For Part 1 of this interview between our VP, Customer Success Kara Grygotis and Linda Raschke, see Breaking Through: Linda Raschke, Part 1.
Kara: Is there any particular advice you’d give to a woman who’s looking for a career in trading or in futures?
Linda: We need to eliminate the word “career” for several reasons. It is true, if you want to trade and be successful, you need to do it full time, 100%, and eliminate all other distractions. It has to be the number-one priority in your life in all regards. But with that said, trading futures or stocks, or technical analysis, can also be your hobby. It doesn’t mean that you have to make a living doing it; you can certainly enjoy the markets. I see a lot of people study and learn and enjoy getting the essence of the game even though they may not be able to devote all their time to it. Once you take away that pressure of saying it has to be a career, you’re either going to love it or you’re going to hate it. You’re likely going to enjoy it if you like games and the mathematical appeal of it. Or if you can tolerate understanding that there’s losses and get the statistical essence of, “Look, I only have to be right 50% of the time. I just need to have winners bigger than the losers.” For some people, that kind of thinking won’t work—they’ll always have a problem with it. Because you can’t put the markets in a black box and peg it to an algorithmic, algebraic equation. It doesn’t work that way. The thing to keep in mind is it’s a bottom-line business. Nobody really cares if you’re female or male. They’ll care if you can contribute something to the bottom line, either by trading and managing money or being part of the team.
