I'm a futures trader in Chicago, I do fundamental/technical analysis for crude. (Two years)
I did an AMA here a few days ago, feel free to ask me anything.
Futures Trader AMA-again
Julian Price
Noah Miller
how much is the pay?
what did you study to get such a job?
is it easy or hard work?
where do you see yourself in 20 years?
Cooper Ward
Have you ever dabbled in options? What’s your opinion on online exchanges like NADEX and E*trade? Also what is your job like?
Joshua Harris
Pay is mostly based on how much money one makes at this point. The longer you're at a firm the more as a % they give you and the more money they let you use.
I studied Econ/Math
Hard work first, but once you get to know an asset it's easier. The hardest part is maintaining a lifestyle that lets you keep a level head... Can't be hungover, overcaffeinated, on a period (for girls). ETC
20 years I hope to be retired, but I think everyone in this generation would like to think that way.
Yes, I know how to trade options. It's good to know when you have a crazy idea, but think it will work anyway, less risk. Futures can be incredibly risky, but better for taxes and other things in the short term.
Luke Walker
How much is a “tick” in futures? Like one tick upward is 25 dollars and vice versa?
Charles Fisher
Can I still be a cool futures trader if I suck ass at mathematics?
Jaxson Campbell
what do you think of BTC and cryptocurrencies in general? the future or a fad?
Ryder King
Depends. One lot in oil is 1k barrels and if you assume 1 tick is the smallest movement possible then that's $10.00 per penny change per contract.
You asked about NADEX and Etrade, I don't know about them, it sounds like these brokers run their own side exchanges, which can be fine for most people. People generally open new exchanges to get fees from high frequency guys who pay them fees to let them front run customers.
My day starts pretty early, get to work check charts, half an hour later meet boss/commodities team, sometimes different divisions all meet to get told something. Consider US "Pit" open to be 9:00 AM not 9:30. Day generally ends by "pit" close at 2:30 (these are eastern times).
Do research on pipeline outages, etc when things in the afternoon.
David Jackson
I’ve been looking into futures contracts, and I’ve heard rags to riches stories, and because the news about oil is so unpredictable the risk is basically gambling. Donald Trump could start a war with Iran tomorrow solely for US special interests and the price of oil could plummet, along with your stake in futures. I get it’s a drastic example, but in this world anything can happen. Is it gambling or is there an actual strategy?
Ayden Martin
Mice have been trained to outperform Hedge fund mangers. There are guys out there who don't even want to know what the full name of the ticker they're trading is so they can just stick to technicals.
Easier to get a job with a mathematics phd, however. Those guys do the advanced modeling.
Bitcoin is both a fad and the future. As more money goes into the system the less volatile it will become and the more usable it becomes. If you buy something on Amazon in bitcoin and ten minutes later Bitcoin crashed 10% then the vendor gets fucked if they don't clear in real time... even small amounts of slippage make it impractical with tons of transactions like that.
I don't yet understand why there are so many coins though, Crypto isn't my area, but if this is like the .com bubble, then maybe bitcoin and one-two other big ones will survive like Amazon did and the others won't.
Thinking bitcoin will be all future currency is Naive- I saw someone saying that somewhere.