Even though women now make up about 50 percent of the work force[1] there are still some jobs that are male dominated. Despite gender equality and women’s professional advancements, men remain the top earners in America and hold the majority of leadership positions.

Women make up just 3 percent of chief executives at the largest 1000 U.S. companies[2].

As a female futures trader, I’m very familiar with what it’s like to work in an industry that’s notorious for being one of the oldest fraternal organizations—a modern day “boys club,” if you will.

However, this is not the first time I’ve worked in a male dominated industry. Prior to trading I was an engineer in the semiconductor industry. This job offered me stocks and stock options which was actually my first introduction to trading. As I started to learn more about stock options and how I could make money with them, I realized I had an affinity for trading.

Eventually trading became my full time job and required my full focus. I became interested in the futures market and later came across TopstepTrader, where I am now a trading coach who specializes in market profile and price action.

TopstepTrader recently surveyed their members and found that 92 percent are men. Even though I’m part of the minority, it has never made a difference. Trading is non-discriminatory. Anyone can be a good trader. One person is just as capable of winning or losing as the next.

But if women can be just as good at trading as men, then why aren’t there more women in trading?

I think it is pretty simple. Trading requires precision focus on one thing. Yes, women are capable of that, but we tend to have a psyche of putting others first and being a caretaker. A woman is much more likely to multi-task, putting children, family and significant others first. But in trading you have to leave all of that behind and focus solely on the trade, which can be tough for many women. Unfortunately, the consequence is that the trade will get away from you and that can be an extremely expensive mistake.

I recently came across research by John Coates, a senior researcher in neuroscience and finance at the University of Cambridge.

He claims that the trading world would be better off with more female traders. His reasoning? Hormones.

Coates took saliva samples of 250 floor traders (most of them young men) and they showed significant testosterone spikes after a winning trade. These testosterone spikes can actually lead to impaired judgment, risky behavior and ultimately poor trades[3]. This research - part of a new field called neuroeconomics - attempts to explain how people manage risk and why they often make irrational decisions. So, those who previously thought that women may not possess the emotional grit to trade might want to think again.

Will women ever enter into the futures trading market in larger numbers? It’s possible now that more women delay marriage to focus on their careers first[4]--this lessens external forces pulling their focus from trading. I believe the potential for the career to grow in popularity among women is certainly there, especially with the ability to trade electronically. Traders no longer need to be in the pit, which provides a work-from-home flexibility that appeals to many women. Additionally, trading happens 23 hours out of the day, making it easy to fit into a tight schedule.

However, I realize the extreme volatility of the markets can wear on people. Trading is not for everyone, regardless of gender. It takes a certain type of person to do this job, but it definitely doesn’t matter if that person is a man or a woman.

[1] United States Department of Labor, Quick Stats on Women Workers 2012

[2] Forbes, 15 Jobs where Women Earn More than Men

[3] Bloomberg, Better Trading Through Science

[4] New York Times: Study Finds Women are Slower to Wed, and Divorce Easing

This article was written by Helen Kalashnikov, currently a coach at TopstepTrader, a global scouting agency for futures traders, specializing in market profile and price action. She focuses on ES E-mini futures and has been a day trader since 2004.

Prior to becoming a trader and working with TopstepTrader, Helen was an engineer in Russia where she earned a Bachelor of Science in aero-space instrumentation. She moved to the United States in 1994 and earned her Master’s degree in semiconductor device physics.