What college degree should I pursue to learn about stock and forex markets?
There are several paths of study you could undertake. If you want to learn the fundamentals of the stock market and become a financial analyst, then finance, economics, and accounting (yes, accounting) are all good to study either on your own or in an institution. Furthermore, if you want to study a specific industry, it can't hurt to know a fair amount of the science behind that particular industry. For example, if you want to understand the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries, knowledge of clinical trials, the FDA's approval process (in the US, at least), off-label uses for drugs, genetic engineering, etc. are all good to know. You don't have to become an expert, but having a firm grasp on the science is extremely useful when evaluating a company's prospects. If you're interested in becoming an algorithmic trader or a quant, then physics, certain fields of engineering, signals processing, applied math, computer science, or econometrics will get you much farther than a standard finance or accounting degree. Most people can learn the basics of finance; not everyone can learn advanced mathematics. A lot of the above applies to learning about the forex market as well. Economics is certainly helpful, especially central bank policy, but since the forex market is so massive and liquid, many mathematical tools are necessary because algorithms play a key role as well. Per littleadv's suggestion, an MBA with a concentration in finance may be an option for someone who already has a degree. Also, an MSF (Master of Science in Finance) or a degree in financial engineering (called an MFE, or ORFE, for Operations Research and Financial Engineering) are other, potentially better options for someone pursuing a more technical career. A high-octane trading firm may not care that you've taken marketing and management classes; they want to hire someone who can understand complex algorithms and design and implement new ones quickly.  Some MSF programs are pre-experience programs, which means that in exchange for taking more time to complete, they don't expect you to have significant work experience in the financial industry. An MBA might require such experience, however. Financial Economics, although, as I understand it, not all colleges offer this major.
"No, getting a liberal arts degree at a non-prestigious university is worthless. You can graduate from an Ivy League school or LAC equivalent with a degree in history/philosophy/English/etc. and go work on Wall Street or in MBB consulting.   There very few fields where you have to be able to step in day 1 and have great technical knowledge. Mostly your degree and school are about signalling* that you can learn what's thrown at you.   EDIT: ""Signalling"" and typos I couldn't correct on my phone." Best of luck!  Just an FYI, a great deal of finance firms look for people like you.  The way you perceive things is completely different from the way someone who is traditionally trained in finance.  Look into some peers of DE.  Also, Private Equity (PE) firms...mainly the ones dealing with bio/pharma/whatever you specialize in.  What are your excel skills like?  Make them better!  No mouse.  Know VLOOKUP, GETPIVOTDATA, etc.  Again, not to become redundant, but figure out what you want to do and go from there...  If you are good/quick with your math look for trading.  There are a lot of books out there on the subject of trading.  Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, will give you an insight to the lifestyle/mantra of traders (during the 80s).  If you like digging into numbers/investigating things you may want to look into a more analytical role.  To figure out if you like this read some financial statements.  Look on SEC.gov, navigate to EDGAR.  Look up a 10-k (annual report) and a 10-q (quarterly report).  See if you like poking around/figuring out why and how things work.  Hit up seekingalpha.com.  This is a hodgepodge of people's opinion.  Saying why they want to buy/sell a security.  Look at the reasons.  They will cite certain economic indicators or other signals.  Seekingalpha is a place that can show you how financial types think.  See how your views differ or align.  Or even if you can expand on what they are saying.  Investopedia is a great place to learn jargon and other terms.  Frequent this place.  Key terms: http://www.financialmodelingguide.com/financial-modeling-tips/tips/banking-financial-terms/  This gives short definitions.  Investopedia will give you in depth definitions.  Are you currently employed as a RandomAcademicDean?  Does your college offer free courses to staff?  If yes, take some classes FOR FREE!  Take an accounting course (skip managerial, stick with financial), an econ course, a finance course.  I am going to assume your college offers a class in Econometrics.  Talk to one of the professors, if you think this class would be manageable, sign up.  They will probably say your should take MACRO and MICRO.  This is true, but you have a P.h.D in Chemistry so you have a demonstrated aptitude towards academia.  Econometrics, in short, can be considered the science of business.  Bottom line:  Figure our your interest within the financial realm, act upon it.  Play up your knowledge in chemistry (as a quantitative science) and experience as a dean (think management role).  tl;dr soak up knowledge.  regurgitate when necessary. P.h.D = good. read a lot.  Finance is a big world, you will fit in! no u dont need to go to a top college and there's always hope. hell you'll even be able to break in even if your grades suck. find an area of finance that you're interested in, become as specific as possible, and get really, really good in that area. it isn't enough to say you're into finance. won't even be sufficient to say you're interested in trading. be as specific as possible - macro currency trading, emerging market rates volatility arbitrage, european credit - and then be the best young guy around in that area. then its just a matter of getting in front of people and getting noticed by the right people. good luck. Thank you for the input. I was more interested in a MBA so I was wondering how it would fair in the finance world? Also I was wondering what you meant by it has little practical application in business but it is the best major to acquire well rounded skills in that area? Do you mean it's good but at the same time it's not? Most likely economics then. What I'm looking to gain is an understanding of how the market works so that I may take that knowledge and use it to make investments, buy stocks, or possibly start a business.  I have a very large amount of time between my studies for my classes and I think it would be a waste to not learn these tools (to give you a reason for my interest in this). I was a math undergrad and transitioned into a career in finance that isn't quant. I also just sat for CFA Level I and you're right - it's basically what you would learn as a finance/Econ undergrad. I found my math degree to be a really good differentiating factor when applying for jobs amongst a sea of business majors. Most prop firms these days want someone with a degree in math/statistics/engineering/physics/comp sci, i.e. someone who can think quantitatively and knows how to program.  If your still in college you might want to consider switching to one of those majors rather than finance.  You might want to look at some job postings from major prop firms just to see what they are looking for.  Many firms have college recruiting programs so check those out as well.  I also [wrote a post earlier](http://www.reddit.com/r/finance/comments/tqrij/seeking_advice_on_professional_currency_trading/c4oxp4u) about prop trading but that was directed more at someone who is already a profitable trader.  I forgot to add two links when I wrote that post: http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2007/07/steps-toward-joining-proprietary.html  http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2006/11/how-can-i-join-trading-firm.html  If I remember any other links I will make another post. I work in asset pricing/market microstructure research so I do come across a decent amount of topics at work that utilize my applied math degree. For the topics I'm working on right now on it's usually time series or econometrics stuff like vector autoregression, principal components, regressions, etc. Some of my coworkers are working on papers that use stochastic calculus and other aspects of continuous time finance. Honestly, I get the feeling that CS degrees are flooding the market right now, and that Finance has kind of fallen by the wayside, making it a better degree to have.  Of course, this is based purely off hearsay and secondary observation. Before you even enroll in a good financial school, register for an account with a bank that allows you to manage a stock portfolio.  I prefer TD Ameritrade.  You do have to be 18 (Just register it under your parents, it doesn't matter.  Just make sure they fill out the information portion.  Get the SSN and tax info right.  Basically it's their account, you're just managing it. ) That way you'll have some good, practical experience going into it.  Understand that working with money can be a very cut-throat industry, be ready to be competing with people constantly.    Also, surround yourself with books from successful stock brokers, investment bankers, things like that.  When you're working you'll want information like that.  Good luck, and  I hope this helps. Just because I'd like to see an answer too, consider posting in /r/financialcareers as you're more likely to get a response.  I think the general advice is that you should complete at least your undergrad degree, skipping out on it (especially in a quant position) could really limit your options later. Don't take my word for it though. "In finance  What kind of amorphous bullshit is that? There are literally hundreds of different things that can varyingly be termed ""in finance"". If you want the traditional big bank job working as a spreadsheet monkey, very fucking difficult right now. Masters in finance doubling down on a BS: if it's from Princeton, great, if it's from Blue Mountain State, whatever. A CFA is getting common but it might help - it probably won't hurt at least.   If you mean ""as a big shot trader for a hedge fund"" the answer is precisely impossible with only that on your resume. If you mean entry corporate finance, it's certainly possible (although you should not listen to anything I say in this regard as I've successfully avoided learning much about the subject thus far and have no intention of changing that, thus am as roughly as reliable on that as a wet paper towel)." I'd say yes! I wish I had a more quantitative background.  Especially if you go to a target school, it's a good move. Goldman now employs 100% more STEM majors than finance majors. Just went to an info session a few months ago. "It is great that you want to learn more about the Stock Market. I'm curious about the quantitative side of analyzing stocks and other financial instruments. Does anyone have a recommendation where should I start? Which books should I read, or which courses or videos should I watch? Do I need some basic prerequisites such as statistics or macro and microeconomics? Or should I be advanced in those areas? Although I do not have any books or videos to suggest to you at the moment, I will do some more research and edit this answer. In order to understand the quantitative side of analyzing the stock market to have people take you serious enough and trust you with their money for investments, you need to have strong math and analytical skills. You should consider getting a higher level of education in several of the following: Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Statistics, and Computer Science.  In mathematics, you should at least understand the following concepts: In finance, you should at least understand the following concepts: In Computer Science, you should probably know the following: So to answer your question, about ""do you need to be advanced in those areas"", I strongly suggest you do. I've read that books on that topics are such as The Intelligent Investor and Reminiscences of A Stock Operator. Are these books really about the analytics of investing, or are they only about the philosophy of investing? I haven't read the Reminiscences of A Stock Operator, but the Intelligent Investor is based on a philosophy of investing that you should only consider but not depend on when you make investments." "Generally, yes.  Rather than ask, ""why are these guys so cheap?"", you should be asking why the big names are so expensive. :) Marketing spend plays a big role there. Getting babies to shill for your company during the super bowl requires a heck of a lot of commissions. Due to the difficulties involved in setting up a brokerage, it's unlikely that you'll see a scam. A brokerage might go bankrupt for random reasons, but that's what investor insurance is for. ""Safeness"" is mostly the likelihood that you'll be able to get access to your funds on deposit with the broker. Investment funds are insured by SIPC for up to $500,000, with a lower limit on cash. The specific limits vary by broker, with some offering greater protection paid for on their own dime. Check with the broker -- it's usually on their web pages under ""Security"". Funds in ""cash"" might be swept into an interest-earning investment vehicle for which insurance is different, and that depends on the broker, too. A few Forex brokers went bankrupt last year, although that's a new market with fewer regulatory protections for traders. I heard that one bankruptcy in the space resulted in a 7% loss for traders with accounts there, and that there was a Ponzi-ish scam company as well. Luckily, the more stringent regulation of stock brokerages makes that space much safer for investors. If you want to assess the reliability of an online broker, I suggest the following: It's tempting to look at when the brokerage was founded. Fly-by-night scams, by definition, won't be around very long -- and usually that means under a few months. Any company with a significant online interface will have to have been around long enough to develop that client interface, their backend databases, and the interface with the markets and their clearing house. The two brokerages you mentioned have been around for 7+ years, so that lends strength to the supposition of a strong business model. That said, there could well be a new company that offers services or prices that fit your investment need, and in that case definitely look into their registrations and third-party reviews. Finally, note that the smaller, independent brokerages will probably have stiffer margin rules. If you're playing a complex, novel, and/or high-risk strategy that can't handle the volatility of a market crash, even a short excursion such as the 2010 flash crash, stiff margin rules might have consequences that a novice investor would rather pretend didn't exist."