If it weren’t for some large education expenses, Patrick Armstrong might never have ended up in trading.
Indeed, Armstrong had no intention of trading as a full-time career. He was just going to work at trading on the way to medical school. Armstrong, who played center on the football team there, graduated from Columbia University in 1994 after majoring in premedical studies. He ended up in trading by accident.
“I got into Wall Street trying to pay off some of my student loans,” he explained.
He began by spending two years in portfolio administration with Glickenhaus & Co., which just closed its doors at the end of last year. He began by reconciling accounts and talking to clients.
“I thought I’d make some quick money and go back to school,” Armstrong said. “But then I discovered that I had a true passion for trading. I wanted to get into it.”
Armstrong says the business of creating and expanding public companies is “fascinating” and he decided trading was should be his career. He has gone on to become one of younger floor governors in the history of the Big Board, at 38, and one of STANY’s younger presidents, at 41.
