Only 17 years old, huge interest in economics and looking to study financial maths and economics in college next year …Until i found forex. over the last few months ive been watching videos,podcasts which sent me here and im doing the courses. Im 100% sure this is the root i want to go down in the future, should i study financial maths and economics? Would it really benefit trading forex? Should i study a different course or should i even go to college at all.
Thanks in advance
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Success in trading requires money, experience and TIME, lots of time. Even, if you are ready for the challenge of being a trader it will take many years to reach success.
And what if you fail? 90% of traders are doing exactly this…fail!
Imagine yourself as a 27-year old failed trader who has no money and can’t do anything besides sitting all day long in front of the screen chasing 2-pips moves. How would you feel?
So, go to college, build a strong foundation, develop skills outside of Forex.
It won’t hurt your development as a trader. On the contrary, it will improve it. You’ll gain perspective, find trading buddies and so on
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Thanks for getting back to me! And do you think a course along those lines will benefit trading directly by providing direct knowledge etc?
Start with books. Read, listen… Not only Forex but Stocks, Commodities, Futures, Options.
Focus on short-term and swing trading.
By reading books on different topics you will be (I guess you will be) naturally drawn to some markets or trading styles. After that you can proceed further with more books, courses, mentoring, finding a job in a hedge fund, etc.
Would you recommend demo trading to gain a decent enough knowledge of how trading works before getting into books and mentoring?
Hi Shane, At the expense of upsetting a few, I think you need to know some things about “college” nowadays and how men are treated, not only in Uni, but also when they try to gain jobs with their new found degrees and their £30,000 debts. Economics is a “Social Science” and heavily infected.
You have time to do your own researc before you commit fully one way or the other, but some of my “offbeat threads” may give you some insight as to how the world actually works nowadays. I’ll post links below, but please DO do your own research on You tube and take a look at some of the other stuff posted by those I link to.
Hi shanemuld,
My advice would be to definitely go and study further education. You can apply for any combination of ecomomics/ banking/ finance/ risk management or stand alone finance/ economics. There are 2 reasons for this:
- you will learn about how the financial system works and micro and macro-economics and in depth principles. This could help your own understanding in fundamentals and risk management when you decide to trade.
- if you decide you dont want to trade. You will be able to apply for any job in the financial sector. Meaning you will always have a career to fall back on. And when you need to raise capital to trade for yourself, you can get a job to save money.
Dont underestimate further education. I trade full time but I know I can get a job at anytime as I have a degree. Just knowing this means I have less pressure on my shoulders and so can patiently wait for trades to come along. In the meantime, you can start your forex education at your own pace. Best of luck.
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Demo is useful to put into practice something you’ve already read (book). But you have to read it, first 
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What country are you located? If you live in the USA then you should stay away from Forex and start with futures instead. Stay away from online courses, pricey webinars, they are usually over priced and the people behind it, most likely, are not making any money in trading!
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I would recommend some software development knowledge as minor degree mixed with micro and macro economics as a major degree
plus psychologie as elective
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idude, love the name! We’re almost related!
Care to share why you recommend this? Not knocking you. Serious question. And what’s your go-to for education on the matter? Anything like babypips around, but for futures?
To @shanemuld, you’re young! You have so much time to learn each and every one of the topics you mentioned. Economics, math, finance, all of it. College gives you structure, but depending on where you live, that might also come with a monetary cost. Learning on your own, or through a free or cheaper online course, comes with pros and cons. It’s definitely cheaper, but you have to be your own teacher and stay motivated to do so. Taking these smaller classes, at your own pace, might be good or bad for you. It really depends on you.
I will say, don’t get caught up in which to choose. Just choose one! Give it a go. The sooner you learn whether you like or don’t like something, the better. If you hate/fail at econ, great, move on to the next thing! Don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is a great teacher.
Just know that for a majority of forex traders I’ve come across, consistently profitable trades take time. Months and even years.
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Already lots of good advice by other posters here.
I will just say,
Dont abandon other plans for Forex trading.
At this time, it should be a supplement to a career and run in parallel to other things. Only consider making the transition to full time trading if you have sufficient capital and a proven track record. These are still early days and the odds are stacked heavily against you.
It will take years to learn properly and there are no guarantees either. Trading is a skill in and of itself.
As far as college goes, if you dont know what you want to do as a career then I would suggest studying something like business. I know too many graduates that ended up taking a completely unrelated path to their degree and field of study. In my experience, this is typical for most graduates, including myself.
I thought I knew what I wanted to do back then but I lacked experience to make a better informed decision.
However, university years were the best times of my life and I discovered Forex trading about a year after graduation.
I would not have changed anything had I discovered it sooner. Good luck and enjoy.
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Definitely go to college as most forex traders fail
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Located in Ireland, so i guess its easiest to stick to spot trading?
I agree that he should get some college education, and have a plan B of course. But, if he’s starting at 17? And he sticks with it? He will eventually become a nice trader lol he has a lot of time. If he goes to college then he can demo while he’s there and get that practice in
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No guarantees forex will be for him though. Just saying he needs a back up plan.
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Hey @shanemuld, I started at 17 too, I’m 29 now
I went through University, studying Statistics for the Financial Markets and, yes, it was kind of useful for Forex Trading. I would consider it useful for 10% of my trading, but it’s a kind of 10% that you don’t really find online on Babypips or any other website (all the due respect to Babypips).
Also, I have had the opportunity to work at a proprietary trading firm (declined at the end) and for a bank (HSBC, I accepted and worked only on a collaboration for 6 months). This, of course, is a plan-B that you can have only with a degree.
I’ve been quite lucky to make it in Forex Trading and, still, this is not the easy life that everyone thinks it is. It has a lot of advantages that I would not trade for anything else, but also some negative points.
My advice is to go to college and trade Forex meanwhile, they can go together. You can keep your passion, you can get a knowledge for you passion and, if you decide to do something else, you will still have a degree in your pocket
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Care to share why you declined? Sounds like maybe you were doing it for a little while and then were offered to stay on board or stay longer than the original contract or class?
You need to have the time to study obviously but remember that 90% fail mostly due to mindset I would say.
It was already 2 years I was working as a full time trader by myself. I moved to London (from Italy), cost of life is higher (£1100 per month only for the flat I used to live), I was looking for a second job related to trading or a part time job in something else to have a new experience.
I applied for this job at a proprietary trading firm, I had the interview, I didn’t like the environment, the owner didn’t give me a feeling of being a person I want to learn from, so I declined the offer, at the end. I went working for one year at Uniqlo, selling clothes 
It was 2015, if of any interest