How to become a trader

How to become a trader?

I am a 16 year old boy living in Canada. I want to be a trader when I grow up. Finance/business is my passion. I wake up every morning reading up the business news just for kicks, even though the material there hardly applies to me. I have my own stock simulator account. In my spare time I read finance/investing/trading books. Every "for dummies" book relating in the slightest to finance/investing/trading I have read, and a plethora of other books. I have a passion for it!

Academically, I am excellent. I live in Canada so we don't use GPA's (at least in my school) but my scholastic average is at 94% (top 1%), whatever the equivalent is in terms of GPA... so you can definitely say that I'm very intelligent.

Now, the question I have to ask is how one goes about becoming a trader? Does one apply to an investment bank and join the trading department or something, or are there separate trading firms that one joins. My dream is to become a prominent fund manager of some kind, though I do acknowledge that might take a while, if I am capable of fulfilling that dream at all!

In regards to university education, for my undergraduate I will NOT be going to Ivy league or any other US university. That is because me and my family are not particularly wealthy, so we can not afford to pay tuition to such a privileged (or overpriced, whatever you believe) school, and we both agree that taking time off from my valuable studying to work at a job would be detrimental to my education. So to make things short, I'm staying in my local university, which is pretty highly regarded in Canada anyway. The reason I'm mentioning this is that I have heard that education, upbringing, and status does not mean as much as intelligence,drive, and ambition Is this true? Do I have a chance? Like Gordon Gecko said "Id rather have a poor, hungry, smart man over a Harvard MBA"

Also, I have no intentions of working on Wall Street immediately, instead, Canada's equivalent, Bay Street, would be satisfactory, at least for now. I would probably work for one of the big Canadian investment banks, like CIBC World Markets, or TD Securities, to name a few.

So to recap, how does one become a trader, whats the daily life of a trader like, requirements for being a trader, and your opinion on Canadian Investment Banks.

Mind you, I won't be entering the work force until 6 or so years once I finish high school and my undergraduate, so I am hoping for the financial sector to repair itself by then. Any possibility of this?

LASTLY, sorry for the long post. I prefer to ask an extensive question so that I may get more extensive answers :) Thank you

Other Answers:

It's pretty easy if your parents support you, I'm 15 and my dad set up a custodial brokerage account that i trade in for my own benefit. Depending on what brokerage firm you choose (I use Charles Schwab) will determine how much startup capital you'll need. Most accounts require a startup fee of about a hundred dollars U.S (97.6 Canadian dollars) and a minimum account balance of a thousand dollars U.S. which equates to 976.7 Canadian dollars. Idk if you get money from family memebers on holidays or anything but I got my startup cash doing yardwork for neighbors. Hope this helps.
-Trevor

As a disclaimer, I know nothing about the finance industry in Canada. Education, upbringing, and status are essentially all that matters on Wall Street. Does that mean without them it can't be done? No, but it does mean it will be highly unlikely and very difficult. The only potential exception to this would be if you become a "Quant" (look it up). If you show someone your statements and they show consistent returns, all bets are off, you could do it.

If all you want to do is trade, just do it.

Brush up on your math skills. Even major in math, computer science, with finance or economics minor/dual-major. At the very least minor in math or computer science. They provide you with transferable skills that are desirable in trading. A lot of trading firms value candidates who play poker or chess because of the mental skill required and its transferability into trading. You typically apply for a summer internship and hopefully receive a return offer for a full-time position during junior year. Anyone can learn how to trade. It doesn't take a genius, but it takes someone with an abstract thought process and ability to do quick mental math.