Is it CFA a must to become a trader? like, interested, investment, exchange

sabre

I was wondering if CFA is a must in order to become a sucessfull trader...

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...

So I would like to ask you if it is a good decision to study CFA for my purpose.

Thanks.

yalo

Usually traders don't have letters, however, as a trader (prop or hedge fund) I would want the letters since most of your work is self-driven ideas and investment thesis.

As an order flow trader or "client facing" trader I think it's essentially worthless.

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ChickenTikka Wrote:
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> Being Born Wealthy > Being Jewish or WASPY > Born
> Pretty > Top 5 MBA > CFA > Avg MBA > Born middle
> class > Born lower class > Born in crack house >
> Born middleclass in Asia and working in IT but
> looking to switch to buyside

redskins44

Do a lot of prop traders have CFA charters, Assetman?

brainsX

Most traders I've run across don't do the CFA. Some do the CMT, though.

There are also a lot of different types of traders. Those that are just execution traders definitely don't need the CFA... it's just way overkill for what they need. Prop traders tend to use technical analysis, overlaid with some fundamental stuff at times, depending on their approach and personality. They also need to look at the risk composition of their books, which gets into portfolio construction, but they tend to use weighting guidelines rather than optimization. Again, the CFA program doesn't really add that much value for the amount of work it is.

Portfolio managers at very small shops or who manage their own accounts will usually do their own trading. Those people often have CFA charters, but most people wouldn't necessarily call them traders, even though they have to do trades to manage their portfolio.

SFoyil

ChickenTikka Wrote:
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> Do a lot of prop traders have CFA charters,
> Assetman?


Not that I know of, however; If I were a prop trader or any trader taking major risk I'd want it to at least have some grasp of what I'm getting myself into. If you're trading on any kind of lang term horizon (longer than 1-3 months per position) I think it makes sense to have it.

An economist or analyst can talk all day about X, Y and Z but never HAS to eat their own cooking. Traders are vindicated whether that be good or bad.

___________________________________________________
ChickenTikka Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Being Born Wealthy > Being Jewish or WASPY > Born
> Pretty > Top 5 MBA > CFA > Avg MBA > Born middle
> class > Born lower class > Born in crack house >
> Born middleclass in Asia and working in IT but
> looking to switch to buyside

noel

Assuming the OP means "trader" (swing, momentum, macro, currency, etc.) as distinct from "investor" (of the value variety), the CFA would be worthless. The biggest bang for the buck and fastest return on time would be to spend a couple of hundred bucks and get involved with the CANSLIM program through a seminar or reading one of the books on the subject. If you spend 50% of the time you would spend studying the CFA reading that book and IBD, you will make a lot more money than the average CFA.

ruchita

CFA is worthless in getting a job as a trader.

The underlying material and macro stuff you learn from the CFA could be useful though.

Howd

Majority of traders at my firm are Charterholders

Then again it's Investment management firm, so probably like 80% of the employees are.

CFA is a great designation...it may not immediately benefit you, but from what I've been seeing it surely can't hurt...

SeanWest

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...

Kapie

I agree with above, CFA is probably an impediment if you want to become a trader. My experience with talking to many many traders...