College Major for an FX Trader?

Thank you Warmagus. As I stated earlier, I am in one of such programs at USC. BS in Econ/Math and MS in Mathematical Finance. I know when I was looking at colleges, I saw USC's program and I know UChicago has a MS in Financial Mathematics. I know my calculus skills have crossed over into some interesting ideas about how to trade technically. Math is essential. I know other people have said that Finance is the way to go over Econ, but I don't think that's the case if your end goal is trading. Finance will help you get an Investment Banking job, but be prepared for 100 hour weeks. It is great pay, though, but Forex can also be pretty good pay. I second what some other people said about a degree not being required, "you can't teach forex", whatever, but as far as which degree will help you the most in trading, I believe it's Financial Engineering or Mathematical Finance, or whatever you want to call it.

I am in one of these programs, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but that is my honest opinion.

andersenws

Irish:

I think the issue is that you want to know the right degree to get "a job". The thing is -- what job do you really, really want?

Others have dissected it better than I could here -- I've never tried to work for a bank and wouldn't know the ins and outs.

The way I see it, getting a degree in business admin vs. finance vs. accounting is just a different emphasis on the same basic things. If you're going to study one of them and you know which aspect you want to emphasis, study that particular thing. IMHO, business admin is the most general of the three and so it's what I'd avoid IF YOU WANT TO WORK AT A BANK. It's going to prepare you to be a manager at a company somewhere, not have a career in money. Finance and accounting deal more with the money side of business, so choose WHICHEVER INTERESTS YOU MORE between those two (if you go this route) -- "a job" will come to you with either degree.

Bottom line: It's ok not to know exactly what you want right now. But in the scheme of things, it always seems to work out better to follow your interests before following what seems like a sure means to a job.

gmv

P.S. -- I suspect in your heart you want to study the international political economy. Why not take that and study some languages and maybe take some international business and finance classes? Maybe minor in international business. Or major in international business and minor in your international political economics. Forex is all about the relationship between currencies at the macro level. You might not get "a job" in trading, but you could go anywhere in the world and get a job -- and trade on your own with a superlative understanding of the international economic environment.

P.P.S. -- I recently met a great (and successful) trader who came from getting a degree in Economics followed by an international MBA. You can watch a couple of sessions with him via a link off his website. Jes Black at www.fxmoneytrends.com.

This is an old thread at this point, and the original poster has probably declared his major by now. Here are just a few of my thoughts on the subject. This advice is geared towards improving your own success as a trader, not making yourself more attractive to prospective employers.

If I were back at college and taking courses with a view to improving my success as a trader, I'd enroll in every class on probability and statistics that I could find. It seems to me that success in forex is very much a numbers game that revolves around finding a statistical edge and applying it consistently.

I'd also take computer science courses geared towards programming, particularly in C++, as being able to set up and implement algorythmic trading strategies by yourself is a really big deal.

Lastly, I'd take a couple of advanced level math classes to get the background to understand derivative products properly. You need to know calculus inside out to work with options pricing models, etc.

The brother of a friend of mine went to Dartmouth, started one of those Economic/Investment Banking clubs where each member is alloted 100k and invests it. Anyhoo, after 1 yr they looked at who had the best track record, and compared it to other investors(namely known analysts, etc.) He interviewed with the usual suspects on campus, informed them that they had this competition, etc. Also he had put some real money(small sum say 2k) of his own money into it and thus had real time/real money tracking of his portfolio. Long story short he's working for a hedgefund now.

As someone familiar with the Wall St. mentality I think it's best summed up by "People love producers", if you can show you're expertise at generating profit, regardless of how small it is you'll have a leg up on the usual pimply faced fudgers who are all hat no cattle. If you can turn 200 into 300 or 250 and show how you did it you'll stand out amongst your peers. Good luck

Is a Math major going to be a good FX Trader or will it not help much?

Good question. I hope you get everything you work the hardest to get. (notice I wasn't nieve enough to say, "I hope you get everything you want.")
If we got everything we wanted we would not appreciate it. We value most what takes the most to get.

So how do you get there (there being wherever you are going)?
You get there by immersing yourself in it totally so that it becomes an obsession.

Do you know who Reinald Messner is? He is one of the greatest mountain climbers in the world. He has climbed all 14 mountains that are over 8,000 meters in height. He was the first to climb Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen. So how did he become the greatest mountain climber in the world?

He climbed mountains - lots of them.

So how do you become an awesome forex trader?
You eat, breathe, sleep and think and study and trade and test and analyze forex trading.

Bottom line: To succeed in forex - It doesn't matter what your major is in college, but that forex is major.

btw, I am finally succeeding in forex and have both a BA and a Masters in areas of study in relgion.


you need to have an analytical mind

you need to have a determined mind

you need to have a patience mind

that's it.

Guy, look. the best forex traders dont have finance or economics degrees.

what u need to do is chose your primary career, enjoy doing it and save money to trade in forex which u would have learn to trade right here on this site

The only reason u need the degree is to earn the initial money to trade.

how to be sucessful? become one with the market. know the methods that the big traders use and follow them

Philosophy. It's worked for me.

International Business, if you want a general degree in bollocks, especially the International Finance subject (entire subject about excahnge rates - only useful thing that I can't really apply in my tiny scale trading is triangular arbitrage.

Why do you want to work for somebody else when you can have it all?
http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...23&postcount=2


read jacko's post and give that some thought.........
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=27286

Yeah I guess that does make sense

In my case, I'm an IT person ... but now I just discovered a newfound passion (duh i wish I discovered it earlier) in private equity/venture capitalism. I love to meet people and talk about business and build businesses and build my networking.

So now I'm doing MBA to get myself to the door of those investment houses.

At the same time, I'm doing forex trading myself. I hope I can be consistently profitable but hey if I dont, I got my private equity job to tend to.

If I'm consistently profitable, I would utilize my network to set-up a fund management company (yup if I'm not qualified to start alone, I can always get someone else to help me with it, Business 101 hehe ) . Ultimately I will be doing both trading and investing.

That's the snapshot of my career plan.

I don't think you need college degree to do Forex. BUT if you do want to work at a big firm as FX Trader (and I tell you, the FX area is small compare to equity market, but FX departments seem to be expanding at big firms like Goldman and Morgan), you need to have finance or economy degree. If you are jsut trading ur money, you dont need college degree.

You will learn NOTHING from any college that will be actually useful for trading. Nothing whatsoever. If you're goal is to become a professional forex trader, then dont waste time majoring in anything and spend those years studying the markets by yourself.

Major in Finance speaking here.

PS: Unless you want to work for a firm such as UBS, Goldman etc. Then you certainly want to major in economics, finance or even business.

COLLEGE DEGREE and FOREX TRADING:

There are a number of things to consider and I will try to cover as many of them as possible:

1) Should a trader have a college degree?

Bottom line- to be a good Forex trader you will need to know how to trade.

To become a trader you will need to have:
a) reading/writing skills
b) basic arithmetic (addition (+),subtraction (-),multiplication (x), and division)
c) basic understanding of economics, politics
d) and human psychology.

Once you have that then the knowlege of
a) chart reading/technical analysis,
b) Fundamentals (periodic economic report releases)

Armed with the above you will need:
a) trading plan
b) trading strategies (timing, money mgt, risk/reward)

Now you are ready to trade
a) Practice, practice, practice (demo account)
b) trade real account

Guess what you are a TRADER! If you do the above well you are a profitable trader. You can work for yourself or an employer.

What a college degree will do is make you more analytical, more rounded, more organized, more marketable, more knowledgable, more hirable for employment/jobs/projects.

2) Which college degree is most suitable for trading?

No matter which degree you choose you will have to work hard to attain it. The important thing is your interest and ability. The degree you will get will provide you will many soft skills in addition to hard knowledge in your field. If you want to trade forex (naked or hedged) the the above listed requirement is enough. But IF you want to trade forex in a complexed enviornment then you will need to get a skill set that can support complexed decision making. Higher level of mathematics, statistics, finance, computing are essential for that. So a degree that covers these areas is sufficent. Finance, economics, mathematics, accounting, engineering, statistics are all good first degrees. You can take eletive course at your university or another to suppliment the topics missing.

A good first degree should give you a good educational background that will not only develop you as a person but something you can fall on if your trading career does not come up to your desires.

A second degree (degree of specialization) could be in mathematical finance, financial engineering, financial economics, quantitative economics and quantitative finance, etc. The object is to get the necessiary skills necessary to do complicated financial investments/trading/risk management.

3) Which colleges are best?

Top 50 schools in US (public or private). Go to anyone and get a high GPA. Learn what is taught. Most schools teach the same information even though they may lable their courses differently.

Elite schools are good to have on resume, you get hired faster and get more opportunities in jobs/promotion/selection etc. Their placement office and alumni network is strong.

4) Employment and Trading?

Employers are looking for individuals who can "fit in" and can get the job done. A good trader who will help make the firm money is always welcomed.

Trading is a "prove it" business. You need to show that you can earn a buck or you are out of work. Employers are very cut and dry about it.

go into accounting and program ea's on your down time. at least you will be eating every day.

as written, and from the standpoint of employer/employee hiring practices and working, the original poster has definitely covered the bases well.

While some may not be needed for the self-employed, the education, rounding and smoothing that college gives one (if used for more than beer parties) is tangible and measurable and not ever to be ignored.

but if one is to be employed in the highly competitive world of the trader, aside from having a father or uncle in the business, the rest is most important, with MUCH emphasis on the "school network" side of the ledger, if only for the first 10 years.

When dealing with a bachelors degree, most of the top schools will provide very same learning BUT the TOP 10 will provide CONTACTS that cannot be measured in mere money !

One rarely understands what a college degree does for one, which is not always measured in money --- the advancement in knowledge, interpersonal skills and that absolutely soooper dooper trophy wife do not come easily to one with only a high school diploma.

enjoy and trade well, whatever your degree

mp

Odd as it may seem, psychology and philosophy should be included in your education.