The College Trader

haha, did I mention I love long conversations?

Also, I definitely agree that someone can be interested in something as they go deeper into it. I made up a saying in high school: "I feel like a stem cell" and I usually end up liking any class and every job. In high school, I was so sure I was going to go into physics. Then I wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer... If there's one thing worse than not knowing what you want to do it's wanting to do everything. To make it worse, I'm willing to work hard in any job I like, so for me, being a doctor would have basically the same effort as being a trader. <==== (THIS IS THE ROOT OF MY PROBLEMS)

So to solve my problem I break the problem down, and perhaps someone could help me on breaking down jobs in finance for me:

Assuming my capacity for knowledge and skill is just as good in each field, then I target my desires since I want max happiness from my job.
-Interest in job (done, I love everything dang it)
-Pay from job (start about 50k, AND pay increases fast, AND make at least 250k per year when I'm 30) Totally ridiculous right? But seriously real stats would be helpful since I'm such a newbie lol
-Job must be important, I want to feel needed (appeal to pride perhaps?)

Life goals(since it's integral w/ my job): Have a family, own a house a car and perhaps a boat. For finance I want to go into hedge funds and for medical I want to go into anesthesiology (putting people to sleep = awesome)

Anyone know how hard it is to open your own successful hedge fund vs. being a doctor?


I most definitely agree with your statement that your job determines who you'll be around. This may sound dumb, but I've never worked a real job in finance so I have no idea how my co-workers will be like. A tight knit, supportive group would be best for me, though I can most definitely be a lone wolf as well (just I won't be as enthusiastic about going to work).

Yeah bud same here, I had a two hour long one with my friend last night about all this career crap. A Heineken helped though, lol.

As far as pay, I feel like it really depends what you manage to land using your contacts. I've heard of people starting with 30, lots of 50s, 90, 100, 180 straight with undergrad. Check out glassdoor.com for some submitted salaries, it's interesting to take a look but a little discouraging too. I think more money is to be made on the private side rather than corporations and huge firms because there is less structure, and usually if the firm is good and makes a good profit, bigger % goes to less people. btw, check out different position titles and what each does, you'll get a better idea of how investment firms may work.

As far as the people, that's one more reason why I want to go to a smaller firm, or later down the road start something of my own in terms of investing. I've done two corporate internships right now and know a lot of my peers and friends have done the same. The way corporate structure runs, often times theres not much personal interaction with people you work with outside of work. One is the turnover rate, and then a lot of people just go in and out passing by. I grew up watching my dad run a small architectural firm where all of the people working were family friends as well at that point. Yes, it caused a problem here and there, but everyone had an absolute blast because the way I see it, how can you not love the people you work with, it will be miserable. Yeah, you can do the work by yourself and be really good at it, but if you find like minded people and get along really well, you can accomplish the same if not more, have fun while you're doing it, and build life long relationships with people. You can make the point that you shouldn't involve family life with work, and not mixing money with friends but it makes sense to me since I want to hang out with people I work with as much as the people I went to college/high school with and everyone else I know, not exclude my personal life from work completely. Given, in a corporation you'll probably make best friends and have really close people to you, but it's not the same being in a department of 200 compared to a group of 50 that does everything. I'm not saying every corporation is like this, but I feel like there's that personal sense of touch missing when you have 20,000 employees.

As far as your dreams though, I'm right along there more or less.

Hope I didn't ramble too much, but hey I'm getting paid at work for this right now :-)

Oh yeah fullperson, where are you from before umass?

faculty of medicine ,Cairo university ,Egypt.
It is too hard to trade, attend, study, reading. but it deserves.
intraday trading ,very short positions and i do well.

lol another med/finance student. Welcome to the thread!

Haha getting paid to post, stick it to the man!

Also I'm from Needham Ma, about 11 miles from your school Maybe you know a kid named Josh Buckley? I went to school with him. In fact, we worked on an investment challenge together and were in 1st place in MA for a while. If you have facebook add me: William Fan

Now for the heavy stuff:

28k for foreign exchange traders Vs. 320k for anesthesiologists on glassdoor... I wish I could accurately make two income graphs and slap them together, but there's nooo way that's going to happen + I have a feeling that after my school debts are paid off, med field will work really well + I am assuming that doctors get along well? Perhaps I need to talk to some professional FX traders to get a better idea of the environment. But how many FX traders do you know? lol

Also, yea I do plan on perhaps going private after a few years of institutional trading since there's no one on earth who will trust you with money unless you've worked in an elite firm for at least 5 years w/ perfect record. Only then can you go really big if you have the right connections. But maybe I'll try being an individual investor? In which case how viable is that? Won't taxes, spread, overhead ect kill me?

But I think I've solved my own problem: Go into med school, and then trade as a hobby? Maybe that would mitigate the risk of trading. But in this case as mentioned above, I won't really be able to reach my trading potential since I'll be studying.

Several of my friends here are going the investment banking route, which is avg 55k. Perhaps this is a better option, but I have been pummeled by media that Ibankers are A$$h0les

Enough of my rantings, how are your days?
---

Now for the forex:

There's a bearish pattern on the M15 chart. It will probably hit the 50% retrace at 1.4744, that's where an exit would be appropriate if this pattern works

On the H1 chart there is another bearish signal that's basically fulfilling itself as I speak. Note that the result of these two signals are confirmed by massive weekley and monthly resistance.

whoops disregard the first chart, that's an old one my bad. Here's the H1 chart: (nice to see 15 min and H1 confirm though curiously Min30 is testing a previous resistance at 1.4796) Again with the H1 chart go for 50% or 61.8% (if you're greedy) retrace.

Don't think I know him, but I have a couple of buds around there. I went to BCHigh if you've heard of it so my contacts are pretty scattered around MA.

As far as your plan, that makes perfect sense, but as you said, will you have the time to keep up with trading and etc. I'm trying to pursuit it full time, CFA, probably MBA and build that record. If you go the private route and you can make money, if that satisfies you there's nothing wrong with that at all. As for myself I don't want to just trade, make money, and not have anything to do, that's why I want to make it into a career rather than just a hobby. But as I said, do what interests you and you'll enjoy it as long as you're not doing it just for the money.

But what you said about investment banking and the people working it, I agree to a certain extent. Like I said, don't do it just for the money, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like a job like that and what comes with it after doing some research even it if comes with better money at the start. And I really think you can make loads of cash anywhere and if you take it seriously and work for what you want, no matter what field you're in you'll probably end up above average even in harder times.

But my days are good, junior year is a little crazy over here, esp. once you try to allocate some time for trading and research and not letting up on partying and socializing + school, gets a little hectic sometimes.

Majoring in Business with emphasis on Finance. Looking to get a minor in Economics possibly...
Sophomore in college here...been trading since Senior Year in High School....finally starting back on the positive side of my account.

Lost 2500 within the first 6 months and now Im just about even with my losses. Time to start the positive % increase!

My tip: Stay away from anything smaller than 4hr charts.

dude im alg student............. i remember u ..........

I apologize for my absence guys.........been super busy with school...........but i will put my charts up very soon..but what im thinking rightn now---------------------------


OK Jpm earnings are going to drive usd along with retail sales.......look for long target of 1.50,,,,,,it is a HUGE, YES HUGE options barrier it will be very protected....DO NOT GO SHORT NOW, will repeat so it sinks in...DO NOT BE SHORT THIS PAIR EU as u will be PHUCKED

I am a college student from Malaysia~~
Nice to meet you^.^

yeah, you are right@@~

Hello all , Im in , too . I've been trading for the past couple of years . Now I study in University of Economics , Bulgaria. About "How many pro FX traders do you know" I can tell you one for sure , George Soros , whose Fund is Top10 at the world , where is trading mainly on the forex market. Glad to join you , fellas cheers

well now this is an interesting thread, just because its student oriented...; ), this thread got me to join FF, ive been roaming around for about a month on FF and ive learned a lot from the members on this site, lots of info to be found and very very usefull, not all the indicator stuff, at 1st i looked into all the indicators and i found a document on one of the treads about S&R trading methods, ive been doing just that, and its so simple really, support, resistance, and fib, thats all you will ever need really...i think, my opinion tho, not like im trading real money on FX yet.as soon as i can double my demo account with a reasonable trading success i will open a live account, i am however trading in equities at the moment ive been doing that for about 6months...yeah i know not very long, but ive learned more in 6months about stock markets and FX than would i did 3years at varsity and my whole school career...lol : ))oh yeah btw im studying financial management at the university of pretoria, south africa,final year...and then honours next year. anyone from SA maybe??

Well i hope to be learning from you guys/gals and this thread...i wont be posting much for now, untill i know what im talking about : ), good luck to you all, in your trading and your degrees.

Cheers for now.

Hi this is Rahul here from Dubai, though I originate from hindustan or today known as 2 countries india and pakistan. I am currently doing my ACCA or association of chartered certified accountants from Uk which also includes an undergrad degree. Along with this I am also a professional which is similar to a CFA from SII or securities and investments insti. Uk.
Been trading forex since last 3 yrs had lots of failures and blew up my accounts but now have been successful trading on demo using candlestick patterns and look to go live in the coming months.

It's nice to see new people! Welcome guys! And if anyone has any tips on how to pass the finance exams that would be cool.

The M15 lagged a lot. I would count it as a failed pattern, but at least break even is made with +20 pips if you closed at the row of several spinning tops. NOTE: always manage your trades, if you see lots of candle patterns matching up, you know you've got a problem. For more info, search up Steve Nison (creator of candle patterns)

The H1 chart pattern definitely failed, due to massive resistance due to 1.4781 (23.6% retrace) with +20ish pips depending on when you sold. I will put up charts of these price actions.

The good news is that generally the impulse of buying happens right away. If it does not, momentum is probably in play. Also, stops are placed at the highest candle near the end of the pattern, making risk more manageable. The lesson for the day is that the time for imperfect patterns is over. From now on, trade only IDEAL patterns because big momentum is in play that is beyond normal market supply and demand.

On the plus side let's take a look at post #86. The pattern I mentioned seems to be fulfilling itself and has just broken into a range where we can consider a pattern near completion. I’ll try and put up a chart there too. If you stuck with it long, I believe it’s worth about 200ish pips depending on where you bought.


I'll try and add some trades in following posts after some much needed market research. Good trading everyone!

Hey guys. this is what im seeing right now. This pair has sick strength.......I believe that traders will push this pair past 1.50 based on my chart. Lets trade with the trend, Ill do buying at 1.4873 if it breaks 5 pips then I will look to buy lower around 1.4800.



I will probably stay out of the market until after FOMC meeting at 2est. Lets wait till good levels of support and resistance have been set. I advise everyone to do the same. Here are my charts and levels for usd pairs.

Hey Mfoste1, yeah I remember you from the alg room too...You got skype?>

no dude i dont have skype should i get it? my name is matt