| If you want to do prop trading, or get proprietary | | | | do this with a retail broker from home, and the added |
| trading jobs, you don't necessarily need a degree or | | | | advantage is that you are sharing an office |
| diploma. Of course, if you are still at school it is HIGHLY | | | | surrounded by other, more experienced traders. |
| recommended that you take an MBA program with | | | | With this particular set up, you're not an employee and |
| finance as an emphasis, or get a master's in financial | | | | instead are seen as a "customer" by the firm. You |
| engineering to make sure you have the skills | | | | won't get a paycheck or "draw", likely, but you will get |
| necessary. If you do this, you can apply through | | | | to keep most of your trading profits. Another |
| convential graduate recruitment schemes to become | | | | alternative to this is that you go in on a "traders co-op," |
| an employee at a proprietary trading firm and start | | | | in which you and other experienced traders share |
| your trading career off with a salary. | | | | overhead costs like equipment and office space, but |
| That's far preferable to trading independently. | | | | trade entirely on your own capital otherwise. |
| However, there are ways to get around the | | | | If nothing else, at least open an account of your own |
| "education" hurdle and get proprietary trading jobs | | | | at home and begin to trade on a small scale. If you're |
| regardless of your education. You have to be willing to | | | | already a trader, it's going to be a lot easier to get a |
| take some risk in order to do that, because you're | | | | prop trading firm to take a chance on you without a |
| going to have to get some experience to show you | | | | higher education. |
| can do the job and to show that you have a passion | | | | Getting proprietary trading jobs once you've got |
| for trading, too. | | | | experience. |
| Got any experience? | | | | Once you've got some experience that shows results, |
| If you're interested in working as a proprietary trader, | | | | start making the rounds. You may just be lucky |
| it's going to be necessary to at least have some | | | | enough to get interviews for trainee proprietary trading |
| experience if you don't have a degree or diploma. If | | | | jobs at prop firms; if you are, make sure you research |
| you don't have experience, AND you don't have a | | | | the companies in question carefully, and prepare. |
| degree or diploma, what do you do then? You get | | | | Be aware that you've got some stiff competition, |
| some experience on your own. | | | | especially because you don't have a college or |
| You have a few choices as to how you go about this, | | | | university degree -- but again, experience may trump |
| but in short, your options lie in opening a trading | | | | newbie "wet behind the ears" folks with degrees, as |
| account and getting some experience for yourself. | | | | long as you can show you have a track record and |
| Specifically, you start out by trading your own capital | | | | have done well. |
| and teaching yourself what works. You can open an | | | | And remember, keep trading on your own until you've |
| account with a spread-betting firm or retail futures | | | | got that job as a prop trader for a firm, so that your |
| brokerage, or there are trading "arcades" out there | | | | skills stay current. If you can show a prospective |
| that will set you up with the tech support, trading | | | | employer that you'll do a good job based on your past |
| platforms, office space, and equipment you need; you'll | | | | track record, they're not going to care so much that |
| pay monthly fees to do this, but the benefit is to be | | | | you don't have the proper "education" to be a prop |
| able to trade at much lower cost than if you tried to | | | | trader. |