There is a correlation between traders’ knowledge and lifetime value of clients, therefore FX firms for some time have considered the virtues of investing in educating traders, with variable results.
By partnering with a bona fide academic institution, University of Essex Online, FXStreet has taken the educational element into the realms of long established educational institutions, with a Masters Degree level course in trading.
Today, as the second intake of delegates prepare to undergo their courses, LeapRate spoke to Gus Farrow, Chief Editor of FXStreet, in order to gain a full perspective.
We live in an age where education has never been more freely available but quality filters remain extremely expensive. Conversely, we live in distressed financial conditions where many individuals are looking to take ownership of their financial security, but often don’t know where to start.
Financial information is often seen as elitist, elusive and designed to keep people out, rather than include them in the conversation. Nevertheless, people are governed by animal spirits and want to understand what makes the world turn, and how they can benefit.
An awkward truth of our industry is that an often-controversial guru sub-sector has emerged to fill the gap between supply and demand. Some gurus are genuine, and some are sharks. While gurus vary in honesty and ability, the reputation of proprietary financial education has suffered immensely from shark bites.
The story is depressingly commonplace. In so many examples, groups of the public have been convinced to pay excessive fees for a basic education into market analysis, excluding relevance, context or significant detail. They’ve been told that trading is as easy as pie; that they will be superstar traders in a matter of weeks and soon as the course ends, they are left to fail by themselves. I saw this first hand when researching this product.
This is what we are putting right.
It’s said that a trader is only as good as their last trade, and by the same token, we are only as good as our reputation. With this in mind we only approach the best contributors for collaborations because we want our readers to get the best information and education possible, leading to better decisions in the market place.
Partnering with the University of Essex Online lets us take this quality assurance one step further. Not only have we reached out to collaborate with the real industry professionals, but also we have secured a stamp of assurance from one of the worlds fastest growing and well-respected universities.
The feedback we have had from students so far has been phenomenal. A strong bond has formed in the group, and provisions to stay in touch and continue learning together have been made. This is a key point for us. They will continue to learn. Trading success does not happen overnight. There are no short cuts. No holy grail. The journey is the reward.
Because everybody has a different skill set, it’s impossible to expect everybody to approach the market in the same way. If you mismatch your skills and approach, you won’t do yourself justice. Our hope is that every student has their eyes opened to the many different asset classes, types of analysis and execution strategies out there and they treat this course as their first step on the long road to trading and investing success. It looks like this is what has happened so far.
We aspire to create courses that break down the barriers to information and education. By structuring this as an online postgraduate course that can progress onto a full MSc or MBA, we believe we are providing the best solution on the market for students who want an affordable, flexible, and relevant education, with a clearly defined progression route.
This is a Guest Editorial which was compiled by and represents the viewpoint of Gus Farrow, Chief Editor, FXStreet