The goal of many people interested in working in the financial market is to call themselves a professional. But how can you become a professional trader in the true sense of the word, i.e. a professional trader? We want to identify a few possible ways in this article.
Become a professional trader from scratch
You can’t learn to be a professional trader in the classical sense, as you would learn to be, for instance, a baker or an engineer. One way you can become a trader is to take a conventional route and study Business Administration, Economics, Computer Science or Maths with a strong emphasis on financial markets. During your studies, you should ideally complete several internships at banks or insurance companies in the appropriate departments, and in addition to accumulating practical experience, make good contacts. Most full-time traders have a post-graduate traineeship at a bank where they deepen their knowledge and are increasingly involved in the day-to-day business, to manage assets.
Become a professional trader by working your way up
Another way to get into trading departments is to work in a bank. Of course, for this to succeed you must choose a bank, which also has a trading department. So, if you complete an apprenticeship at a bank and you show a keen interest in the trading department, you increase your chances of getting involved there after the apprenticeship. Granted, this approach is far more difficult than the first one mentioned, but it should be mentioned that banks like to keep their own staff, and when ambition, demeanour, and knowledge are right, then an internal hire is often preferred, even though the employee’s skills and certificates may not seem that high quality to an outsider. It should be mentioned that it is by no means a must to have a university degree for this method.
Become a professional trader through results
You can also become a professional trader at a trading company or at a wealth management if you have convinced through results. This means that you can have a long track record and your actions speak for themselves. Of course, it will be difficult if this track record is impressive on the one hand but, on the other hand, it comes with only a $500 account. Experience has shown that the following parameters are very interesting for many companies:
- Manage a five-digit account
- Maximum drawdown 10%
- Average return 20% a year
- Track record of at least 4 years
How do you get a track record?
Basically, this is easily possible with any broker. Many social trading platforms, such as eToro, also make it very easy for traders to fully publicize their skills.
Become a professional trader through certification
The path that is chosen by many professional traders so that they can officially refer to themselves as well-versed is training and certification by an official institution like Deutsche Börse. You can do this training directly at the Deutsche Börse, and in many cases from the comfort of your own home. This training provides a very extensive and in-depth knowledge of the financial markets so a complete newcomer would certainly be overwhelmed. We recommend this training only if you have considerable previous knowledge. At the end of the training, your knowledge is tested and certified in an exam.
At this point, it should be mentioned that Tradimo has entered into a close partnership with Deutsche Börse and will soon be offering such training that you can perform, as usual, comfortably from home. More at a later date.
Become a professional trader in a prop house
A Prop (proprietary) House is a company in which all the traders work with the company’s money. The goal is to generate profits and retain some of the profits. This is in most cases the income of traders. The traders are in hard competition with each other, so that the prop house trader who delivers a poor performance and/or is too high risk will be replaced.
In some countries, such as Germany, the concept of the prop house is prohibited and you are therefore dependent on going to countries like England, where prop houses are widespread. Fortunately, there are now online prop houses. This is the perfect opportunity for good traders to trade with foreign capital and pursue the profession of trader full-time, although their own capital would not be enough.
