Money
28 June 2010
Increasing numbers of UK workers are switching careers to become stock market traders, according to figures from leading trader coaching company Knowledge to Action.
In the first quarter of 2010, the company saw a 30 per cent rise in the number of people attending its forex and stock market training courses in the UK, compared with the same period last year.
To date, more than 10,000 people have completed a course and many have since adopted trading as a full-time career.
The opportunity to spend three sessions sitting side-by-side with an expert working on a live trading floor is a major factor in the popularity of the company's courses.
Knowledge to Action, which runs Traders University(r) programme, began providing stock market training in 2004 and launched its forex training course in 2008. Demand has grown exponentially, with members of the public leaving behind jobs such as hairdressing and retail to pursue a career offering greater financial rewards.
Knowledge to Action client experience manager, Estee Chaikin, said: "It's wonderful to see so many people recognising the potential of trading as a more rewarding career. For so long, people have felt the doors to that world were closed but with the right training, almost anyone can enter the industry and be successful.
"Certainly the recession has forced a lot of people to reassess their working life and consider alternative options. They've recognised that the financial industry generates a significant amount of wealth and they quite rightly want to be part of it."
Chaikin believes the numbers of new people entering the profession will help overturn negative perceptions of the archetypal city trader.
"In some respects, stock market trading has had a pretty bad press in recent times, and I think it can only benefit from having a greater diversity of people involved."
One of them is Josie Keogh, from Surrey, who graduated from the Ultimate Forex Profits course in November last year. She said: "I started off with £500 and it's now up to £4,000. And that's being a single mum of three working six days a week as a hairdresser.