Do You Need a College Degree to Be a Day Trader (2024)

Day trading is not a traditional corporate job. There is no corporate hierarchy for traders to work their way up except for their account value and profitability. Trading does not require a college degree, it is open to anyone who has capital to trade with in the stock market. Trading is very egalitarian. No one cares if the person inputting an order has a college degree, what gender they are, or what race religion or creed. The only factor influencing success is a traders own ability to perform.

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Generally when a professional trading firm is looking to hire a trader they will look for a college degree or past experience trading professionally. Usually the lack of a college degree is not a definite sticking point for prospective traders, but it can be difficult to be considered without at least having prior trading experience.

Everything a trader needs to know can be learned on the job, but experience with a professional software platform, habits like using hot keys and choosing between ECN markets and dark pool markets, and understanding of the data feeds that a professional looks at bypasses a big part of the learning curve.

To be a day trader of course a trader does not need to work with a professional trading firm such as a hedge fund or a proprietary trading firm. Anyone with the capital to open a day trading account ($25,000 with a retail brokerage) is capable of setting out on their own and developing a trading strategy. Of course this can be extremely time consuming, be met with a lot of failure and loss of capital, and there is no guarantee that a trader will ever become profitable.

A trader can fund a day trading account with significant less money than $25,000 if they open a proprietary brokerage account, but the trader must obtain a Series 56 if he is based in the United States. The benefit is that the trader can fund an account with less capital and can often times be helped with their trading strategy by the firm. No college degree is required by law to open a proprietary trading account.

Prospective traders should consider that the open nature of stock trading is a double edged sword for them. While the markets are open to everyone, some market participants are significantly more experienced and sophisticated than others. To trade without any training, experience, or strategy is like a baby gazelle trying to survive by itself in a savannah full of lions.

This is especially true now that high frequency trading firms have computer algorithms constantly scanning thousands of stock symbols looking for traders entering what they consider to be stupid trades. High frequency trading firms can act at lightning speed and have the best technology money can buy to give themselves every advantage possible. These high frequency firms can move a stock, or even the entire market, very quickly and traders can very quickly lose a lot of money if they do not have the proper risk control measures in place.

There can also be a big technological advantage for some hand traders over others. In the same way that some traders are trading with years of experience and others are brand new, some traders have access to various dark pools, direct market access to ECNs, and much lower transaction costs. New traders tend to just join a retail broker and pay full retail fees for inferior software, data, and execution.

While a college degree is not required to trade, a trader still needs training, experience and mentorship to be successful. If they don’t have access to proper training, they more than likely will end up with a very expensive lesson from the markets on the importance of proper training. More than likely a trader without any guidance will end up frustrated, confused, and barely more knowledgeable about trading than they were to begin with.

At How We Trade, we recommend that new traders do anything they can to educate themselves and get the proper training from a professional firm. When we bring new traders on we provide full training on every aspect of day trading from software, to strategy, to market behavior. We provide professional software and data feeds, as well as risk controls to protect our traders. This is the type of experience you should look for if you are trying to make day trading your full time profession.

New traders do not need college degrees, but like any other profession, without the right training they have no chance of survival. With the right training and motivation, a trader can achieve the success he is seeking.

Is a College Degree Necessary for Day Trading?

The question of whether a college degree is necessary for day trading is a subject of debate among traders.

Some argue that formal education is not required as trading skills can be learned through experience and self-study.

They believe that everything a trader needs to know can be learned on the job and prior trading experience is more important than a college degree.

On the other hand others believe that a college degree in finance or economics can provide a strong foundation for day trading.

They argue that a degree can offer valuable knowledge in understanding market trends and fundamental analysis.

Additionally a college degree can provide access to internships and networking opportunities that can be beneficial for traders.

However successful day traders can be found both with and without a college degree.

Ultimately the decision to pursue a college degree as a day trader depends on individual circ*mstances and preferences.

In the end experience and understanding of the market trends are often more important factors for success in day trading.