Hey guys,

I’m a university student, studying Finance. I’ve decided that I want to become a trader, not sure about which type (stocks/commodities/forex etc).

BEFORE, someone makes a smart comment about “Trading can only be learnt by trading or on-the-job” or “Just open an account and trade”… I WILL be starting an account and trading slowly.

I need help deciding which units would be MOST beneficial to study, for a career in Trading, either for hedge funds or proprietary firms e.g. Optiver, whom I’ve heard many good things about.

If any professional traders could take a 2 minutes reading the unit descriptions below and suggest in order of importance (1-8) OR top 5 units to study; along with reasons. I would be very grateful.

Thank you in advance!


ACST201 – Financial Modelling
AFIN270 – Stochastic methods in applied finance
AFIN250 - Investments
AFIN328- Financial Risk Management
AFIN329 - Derivatives Instrument
AFIN331 - Quantitative Modelling in Applied Finance
AFIN353 - Advanced Corporate Finance
AFIN352 - Applied Portfolio Management