Trading as a Career ?

Frankjones45

Hi my name is Frank, I am thinking about becoming trying to become a trader. I am studying Finance and Accounting at the National University of Ireland,Maynooth, I am pretty good at Maths(Calculus and Stats Modules in first year,Econometrics and Quantitative Analysis throughout my degree and with a B2 in HL maths for leaving cert).

I am just wondering how is full time trading as a career? What are the hours like? Is this job possible once a wife and kids come into the picture is my main question?

Also what is the difference between SIG(the main company I want to work for) and the likes of Genvea or Postive Equity? And minimum salary expections?

I know Ive asked alot but I am really considering it as a career! Please find time to help.

Jim2007

Look carefully at the pictures of trading floors and count the number of 50 year olds you see...

greecy_joe

Jim2007 wrote: »

Look carefully at the pictures of trading floors and count the number of 50 year olds you see...

slightly off topic but i watched a brief interview with economist ( and occasional actor ) ben stein this past week , he reckons that most people are better not buying individual stocks and simply buying index funds , im inclined to agree with him , ive had my good returns on certain companies but its rare i would do any better in any given year than the s + p if you exclude dividends

ixus

Hi Frank,

I'm a full-time trader. Hours are long by choice and I love what I do. I know plenty of successful traders in Dublin who are married and have kids.

Idu once posted a description of his trading day. I can relate to his post.

Based on your degree alone and your Leaving Cert Maths, I'd be pretty confident in saying you would not even get an interview with SIG. They look for Phd. level math these days. The others are more interested in a rounded individual who is strong academically but also excels in something like sport,poker etc. (SIG are big into poker).

You should read books about trading (Market Wizards) to get an idea and then trade simulated accounts to practice strategies and management of a trading account.

Ixus

Jim2007

greecy_joe wrote: »

slightly off topic but i watched a brief interview with economist ( and occasional actor ) ben stein this past week , he reckons that most people are better not buying individual stocks and simply buying index funds , im inclined to agree with him , ive had my good returns on certain companies but its rare i would do any better in any given year than the s + p if you exclude dividends

For most people this is true and after seeing so much of their investments wiped out over the past several years, more and more people are adapting this strategy. Which is one of the reason why we are going to see some major restructuring in the financial sector over the next few years.

freeze4real

Frankjones45 wrote: »

Hi my name is Frank, I am thinking about becoming trying to become a trader. I am studying Finance and Accounting at the National University of Ireland,Maynooth, I am pretty good at Maths(Calculus and Stats Modules in first year,Econometrics and Quantitative Analysis throughout my degree and with a B2 in HL maths for leaving cert).

I am just wondering how is full time trading as a career? What are the hours like? Is this job possible once a wife and kids come into the picture is my main question?

Also what is the difference between SIG(the main company I want to work for) and the likes of Genvea or Postive Equity? And minimum salary expections?

I know Ive asked alot but I am really considering it as a career! Please find time to help.

Hi frank,

What IXUS said about not getting to an interview based on your degree now is true. But you can still be a prop trader.

some might agree/disagree with what I'm going to say.

Prop trading in Ireland is very competitive, there are few trading firms in Ireland the they simply want exceptional candidates.
trading as evolved from on the trading floors, to those who look at the news papers and now to prop traders who are MAINLY from a science background. SIG are looking for computer science students physics students astro physicist or those or pure maths student like actuaries.

Your leaving cert maths is good and it wont be overlooked.

When SIG came to nuim last semester the guy who came I cant remember his name specifically said we don't guys from business departments simply those days of crawling or looking at newspapers are as good as over.

you can still be a trader but I'd advise you to move to the uk/states.
there are loads of trading firms there but its more diversified.

I'd also advice you to do some computer degree course with some programming or it could be a masters that's if its possible. The easiest way to get into SIG is through a computer science degree.