1.5 years experience as an F&O prop trader — laid off after RBI circular and feeling very stuck about what to do next

I was working at a proprietary trading firm in India where my role involved trading F&O using firm capital. I have about 1.5 years of experience on a prop desk, mainly doing active trading in index.

After the recent RBI circular affecting capital market exposures, our firm had to restructure and unfortunately laid off a lot of people, including me.

Right now I’m honestly feeling quite stuck.

I originally got into the markets through equity research, and later moved into F&O trading at a prop desk. Alongside work I had started preparing for the CFA, but I’ve been struggling with it a lot — I’m not sure if it’s the right path for me because I’m finding it difficult to study and understand the material.

Now with the layoffs happening across prop firms, I’m not even sure what direction I should take next.

Some things I’ve been thinking about:

• Should I continue trying to pursue prop trading roles?

• Should I move towards broking firms or institutional trading desks?

• Should I continue with the CFA, or is there another skill I should focus on instead (like quant / coding)?

• For people who started in prop trading, what career paths did you move into later?

I really enjoy being involved in the markets, but right now I feel quite lost about the next step and would appreciate any advice from people in the industry.

Thanks for reading.