they did it”. I would bet that 95% of them wouldn’t even THINK to mention a college degree…whether they had 10 degrees, or none.
Jay
That’s all well & good & it makes for exciting reading, but he didn’t ask what personal traits are required to trade a lump of money in a retail account, he specifically enquired about the entrance level requirements & demands of supporting a possible career in corporate trading.
You’re describing a very different scenario altogether. It’s comparing apples with oranges in every aspect.
The fact remains if this guy is intent on following his nose into the corporate world he’s going to need a top flight degree as a bare minimum.
Unless he’s studying at an Ivy League establishment, where recruiters from the premier firms hang out, then he might need to lower his sights somewhat, but that degree is a must win. Without it he’s not getting off 1st base.
These days the competition in an ever shrinking marketplace is beyond fierce, but the rewards for the right candidates are still superb.
Double… after reading your comment, I think we are BOTH seeing this from our own personal perspectives… mine from that of a self taught entrepreneur, and you from yours of college/corporate raised success. He actually never one said anything about “corporate trading”. here’s the opening post:
“I am really into stock market and I want to do it professionally in the future.” - Seems I assume professionally means make a decent - phenominal income. And you assume professionally means in some sort of larger corporate entity. but he never once used the word corporate… and both my and your conclusion could equally be drawn from here.
“The thing is that I am studying Business Enterprise Systems and I am wondering if this is the right course for a carrier as a trader.” - Again, career to me and to you can mean two very different things
" If is not can you tell me what qualifications do I need? " - I’ve met many people who for whatever reason (lack of life experience?) believe that to be a “trader” actually requires anything other than a trading account that can meet a margin call.
Can’t tell you how many times I tell people what I do…and they follow up with “so, what type of degree or certification did you need to get to do what you do?” Point being that just because one asks about a degree doesn’t mean that they have any intention of becoming a corporate trader for goldman sachs…etc.
So yet again… your interpretation is no more accurate than mine.
you mention apples and oranges. For all you know its bananas. I can’t really fault you here though, maybe if the original poster would be more specific we could get an answer.
as for me, my iconoclastic streak recoils at the thought of climbing a corporate ladder… If it’s not my game then I don’t play. Tho hats off to you for doing so.
I think you and I CAN both agree however that if this person is making such an inquiry at this stage of the game in a forum such as this… it is unlikely that he is on track to make the grade at the top firms…
Which actually was part of the reason why I didn’t even consider him gunning for a trading career in which he derives his income from a salary/bonus, and not from a personal trading account.
Jay
That would indeed help to clarify matters sure.
Absolutely.
Which further emphasizes the initiative reference made in my previous post.
hi…i think that you should pursue a job in a trading environment…anything from post room to data entry and back office settlements…this will expose you to the trading market and also open up opportunities internally to become an assistant trader or ssomething like that…i think you will learn about 100 times faster going this route…as the trading floor know exactly what they need to to pull of good trades…
if you are self taught …you may spend months and years following information that a proper trader would not use…
you may analyse stuff incorrectly for months…
you may set up fibonacci lines incorrectly …and you will make so many mistakes…
by being in the environment you will become aware of all the market data that moves the stocks…plus it will teach you how to focus on certain areas of the market…from home you may think you are doing the right thing concentrating on many sectors …but in the trading room you may realise that each trader only focuses on one sector and that is part of his success…and you may realise that one sector is even too big for a single trader to handle…
plus you make money from executing trades on the trading floor…wether the trades win or lose… and this is a sure way to always be making …as long as most of your trades are profitable.
plus being in the environment will bring you up to speed quicker from being handed sector reports …rahter than waiting for business news to come on telly…you may even get reports on stuff that move the market that you have never even heard of…
Agreed but in order to give me the job I need some qualiications…dont I?