<p>Well I will give you that. However, luck again has a minimal impact over the long run simply because a trader has to find new edges as the old ones are discovered by other market participants. The chances of simply being lucky to find say 5-6 exploitable edges is rather minimal. Thus, a trader who has survived for say 10 years can be said to be skilled. </p>
<p>However, its nice to see that you have gone from success depending "highly on luck" (as you noted in your original post) to it being important to "some extent". ;)</p>
<p>i would go with finace or accounting if i were you!!!!!! the people who really work hard at it (after college) make super big bucks!.....usually</p>
The problem with these fields is that when you divide your total income by the hours you work, it is not that high and sometimes lower than other career fields. There is also too much risk and luck when dealing with these career fields. 100% of the people in these fields work very hard. Probably 90% of these people don't make it past their third year at these firms.</p>
<p>Well risk and luck for a TRADER. iBanking - you work for so much. You live in your office. It's pretty hard for an ibanker. For a trader, you live with your headphones, talking with stockbrokers and and always wishing. Sitting, waiting, and wishing... But for traders, LUCK can also give you vast amounts of bonus $$. If you buy 70K shares from XM Radio and the next day, it goes up from $30 to $37 for some reason, then sell it ... Mammammia that's sooo good.</p>
<p>Well, almost every job is hard. There's no easy way out. One must work hard.</p>
Well, almost every job is hard. There's no easy way out. One must work hard.
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<p>Indeed. The issue with trading/ibanking is that you can work extremely hard and still not achieve your goal. It happens a lot.</p>
<p>However, if you obtain the necessary credentials and apply the work ethic you would have shown in the banking industry to another industry, it is MUCH easier to reach the top.</p>
<p>well the problem with banking is that the profession is sometimes relied upon Luck, since the up and downs of the stock market. So one wrong decision can be devastating. It's maybe just about luck, instinct, and decisions for a trader. But still, it requires the study of patterns of the stocks and a wide knowledge of how the world of stocks is running</p>
<p>The confusion again with banking and trading. I will tackle the idea of trading here:</p>
<p>It is true that a downturn in the markets will hurt flow traders as people, mostly the long only mutual funds, would stop placing orders resulting in less commissions etc. However, for your high frequency arb desk a downturn doesn't mean jack. They are making a few thousands trades a day (and thats pretty slow to boot) so the market's outlook for even a day is rather useless when your trading horizon is measured in milliseconds. And as I said for most traders the key isn't just simply working hard doing grunt work but actually researching and analyzing information. Their work resembles that of a researcher than of a 100 hour pitchbook making banker.</p>
<p>Banking is a different thing. A downturn in the economy will matter as deals will dry up and fees dry up. You have to distinguish between the various divisions in an investment bank. An ibankers job is wildly different from say that of the prop desk. You should also keep in mind there are quite a few markets other than stocks alone.</p>
<p>In prop trading, which traders (commodities, stocks, options, bonds, currencies, mortgages, whatever) get paid the most? Let's assume equal or similar performance. :D</p>
<p>Yes. However, some flow traders also have a prop function as well because they can take a position to facilitate a client order. This is pretty common in areas like exotic options, or swaps etc. Customer flow is also a valuable tool as well. </p>
<p>If you want to check out that trader monthly list just go to Trader daily website and then use bugmenot.com to log in.</p>
<p>Im not a compensation analyst, but if the performance is equal, my guess is they get paid the same. The way it works is you get a salary, then a discretional bonus. </p>
<p>It's about what field is hot but also what field has liquidity. If you're trading orange juice, my guess is that you won't be able to push 50 million clips all day.</p>
<p>Then again, traders are often confused with portfolio managers, who make the real money.</p>