The trading floor has long been a stage dominated by men. A 2022 report from Deloitte showed women hold less than 20 per cent of senior roles across global financial services, and in professional trading the imbalance is even starker. Estimates suggest more than 90 per cent of traders are men.
This absence has consequences. Trading is not just about personal gain – it is a gateway to financial literacy, independence, and resilience. Without representation, women risk being excluded from the very skills that provide stability when life becomes uncertain.
Yet research has consistently shown that when women do step into investing, they often outperform. A Fidelity study covering eight million clients found women’s portfolios earned on average 0.4 per cent more per year than men’s, largely due to disciplined strategies and steadier risk management. In short, women may be rare in trading, but the evidence suggests they should not be.
Few stories illustrate this paradox more clearly than that of Olga Magomedova. Trained in aircraft engineering, she carried precision and discipline into the financial markets. Her conviction in independence was tested when her former husband’s business collapsed, leaving her family’s security resting on her trading. What could have been a crisis became validation: years of preparation and daily discipline were her real safety net. “Life can change at any moment,” she says. “Your independence and skills are the only foundation you can truly rely on.”
Olga rejects the notion that motherhood diminishes ambition. “My children are my reason to push higher, not a limitation,” she explains. This reframing stands in sharp contrast to
long-standing stereotypes of women in finance being forced to choose between family and career.
Her story also challenges cultural myths around trading itself. The industry is often romanticised as a realm of quick wins and aggressive competition, but Olga emphasises the opposite. “It isn’t about bravado,” she says. “It’s about discipline, foresight, and the ability to stay calm under pressure.”
The presence of women like Olga is part of a broader shift. Digital platforms have lowered barriers to entry, giving women access to tools and communities once out of reach. At the same time, social conversations about equality are moving beyond symbolic representation into
practical arenas such as financial literacy. If empowerment is to mean anything tangible, independence – especially financial independence – must be at its core.
For Olga, the lesson is universal. While her story rests in financial markets, her message extends to anyone facing uncertainty: don’t wait for crisis, build your independence before you need it. In an industry still dominated by men, her success is not just personal but emblematic of what happens when women enter trading. They do not simply compete – they thrive, and in doing so they reshape what resilience in finance looks like.
As global markets remain volatile, the old assumption that trading belongs to men is increasingly untenable. Women like Olga Magomedova remind us that the qualities that define great traders – foresight, discipline, resilience – have no gender at all.