SFoyil

Prop trader is a rare breed... a trader's function is usually much different than that of an investor's, while both need each other.

Trader is a street smart guy, people with CFA may be book smart guys, but in no universe getting a CFA can tag you street smart.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 03:41AM by BangBusDriver.

justin88

Bit of a cliche all this trader stuff. How do these guys get in the door? You don't just walk in and start trading because you are street smart. A lot of mythology really. Here is street smart for you: use the information advantage that your firm possesses to make money. Flows / order books / unwitting clients etc. It is not because you are really something extraordinary, maybe just willing and able to use the information advantage at your disposal. It is about having the odds stacked in your favour and being given the opportunity to put capital at risk to take advantage of this fortunate circumstance they find themselves in. The rest is time and place. Ok, you have to have cojones to put on the risk, but the amount of blow ups suggest that they weren't street smart after all, just overly confident. Explains why all traders need an independent risk manager to stop them doing it more often. I accept that you have to have a certain amount of nous to use the privileged information at your disposal to your advantage. This is why CFA is of little relevance. Why have some theory of markets to fall back on, when you can buy a can of pop at $0.5 and sell it to a consumer at $1. That's all we're talking here.

neil1234

stelin2000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> I'm very interested in the investment world,
> specially in the stock exchange market. My dream
> is to be able to earn money from this someday...
>

When you figure out how to do this, let the rest of us know

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"Without American production the United Nations could never have won the war."
-Joseph Stalin, Tehran Conference: 1943

ohai

Dude_CFA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bit of a cliche all this trader stuff. How do
> these guys get in the door? You don't just walk in
> and start trading because you are street smart. A
> lot of mythology really. Here is street smart for
> you: use the information advantage that your firm
> possesses to make money. Flows / order books /
> unwitting clients etc. It is not because you are
> really something extraordinary, maybe just willing
> and able to use the information advantage at your
> disposal. It is about having the odds stacked in
> your favour and being given the opportunity to put
> capital at risk to take advantage of this
> fortunate circumstance they find themselves in.
> The rest is time and place. Ok, you have to have
> cojones to put on the risk, but the amount of blow
> ups suggest that they weren't street smart after
> all, just overly confident. Explains why all
> traders need an independent risk manager to stop
> them doing it more often. I accept that you have
> to have a certain amount of nous to use the
> privileged information at your disposal to your
> advantage. This is why CFA is of little relevance.
> Why have some theory of markets to fall back on,
> when you can buy a can of pop at $0.5 and sell it
> to a consumer at $1. That's all we're talking
> here.


You mean to say traders feel a superiority complex, and they aren't any different from other analysts except that they (traders) use privileged information?

KungFuPanda

Dude_CFA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bit of a cliche all this trader stuff. How do
> these guys get in the door? You don't just walk in
> and start trading because you are street smart. A
> lot of mythology really. Here is street smart for
> you: use the information advantage that your firm
> possesses to make money. Flows / order books /
> unwitting clients etc. It is not because you are
> really something extraordinary, maybe just willing
> and able to use the information advantage at your
> disposal. It is about having the odds stacked in
> your favour and being given the opportunity to put
> capital at risk to take advantage of this
> fortunate circumstance they find themselves in.
> The rest is time and place. Ok, you have to have
> cojones to put on the risk, but the amount of blow
> ups suggest that they weren't street smart after
> all, just overly confident. Explains why all
> traders need an independent risk manager to stop
> them doing it more often. I accept that you have
> to have a certain amount of nous to use the
> privileged information at your disposal to your
> advantage. This is why CFA is of little relevance.
> Why have some theory of markets to fall back on,
> when you can buy a can of pop at $0.5 and sell it
> to a consumer at $1. That's all we're talking
> here.

I agree, might as well just get a job at Goldman.

jbaldyga

stelin2000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think maybe i was wrong when i said "trader".
>
> Actually what I want to do is be able to choose
> the right assets and make my own portfolio and put
> my own money on it.
>
> So i guess that to carry out this I will need some
> skill in Financial Analysis, which is what the CFA
> program is specialized, am i right?
>
> I still dont know what are the differences between
> Financial analyst, PM and trader... , what i want
> to do is sit at home, do some mouseclicks and earn
> money, maybe with CFDs, my favourite...


------ If all you want to do is trade at home on your own account, you could be high school dropout and do that??? If you have enough capital to start, or can get an investment loan, go ahead and open a brokerage account and get started!!

?? Am i confused here...of course CFA will give you the knowledge, but in reality everybody makes trades differently anyway and go ahead and start trading....maybe you'll have some beginner luck. If your question is literally just about whether you can buy stocks and create your own portfolio, then yes you can do that without ANY qualifications...i wouldn't advise this unless you know what you're doing a little bit lol...

mamuka12

In fixed income, CFA has more value. Many of our traders have CFA, MBA or both. Our business is client driven so having a good grasp on client objectives and the market is extremely important.