Industry Insight...


Financial Freedom in The Future(s)

“The Chosen Few”:
Proprietary trading futures is a highly lucrative career choice for the 7% that have the ability to succeed in this very competitive and demanding industry. To build a career in trading is to be amongst the ELITE. This obviously does not come without skill and sacrifice. Nothing in life does.

In all the years I have been involved in trading futures, I have noticed a few common traits amongst its top performers.

“The Demands”:
Some come into the industry looking for a challenge that they may never have experienced before, as trading futures in Equities, Bonds, Currencies or Commodities, requires the utmost dedication and continuous application of self discipline. During the course of a trader’s career, the individual will be forced to go through a rigorous self learning process, (beginning to understand their strengths and weaknesses, fear and greed). Once these emotions and demons have been mastered, the individual can truly begin to understand themselves and begin to excel in this highly demanding industry. The rewards for self mastery of emotional intelligence become apparent in all areas of a trader`s life.

Not only are the demands emotional, but physical and mental too.

“Global Markets Never Sleep..” :
Seamless Global Market electronic trading, from Asia (Nikkei & JGB’s), and the US (S&P or Treasury Bonds) to Europe (DAX , Bund and FTSE) challenges the trader to rise to a state of constant alertness.

The necessary skills to rise in order to anticipate and exploit these opportunities when they arise are unique even within the Financial Services Industry. A trader should not only manage to combine the skills of an Economist- understanding the fundamentals of Monetary policy and Fiscal policy, (Interest rates, Inflation and Employment), but also the market timing knowledge of a Technical Analyst that are of paramount importance to bring a trade to life.

However, charting of historical price data/movements alone will not suffice, as understanding the markets psychology, (the reading of orders coming into the market from all participants), is another necessary skill-set to be mastered. All in all, the trader is required to be able to assimilate information from at least three different sources in an instant before an informed trading decision can be executed. On top of this, a sound risk and money management strategy (likened to the kind used on a poker table), is required to keep a traders daily profit and loss, and trading account profitable.

“The Spoils Go To The Victor”:
If you are one of the lucky few who have the desire and ability to master all these skills, not only will you have the opportunity to work with professional independence and flexibility in an environment that is energetic and vibrant, and constantly changing, but the secondary rewards, in the form of profits can be beyond that of any football star.

How many other jobs can offer the freedoms that most look for in their lifetime?