Trader advice

[green11]

Im new to the forum so first of all, hey to everyone.

After an internship this summer with a top pension fund in the city (working both at the trading desk and with fund managers, quants and research analysts), I have decided to opt for a career in trading. I would like to start out as a desk trader, with a preference to trade in equities or FX.

Im 16, should get top grades at GCSE and A-level (not blowing my own trumpet at all but its just a fact of life that i am relatively intelligent and go to one of the top schools in the country).

Question is, what route would be best to get into such a career, in terms of internships -
i have made contacts at the company i interned at this summer, should I go for another internship with them in summers to come? And what sort of degree should i apply for, because i have a slight problem in that i wasnt allowed to take economics or maths alevel at school (im taking history, business, politics, music). I know some universities let you on an economics course without economics or maths alevels as a pre-requisite, but not the top ones. Would a degree such as PPE be as worthwhile to this career?
Answers much appreciated, thanks.

 

[green11]

thanks for the advice - very helpful.

Could you possibly tell me some of the differences in your experience between working as a trader at a pension fund and at an investment bank.

Is working at a pension fund a less "exotic" job than at an IB? Because the structure of the pension fund I interned at was fairly different to structures of IB's that a lot of people talk about when talking about becoming a trader (ie at the merrills, goldmans and jp's of this world)