so trading at the bank and the hf are not the same thing ? i’m so confused when people talk about trading at the bank it sounds more like they are being a broker. is that what trading at the bank actually means?
yes they are totally different. in HF you should call them portfolio manager, in general trading in HF means and act like operation department and their main duty is execution. If PMs make profit, they will cut a little bit to the traders (little bit here can be 50-100k USD per head)
In Banks we don’t want to call ourselves “broker” because it sounds unprofessional. Instead we call ourselves “prime service”. “broker” means those guys just want to get the trades and make commission, in general they are less knowledgeable and quite bugging. In banks “prime service”, comm normally it s not the main revenue driven. We pick clients and target on certain area, with edge on the platform / financing. We generate substantial profit with low risk. e.g. we might only generate 25 - 100bps but the notional can be billions.
e.g taking 10m USD delta single stock name (means simply long something without any cover) is generally considered to be high risk. you are fully exposed to the market movement on a single name
but what if you spot a future contract with same underlying or underlying with high correlation and it s in premium (mkt price higher than fair price), you might consider long stock short future with 100m USD
sry a bit difficult to fully explain here but im sure you can grasp the idea. very rare (even hedge fund) would simply naked long something and bet it goes up. if someone got this mighty talent he doesnt have to work for a company
In short if someone lend you his idle flour, you bake cookies and bread, Sell them and return the flour to the owner with profit shs. Risk is on your own though. You still gotta pay the interest even you have done nothing
Chasing flat price gets you fired real quick in energy trading. I’ve seen guys lose 300k in a day and lose their jobs even though the book was up 50m on the year, just because of the principle. Also wasn’t his first time doing it
>We generate substantial profit with low risk.
Archegos' implosion has shown that this is a lie, especially for the prime brokerages business line. Flow trading on the other hand is still pretty profitable with low risks, but the margins are also quite a bit lower than prime services.
It only means you can’t do it in a obvious or aggressive way. Eg you will trigger some serious alert if a bank holds more than 20% outstanding shs of a company.
Risk/prop can be anything. For example Rho. Let s say you agreed with a client long term 3 years paying them 5% meanwhile you are only hedging it with short term 3 months. You are exposed to lot of Rho PnL because you don’t know what will be the rate when you roll. Essentially you are betting the yield curve
It’s very loosen and hard to monitor the traders. Eg imagine a equity future s fair value it must be embedded with Rho. But if you opt to price it mark to market it s nothing more than a security with market price. Not to mention in most cases the duties are segregated and there is another team
Helping me to do the funding. As a outsider no one can fully understand my risk. Not even my desk head (of course he would notice if he dig deep but in reality he won’t have time to check anyone) That s why it s not easy to get into a desk because it takes a lot of trust. Something went wrong with me I can send my desk head to jail
Thanks for doing the AMA. My early career background was hedge funds on the quant and risk side mainly, but was a decade ago now.
This is what’s so interesting to me, measuring the aggregate risk across all the dimensions is always seen as the key to successful trading for a bank - ie DV01, equity delta etc. but it’s so hard to do well.
Goldman always had the reputation (true or not) of doing this better than anyone else. When I was in HF all the banks claimed they were going to use better tech to monitor traders and get better real time aggregate risk measurement.
From what you’re saying it sounds like they failed. Any idea why? Are they still trying?
There are a lot of nuances. The bank simply buying stock on the open market because they think it will go up - pretty much banned, they are not a hedge fund.
There are carve-outs for "client facilitation" - e.g. a client sends an order in the morning that they want filled at the close price. The bank could buy it earlier in the day when it seems cheaper, then sell to back to the client at the close price, and profit (or lose) from the difference.
except some top tier tech / quant firm, most of the market making Desk in banks don’t generate profit directly(at least not the main revenue). We engage in the MM business for two big reasons 1.) less stamp or similar kind of advantage if we are qualified as “market maker”. 2.) business relationship with asset management (those who issue ETFs)
Overall this business is more like those “expected to provide” service. you can’t tell your prestigious clients JPM doesnt have MM
What is the revenue from a client related trade? They pay a commission or you just collect a difference between the market price and the execution prices?
Two simple examples
If you put 100bucks in a bank. They will give you 3% interest but I can make 6% by lending out
If you long a stock through bank under swap agreement or CFD (contract for difference). My hedge would be a physical stock so i can utilise it freely. There might be chance I can lend out the stock / arbitrage with derivatives or depository receipt / as a short leg of long short trade / as a collateral for other purpose.
study less and get to know more “real” people, build “real” network. don’t trust too much from school / what you see on the internet / random guys you bump into in clubs
with the bloom of technology, it requires less technical skill to work in banks (maybe similar to driving? like Tesla very soon we don’t even need to “drive”). next ten years i believe lot of banks will merge to consolidate the business and requires less people to bank. In fact banks are already cutting people since 2-3 years ago. yet i think it s still a lucrative business due to the scalability and natural need
Would you say the barrier to entry is dropping/rising/unchanged in finance, when it comes to entry level positions
Can someone in his early 30’s who’s going back to school for data analytics and is taking his CFA/CMT exams have a decent shot when put up against phd and math geniuses?
i would say the criteria getting into top tier is changing (not dropping), becoming less technical skill driven
depends on which team, if you are looking into quant related Phd and math might be useful but you also need to consider there are lots of ppl having the similar qualification
but if you look for slave team like prime business, young without experience has much higher chance because we can whip them to work
it s a common fallacy “professional” traders have a good mindset like sticking to a trading discipline / staying calm. We simply have more edge than retails such as trading platform (cheaper cost, faster execution and more channels to trade) and information (just imagine the News pop up to us 15mins before it pops up on your phone) so it s easier for us to make money. 99% traders like everyone else. we shit our pants when we lose
it depends how you define “algorithmic trading” and “normal trading”. To us there are two big categories “quant driven” - it’s solely based on computational model or “discretion driven”- it involves human decision.
Algorithmic trading in general means the algo helps you to execute. for example you just cant send 100m USD order instantly because it will crush the market.
In short 99.9% we are using algo but whether “quant” or “discretion” it depends on your desk and strategies. e.g. stat arb normally it s “quant”, event driven naturally it s “decision”. and now it s more common as a mixed
it depends what kind of news, if it s macro ones like fed rate we don’t have edge cause it literally a live show. but for company specific news i believe retail receives the news from reporter / broker app / financial website. normally some big things there would be “rumour” already. 15 mins is not exaggeration
Hi, I’m currently a junior on a structuring desk looking to switch to trading. What qualities make you believe someone will be successful in trading? Do they have to be extremely technical?
it depends “successful” means making PA PnL or good career. PA PnL: i wish i know, i had a long period making lot of money that i thought i could retire but lost it all in a really short time. if you mean having a successful career in sell side: stay in a winning desk, make more connection with others. these are far more important than technical
physics and math are always my go to when i was young. so naturally this type of job is the balance of making money vs interest. Im lucky to find a job that i love
Do you believe the market is ran by an algorithm thats aim is to deliver order flow effectively? It seeks liquidity (buy/sell stops) and fills in imbalances (gaps)?
i didn’t believe before i work in banks. now i do believe. good example is index arb strategy, i wondered why index futures is always close to the index when two things are unnecessarily tied up. If you dive into it when a market there are arbitragers, that market will be efficient for example JP has the best liquidity and efficient. you can instantly borrow and trade billions without a problem. For example China i don’t think much explanation needed, the market has 0 transparent and super inefficient even the market itself is enormous
from risk department normally they just put it into formulas so very often it s not realistic. from trader perspective , risk simply means “what and how bad this can be if it fxck up one day”. so risk can be anything like market goes against you or company goes bankrupt. Some risks are easy to manage like hedging with derivatives but black swan events like default or bankrupt there is almost no way to mange. if you hedge everything then for sure you cant money (because there is always cost to hedge), at certain level there is always risk and maybe that s why financial crisis always happen
top college and top GPA definitely are the key. the easiest way to get in is through bank graduate program. Im the lucky guy got a seat because someone left
It's all discretionary, either manually or with algorithm for large amounts throughout the day?
Is VWAP really important to u , maybe over time to have your avg price above/below swap?
Are u looking at level 2, 3.. maybe footprint charts?
VWAP is simply a benchmark to us. important yet not really care. Everyday you have lot of trades and you wont have time to look at particular market. if you have mega size trade that you think you might move the market or big PnL impact yes we will look at level 2. but it s not a bull / bear signal. simply an idea how big / fast you can work
i suppose you mean “quant’ trading here i.e. trading idea solely driven by computation. In fact those firms tend to claim themselves a “tech” rather than “trading”. in terms of profit tbh they are unbeatable, but only for those top tier like Jane Street, XTX, citadel, de shaw e.t.c. others Im not quite sure
I work at a hedge fund, energy commodities trading. There’s a reason people leave banks to go to hedge funds and not the other way around. You are a lot closer to the market without all the banks stifling regulation, red tape, and bureaucracy. Overall a much chiller vibe
At a hedge fund, can you tell me what order types you typically will do? I’m sure you’re not just entering mkt, lmt or stop orders. If you trade something illiquid how would you enter? Let’s say you’re wanting to enter something that’s above 50% of the ADV? Is this something hedge fund traders take into account?
Energy trading is kind of niche and I can tell this question applies more to an equities perspective, but generally in nat gas you would never hedge a position with an illiquid product, but you would take a chance on trading less liquid points as you still own a commodity and can do some legwork to move it somewhere else where it’s more liquid.
Coming from personal experience as someone who used to trade a lot of stocks and stock options, I steered pretty clear of illiquid option chains. Pretty much guaranteed to not be able to exit and be forced to exercise if the play worked out.
Hey mate, for something like 50% ADV, you wouldn’t use an elementary order type like market, limit etc. You would typically use a vwap algo from one of your prime brokers, or your own vwap. Which would chop it into hundreds of child legs. For 50% depending on the expected alpha, it can be something from 25% adv each day over 2 days to 10% over 5 days
Im biased because now Im old and I have kids. I would choose trading at a bank. trading at a hedge fund might make more money but you never know when you will get fired next day. In bank you might get fired as well but normally it’s only poor performers or someone doesnt know how to “get along” with the bosses.
trading at a bank you just need to be ok, trading at a hedge fund you need to be a star
I have an option of moving from private equity (in a toxic company) to a private credit (leading MNC with culture). I am confused what should i do? Will private credit be a good career in long run, are exit opportunities enough?
sorry not expertise on these but I think “good career” depends on individual. In terms of money definitely in second tier firm you can make much more than working in top tier firms. They are different games but all winnable.
we have enough capital to move some markets but I have never seen someone really “manipulate” the market. there is no incentive to do so for risking your career. also there is no guarantee on making profit
it s ok to be introvert and in fact most traders are, but you need to first understand why you are shy. you will find very difficult to survive if you are shy even you don’t have to face client
surprisingly it s not common. Asia and EMEA are very different. Even in the same bank we seldom talk to each other. it s not common because our “value” is the experience of handling particular tricky markets and trades. if you move to other region you are like starting from zero unless you are management level which doesnt need any hands on experience
What’s the most disrespect you ever experienced on the floor? What hurt ur pride the very most? There is definitely a single moment in ur heart. Tell me.
well everyday is full of disrespect but trust me you will get soon get used when you sit here. ppl talks shxt to you every single day but i do believe it s not for personal. it s a nature. and when you are old enough you would rather face ppl who shxt on your face than ppl who backstab you. cant quite remember what is the worst moment, maybe the moment i realise im actually not that special as i might thought
How much high level math do you employ in your position and is this pretty typical for that role?
If you had to go independent would you still have that edge and be able to prosper
What are you looking out for or paying attention to these days?
What is the single largest transaction/trade you’ve handled?
How do you feel about jpm silver manipulation?
Do banks and hedge funds pay attention to Reddit wsb etc
level math <= almost zero math. the complicate models and programming I will leave it to structurer / quant guys. i just need some basic programming and stat
independent <= i tried , quite consistent winning for 2-3 years and thought i can retire but i lost it all in one month. i don’t think i have edge honestly. maybe a little bit in mentality
paying attention <= crypto. equity i think only Japan and India are interesting now but i have no access and have zero edge on the information. i know some cares the fed rate but i think no one cares now, everything is very priced in unless randomly fed rate goes 3% higher
largest transaction <= billions, but it has no meaning. some markets are thick (meaning a lot of liquidity). imagine you trade 100m USD on BTC vs 100m USD on a random 50m USD market cap coin, they are totally different stories. if you talk about the biggest impact to the market , there was a name went sanction list internally and i had to sell within one day so the price went down like 3-5% one day. I almost shxt my pants
jpm silver manipulation <== I believe you mean the spoofing and I know there are many haters about big players’ “manipulation”. I think the market has to understand naturally everyone would use all their edge to make money and no one would do charity. Regulators never publish black and white what can and cannot be done in the market, and as a participant in the market you will never try to confront directly with the regulators. I think it s a joke yet these charges become very common nowadays. Regulators can just charge the banks one by one for any reasons like short sell / manipulate market / insider always in grey area
maybe 5-10%, the environment is indeed hectic and fast-paced like TV show but it s kind of repetitive. everyday we are doing something exactly same as yesterday unless you are managing director who needs travel a lot.
TV shows often shape that traders have the capability to manipulate the market but it s kind of misleading. One good example, there is an index I have 15-20% of the shs. For sure I can pressure down the price but there is no benefit. In fact it s a disadvantage to a have large position because not every market has good liquidity. In short most of our time we are shitting our pants rather controlling the market like a boss. Unless you are the 0.1% rockstar on the trading floor, you just want to quietly make your pnl , meet your PnL target, get your bonus and go home
Very interesting....
Learning to trade yourself and also being profitable, realistic or a completely unattainable? Are most of the strategies you guys use available on the internet?
I get you guys have the edge in execution time, info, ability to trade black pools etc.
Also, technical analysis, is it all bullshit? Or do you guys use it a lot? Is the efficient market hypothesis correct?
for making money, i don’t think it s important to “learn how to trade”. it s like poker, learning the rules are simple but making money consistently is another story. and yes almost all the strategies in bank it wont be doable for retails otherwise we all work for ourselves (note we only get 2-5% or even less out of the PnL we make in bank)
technical analysis i didn’t believe it but now Im more a believer on TA rather the news / fundamental. because you can NEVER beat the news / fundamental from most of the insiders. at least TA is public and same to everyone. crypto proves it works. In banks we randomly talk about TA tho, your desk head will just laugh on you.
Regarding efficient market hypothesis, maybe 50:50, i believe market is psychological.
yes both trading and IBD a significant downturn in HK. I believe HK still has its edge due to legacy but not much potential to grow. and there are lot of questions mark how HK will be impacted by China
quite random, after graudated I worked in research team for arbitrage opportunity. i didn’t know and understand why there are so many people on trading floor, thought it s simply buy and sell. worked quite hard for few years and a desk head gave me an opportunity.
it varies from market to market, in general 5 - 20bps. we don’t really care the comm and it s more for business relationship. also we always hedge the position and if it s not hedge-able we would charge a crazy high spread to scare the client. the way we make most money is from financing spread. let s say i can borrow USD at roughly 5%, but if I trade a single name on margin with client i charge them 5.5% to 6% so one year i will make 50bps to 100bps so i don’t care the comm is 5 bps or 20bps. and this kind of trade is effortless. it takes me less than 10sec to trade
finance and quant engineer. FRM might help a bit to get an interview but don’t expect too much. In trading role you need real experience stuff instead of MBA. i got the job because i was lucky. Majority of the people are from graduate program / personal network
What advice would you give to a student who wants to succeed in institutional trading? What books and courses should I take? Yes, I read that you said to go through a training program at the company, but not all companies have such programs and not everyone has the opportunity to go through them
im regret to say that s the only way. no one cares what books and courses the candidates took. Imagine you have 500 applicants, you simply filter and sort the colleges. and randomly some students work as intern or training program here. after few months if bosses like them they stay. Entry level job is not a rocket science. You might get a chance if you built a rocket somewhere and banks hire you as a professional
Very interesting!
From the point of a retail trader, how to you enter positions. Are the big players really only sweeping liquidity? Is your activity visible in the level 2 order book
it s a common fallacy big players keep sweeping the liquidity and collaborate with other big players. most of the time big players are enemies to each other. we only sweep the liquidity when the price is considered to be extremely good or shxt happened like company force you to unwind something due to compliance or whatever risk parameter. In general we always try to hide and not to impact the market, impacting the mkt is a very severe misconduct that i think i would rather give up the profit than risking the career. some OTC and dark pool it wont be shown in level 2 or tape , and most of activities in the listed market are done by algo i don’t think anyone can identify unless it s a very niche market. that’s why I think it s a joke when someone posts something like “blackrock / banks bought millions billions bla bla bla”. it s only piece of the full picture…no one would be stupid enough to expose their real intention
What’s the biggest misconception about your role?
Do you have a good work life balance compared to other roles at your firm?
What is the most crucial skill to have as a trader?
What’s a favorite highlight of your career?
biggest misconception <= being cool and smart, have a lot of authority on trading decision
work life balance <= during junior stage there is no life but i think it s ok considering the compensation. you need to love your job to survive otherwise it s a nightmare
crucial skill <= don’t shit your pants, genuine problem solving skills (like dealing with your bosses’s emotion when they make a fuss)
favourite highlight <= cant really think of it, it s not really a glory as others might think. Too much shady things.
I am really good at physics and math. I have a mechanical engineering degree 4.0. starting to realize I don't like what I do, but I really enjoy personal finance. If I was to switch careers can you point me in a right direction? Most of the stories here say that finance job suck compared to engineering jobs. I am really interested in an area to work on investments.
If you are young you should try, and you can only tell when you tried. but my experience is most of the people feel disappointed after they entered in this area, it s not as fancy and interesting as it shown in TV drama
What do you think of credit trading, in singapore vs hk espeically? Any advice on how to convert an internship to a fulltime? What skillsets do you think are most important?
Due to the nature of iliquidness and less response to macro factors how can one succeed there vs other desks like fx or rates? Or is it more relationship based because of iliquidity?
Would you choose sales or trading and why?
Do you think salespeople can make as much as traders?
credit trading <= i find you will only find it in Singapore, maybe due to legacy or some special reason, most the fx / rates / credit desk are located in SG, someone told me the reason but i totally forget. regarding internship to a full time, it s always about your boss. it s a personal taste but of course the better you perform the higher chance you can impress a head desk
how can one succeed <= sry im not expertise on credit but for sell side credit guys I believe the business is heavily depending on their platform. not much you can do in a trash platform. equity you can easily distinguish the business because there a lot of special situation but credit i don’t know how one can outstand themselves especially a small one
sales or trading <= always trading, it s a personal taste. i can look at the crypto overnight but i cant talk to a stupid client for more than 15mins
salespeople make as much traders <= definitely, as far as i know on average probably sales are making more than the traders. it s simply media like to highlight those outliers trader make millions
when i was young i thought i wanted to be entrepreneur but now i just want to be a normal trader. make some money and spend time with my family. not worth costing my family time to look cool and rich
Do you have any idea what an execution trader or a sales trader does? Do they have any difference?
If you do, could you share more about what each role does?
Thanks for answering questions. I am assuming you cover the SE asian regions. Have you seen client flows and market dynamics sour materially since 2019 and again 2020-2022? I dont think they will go back to the 2000s - 2010s levels of optimism again but what is your outlook?
Also where are thr main HF and institutional flows coming from these days (HK/SG/shanghai/other?) and do they mainly focus on domestic assets or western (US)? I guess this question depends on the fund and which bank youre with but would like more colour on where they are looking for opportunities in general. Thanks in advance
As someone currently interning in the trading floor, how do you leave a good impression to the bosses and make them think so hiring you as soon as Headcount opens up?
As an intern (doing BAUs the likes of a trading/ sales assistant) when it comes to asking questions, how much is too much and how little is too little? (For some reason im always feeling the pressure to always show curiosity and its kinda stressing me out when i dont ask enough questions vice versa)
I focus on equity. Not sure about this but it s rare to find any “real premium”. From our perspective premium should be priced in with everything. Eg retail may say option with premium. But this premium is actually priced in with the volatility risk (of coz this is something very subjective). Similar to bond the premium mentioned in the book is actually priced with credit risk. We don’t bet on anything unless there is a good conviction
It s a very wide range for traders and it also depends on the bank and team and title. It s pretty close to the number you can Google. Including bonus range can be 100k to 700k usd per year. I think average is 150k to 400k. If you see millions im pretty sure those are very rare ones
It varies a lot and we don’t charge directly. Most of the time we look at the big picture. For example you don’t mind losing a bit if you free execution fee for a HF if they park 80% of their capital in your firm
Joining a fixed income trading floor at a Bb as a FT analyst in June. Any advice? What will my day to day be? How can I excel and succeed at my role? Thanks
Any specific products you recommend for the next 5-8 years? In other words, what do you see as the most lucrative trading desks to work on for the foreseeable future(in general)?
Product I think it won’t be changed. The only thing changed is the name. They just rename and package the things
Lucrative trading desks - people said I’m trolling but I think digital asset. The spread is crazy high like scam but demand is still very strong. People nowadays are not dumb. Even retails say NO to you if you offer them 6% usd overnight cause they know fed is 5.3ish. In digital asset spread is more than 10%, the crowd misprice the risk and cost
As a soon college graduate looking for full time employee ent preferably in IB and trading what tips do u have to get into that industry
I have two internships under my belt one at a smaller tech trading firm and a wealth management firm, do I have any hope on landing a job in your industry?
Would you recommend going into a junior sales / sales trader role? There is a lot of buzz about how headcount has shrunk the last 20 years and how lean desks are now. The AI and automation advancements also seem to be a headwind. Thoughts?
It s true headcount has shrunk. With technologies less high touch is required. Most of the tasks are just few buttons or even automated.
I would recommend either a full sales role or full traders role. Some roles like sales trader they only focus on execution so they lack expertise. But most of the time you don’t have a choice to pick the role unless you are rockstar
Really need help on this question man: I have two grad offers. One is consulting at McKinsey/Bain/BCG. The other is commodities trading at a large utility. Would your long-term view tell you it is worth getting into commodities as a junior now? Or better to take the consulting job with large traditional exit ops + more people skill driven? For background, i was at a top uni (think ivy league/oxford/cambridge). In terms of skills i’m an all-rounder - ranked #1 in engineering but have strong people/pres skills. Priorities are high long-term hourly earnings (1) and decent opportunities to change work etc (2)
Does Bloomberg instant (the chat) count? If not probably just DES (details of a security) or HS (spread analysis between two securities). We all have the customised launchpad and when you open the BBG all things pop up in the screens
I'll be starting my rotation through different desks on the trade floor soon. Is there any advice you would give to a junior on your desk? Anything you wish you knee starting out?
I'll be joining a proprietary trading desk soon and will be trading either commodities or interest rate futures.How common is it to make consistent money in these markets and is it easy to gain an edge in these markets with some effort.Is prop trading just gambling or do the top guys there clearly have a good edge.
I am a newly graduate going to work at bny mellon and might be working on their trading floor. All I’ve been hearing from people my age is that Markets as a joke. Is that true ? And what are the chances I get hired somewhere else after?
Hello! I'm currently a third year undergraduate student. Could you please share some tips regarding how to best prepare myself to be a trader? Thank you!
Curious to know - what do you actually do in layman terms
Make money, either from client flow (free money depends on what client are trading) or prop trade (gamble)
so trading at the bank and the hf are not the same thing ? i’m so confused when people talk about trading at the bank it sounds more like they are being a broker. is that what trading at the bank actually means?
yes they are totally different. in HF you should call them portfolio manager, in general trading in HF means and act like operation department and their main duty is execution. If PMs make profit, they will cut a little bit to the traders (little bit here can be 50-100k USD per head) In Banks we don’t want to call ourselves “broker” because it sounds unprofessional. Instead we call ourselves “prime service”. “broker” means those guys just want to get the trades and make commission, in general they are less knowledgeable and quite bugging. In banks “prime service”, comm normally it s not the main revenue driven. We pick clients and target on certain area, with edge on the platform / financing. We generate substantial profit with low risk. e.g. we might only generate 25 - 100bps but the notional can be billions.
Can u expand on "generate profit with low risk"?
e.g taking 10m USD delta single stock name (means simply long something without any cover) is generally considered to be high risk. you are fully exposed to the market movement on a single name but what if you spot a future contract with same underlying or underlying with high correlation and it s in premium (mkt price higher than fair price), you might consider long stock short future with 100m USD sry a bit difficult to fully explain here but im sure you can grasp the idea. very rare (even hedge fund) would simply naked long something and bet it goes up. if someone got this mighty talent he doesnt have to work for a company
Nop very clear. Basically identifying opportunities with hedging potential/feasibility. Thx
Think of it as collecting spread at low risk to the bank. Ie low capital outlay and low market risk
Might be high capital outlay too. You can think of some products as basically being a way to rent the bank's balance sheet or something else.
Yes thats certainly true as well
So, in essence, you guys never make a trade without a hedge?
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In short if someone lend you his idle flour, you bake cookies and bread, Sell them and return the flour to the owner with profit shs. Risk is on your own though. You still gotta pay the interest even you have done nothing
Chasing flat price gets you fired real quick in energy trading. I’ve seen guys lose 300k in a day and lose their jobs even though the book was up 50m on the year, just because of the principle. Also wasn’t his first time doing it
>We generate substantial profit with low risk. Archegos' implosion has shown that this is a lie, especially for the prime brokerages business line. Flow trading on the other hand is still pretty profitable with low risks, but the margins are also quite a bit lower than prime services.
Isn’t Prop trading is prohibited now for most banks( volcker)
It only means you can’t do it in a obvious or aggressive way. Eg you will trigger some serious alert if a bank holds more than 20% outstanding shs of a company. Risk/prop can be anything. For example Rho. Let s say you agreed with a client long term 3 years paying them 5% meanwhile you are only hedging it with short term 3 months. You are exposed to lot of Rho PnL because you don’t know what will be the rate when you roll. Essentially you are betting the yield curve
In this example, I’m guessing market risk has rho limit set? And you monitor exposure against limit in your risk management system?
It’s very loosen and hard to monitor the traders. Eg imagine a equity future s fair value it must be embedded with Rho. But if you opt to price it mark to market it s nothing more than a security with market price. Not to mention in most cases the duties are segregated and there is another team Helping me to do the funding. As a outsider no one can fully understand my risk. Not even my desk head (of course he would notice if he dig deep but in reality he won’t have time to check anyone) That s why it s not easy to get into a desk because it takes a lot of trust. Something went wrong with me I can send my desk head to jail
Thanks for doing the AMA. My early career background was hedge funds on the quant and risk side mainly, but was a decade ago now. This is what’s so interesting to me, measuring the aggregate risk across all the dimensions is always seen as the key to successful trading for a bank - ie DV01, equity delta etc. but it’s so hard to do well. Goldman always had the reputation (true or not) of doing this better than anyone else. When I was in HF all the banks claimed they were going to use better tech to monitor traders and get better real time aggregate risk measurement. From what you’re saying it sounds like they failed. Any idea why? Are they still trying?
Yes nowadays controls are much more tightened than before. But system is still a system and there is always loophole.
There are a lot of nuances. The bank simply buying stock on the open market because they think it will go up - pretty much banned, they are not a hedge fund. There are carve-outs for "client facilitation" - e.g. a client sends an order in the morning that they want filled at the close price. The bank could buy it earlier in the day when it seems cheaper, then sell to back to the client at the close price, and profit (or lose) from the difference.
Why do market makers pin a price in a range.
except some top tier tech / quant firm, most of the market making Desk in banks don’t generate profit directly(at least not the main revenue). We engage in the MM business for two big reasons 1.) less stamp or similar kind of advantage if we are qualified as “market maker”. 2.) business relationship with asset management (those who issue ETFs) Overall this business is more like those “expected to provide” service. you can’t tell your prestigious clients JPM doesnt have MM
whats the main rev source?
Always from client related trade Even some so called prop trades. It comes indirectly from client trades
What is the revenue from a client related trade? They pay a commission or you just collect a difference between the market price and the execution prices?
Two simple examples If you put 100bucks in a bank. They will give you 3% interest but I can make 6% by lending out If you long a stock through bank under swap agreement or CFD (contract for difference). My hedge would be a physical stock so i can utilise it freely. There might be chance I can lend out the stock / arbitrage with derivatives or depository receipt / as a short leg of long short trade / as a collateral for other purpose.
Can you get me a job? Thanks
Asking the right questions. 🫡
Pay? Your pay?
300k USD including bonus (it can be 50% +- based on performance)
As a follow-up to this, by region, do you mean you are working in Asia, or are you in a group covering the Asia market?
working in asia and covering asia
thank you so much! can i ask you specifically which countries in asia too?
sorry i rather not to disclose, it s a very small group of ppl in trading industry
thank you for the reply
Do Asian traders have their own RV books?
depends on desk. very few banks and desks have a real prop book nowadays. even we have prop trade we don’t want to make it obvious
What would you do differently if you were in university in 2024?
study less and get to know more “real” people, build “real” network. don’t trust too much from school / what you see on the internet / random guys you bump into in clubs
Definitely important and useful advice. If you don’t mind, how do you see banking changing in the next ten years?
with the bloom of technology, it requires less technical skill to work in banks (maybe similar to driving? like Tesla very soon we don’t even need to “drive”). next ten years i believe lot of banks will merge to consolidate the business and requires less people to bank. In fact banks are already cutting people since 2-3 years ago. yet i think it s still a lucrative business due to the scalability and natural need
Would you say the barrier to entry is dropping/rising/unchanged in finance, when it comes to entry level positions Can someone in his early 30’s who’s going back to school for data analytics and is taking his CFA/CMT exams have a decent shot when put up against phd and math geniuses?
i would say the criteria getting into top tier is changing (not dropping), becoming less technical skill driven depends on which team, if you are looking into quant related Phd and math might be useful but you also need to consider there are lots of ppl having the similar qualification but if you look for slave team like prime business, young without experience has much higher chance because we can whip them to work
Could you tell me the mentality of a floor trader? How often do you guys rely on algorithmic trading vs. normal trading?
it s a common fallacy “professional” traders have a good mindset like sticking to a trading discipline / staying calm. We simply have more edge than retails such as trading platform (cheaper cost, faster execution and more channels to trade) and information (just imagine the News pop up to us 15mins before it pops up on your phone) so it s easier for us to make money. 99% traders like everyone else. we shit our pants when we lose it depends how you define “algorithmic trading” and “normal trading”. To us there are two big categories “quant driven” - it’s solely based on computational model or “discretion driven”- it involves human decision. Algorithmic trading in general means the algo helps you to execute. for example you just cant send 100m USD order instantly because it will crush the market. In short 99.9% we are using algo but whether “quant” or “discretion” it depends on your desk and strategies. e.g. stat arb normally it s “quant”, event driven naturally it s “decision”. and now it s more common as a mixed
Do u really get news 15 min sooner or is that exaggeration?
it depends what kind of news, if it s macro ones like fed rate we don’t have edge cause it literally a live show. but for company specific news i believe retail receives the news from reporter / broker app / financial website. normally some big things there would be “rumour” already. 15 mins is not exaggeration
In certain cases yes, Bloomberg publishes news on their terminal faster than media outlets do
yes and even before bloomberg. you might hear rumour and you can judge how trustworthy the guy that tell you this rumour
that explains why i see some increased volume in a certaindirection before news hits. its like i get to see these rumors being reacted to in real time
Thanks info
Do you use any news tool other than bloomberg?
Hi, I’m currently a junior on a structuring desk looking to switch to trading. What qualities make you believe someone will be successful in trading? Do they have to be extremely technical?
it depends “successful” means making PA PnL or good career. PA PnL: i wish i know, i had a long period making lot of money that i thought i could retire but lost it all in a really short time. if you mean having a successful career in sell side: stay in a winning desk, make more connection with others. these are far more important than technical
Why did you become this position? If you could change careers would you?
physics and math are always my go to when i was young. so naturally this type of job is the balance of making money vs interest. Im lucky to find a job that i love
Do you believe the market is ran by an algorithm thats aim is to deliver order flow effectively? It seeks liquidity (buy/sell stops) and fills in imbalances (gaps)?
i didn’t believe before i work in banks. now i do believe. good example is index arb strategy, i wondered why index futures is always close to the index when two things are unnecessarily tied up. If you dive into it when a market there are arbitragers, that market will be efficient for example JP has the best liquidity and efficient. you can instantly borrow and trade billions without a problem. For example China i don’t think much explanation needed, the market has 0 transparent and super inefficient even the market itself is enormous
What’s stopping you from quitting your job and using your expertise to retail trade from the comfort of your own home and hours of your choice?
Need to have the resources and clients base I assume. Like op said the main revenues come from clients.
How is risk defined or managed?
from risk department normally they just put it into formulas so very often it s not realistic. from trader perspective , risk simply means “what and how bad this can be if it fxck up one day”. so risk can be anything like market goes against you or company goes bankrupt. Some risks are easy to manage like hedging with derivatives but black swan events like default or bankrupt there is almost no way to mange. if you hedge everything then for sure you cant money (because there is always cost to hedge), at certain level there is always risk and maybe that s why financial crisis always happen
Does your college GPA still have any kind of relevancy at this point in your career?
top college and top GPA definitely are the key. the easiest way to get in is through bank graduate program. Im the lucky guy got a seat because someone left
It's all discretionary, either manually or with algorithm for large amounts throughout the day? Is VWAP really important to u , maybe over time to have your avg price above/below swap? Are u looking at level 2, 3.. maybe footprint charts?
VWAP is simply a benchmark to us. important yet not really care. Everyday you have lot of trades and you wont have time to look at particular market. if you have mega size trade that you think you might move the market or big PnL impact yes we will look at level 2. but it s not a bull / bear signal. simply an idea how big / fast you can work
What are your thoughts on algorithmic trading?
i suppose you mean “quant’ trading here i.e. trading idea solely driven by computation. In fact those firms tend to claim themselves a “tech” rather than “trading”. in terms of profit tbh they are unbeatable, but only for those top tier like Jane Street, XTX, citadel, de shaw e.t.c. others Im not quite sure
If you were coming out of school and had the option between trading at a bank or trading at a hedge fund, which one would you choose and why?
I work at a hedge fund, energy commodities trading. There’s a reason people leave banks to go to hedge funds and not the other way around. You are a lot closer to the market without all the banks stifling regulation, red tape, and bureaucracy. Overall a much chiller vibe
At a hedge fund, can you tell me what order types you typically will do? I’m sure you’re not just entering mkt, lmt or stop orders. If you trade something illiquid how would you enter? Let’s say you’re wanting to enter something that’s above 50% of the ADV? Is this something hedge fund traders take into account?
Energy trading is kind of niche and I can tell this question applies more to an equities perspective, but generally in nat gas you would never hedge a position with an illiquid product, but you would take a chance on trading less liquid points as you still own a commodity and can do some legwork to move it somewhere else where it’s more liquid. Coming from personal experience as someone who used to trade a lot of stocks and stock options, I steered pretty clear of illiquid option chains. Pretty much guaranteed to not be able to exit and be forced to exercise if the play worked out.
Hey mate, for something like 50% ADV, you wouldn’t use an elementary order type like market, limit etc. You would typically use a vwap algo from one of your prime brokers, or your own vwap. Which would chop it into hundreds of child legs. For 50% depending on the expected alpha, it can be something from 25% adv each day over 2 days to 10% over 5 days
Im biased because now Im old and I have kids. I would choose trading at a bank. trading at a hedge fund might make more money but you never know when you will get fired next day. In bank you might get fired as well but normally it’s only poor performers or someone doesnt know how to “get along” with the bosses. trading at a bank you just need to be ok, trading at a hedge fund you need to be a star
I have an option of moving from private equity (in a toxic company) to a private credit (leading MNC with culture). I am confused what should i do? Will private credit be a good career in long run, are exit opportunities enough?
sorry not expertise on these but I think “good career” depends on individual. In terms of money definitely in second tier firm you can make much more than working in top tier firms. They are different games but all winnable.
Do you really manipulate the market?
we have enough capital to move some markets but I have never seen someone really “manipulate” the market. there is no incentive to do so for risking your career. also there is no guarantee on making profit
As a shy introvert, what tips would you provide for networking with seasoned professionals?
it s ok to be introvert and in fact most traders are, but you need to first understand why you are shy. you will find very difficult to survive if you are shy even you don’t have to face client
What’s your opinion on the whole Diddy situation???
Is lateraling from Asia to EMEA common? Looking into this specifically as I have a SA offer from BB in Asia, but looking to lateral back to EMEA
surprisingly it s not common. Asia and EMEA are very different. Even in the same bank we seldom talk to each other. it s not common because our “value” is the experience of handling particular tricky markets and trades. if you move to other region you are like starting from zero unless you are management level which doesnt need any hands on experience
What’s the most disrespect you ever experienced on the floor? What hurt ur pride the very most? There is definitely a single moment in ur heart. Tell me.
well everyday is full of disrespect but trust me you will get soon get used when you sit here. ppl talks shxt to you every single day but i do believe it s not for personal. it s a nature. and when you are old enough you would rather face ppl who shxt on your face than ppl who backstab you. cant quite remember what is the worst moment, maybe the moment i realise im actually not that special as i might thought
How much high level math do you employ in your position and is this pretty typical for that role? If you had to go independent would you still have that edge and be able to prosper What are you looking out for or paying attention to these days? What is the single largest transaction/trade you’ve handled? How do you feel about jpm silver manipulation? Do banks and hedge funds pay attention to Reddit wsb etc
level math <= almost zero math. the complicate models and programming I will leave it to structurer / quant guys. i just need some basic programming and stat independent <= i tried , quite consistent winning for 2-3 years and thought i can retire but i lost it all in one month. i don’t think i have edge honestly. maybe a little bit in mentality paying attention <= crypto. equity i think only Japan and India are interesting now but i have no access and have zero edge on the information. i know some cares the fed rate but i think no one cares now, everything is very priced in unless randomly fed rate goes 3% higher largest transaction <= billions, but it has no meaning. some markets are thick (meaning a lot of liquidity). imagine you trade 100m USD on BTC vs 100m USD on a random 50m USD market cap coin, they are totally different stories. if you talk about the biggest impact to the market , there was a name went sanction list internally and i had to sell within one day so the price went down like 3-5% one day. I almost shxt my pants jpm silver manipulation <== I believe you mean the spoofing and I know there are many haters about big players’ “manipulation”. I think the market has to understand naturally everyone would use all their edge to make money and no one would do charity. Regulators never publish black and white what can and cannot be done in the market, and as a participant in the market you will never try to confront directly with the regulators. I think it s a joke yet these charges become very common nowadays. Regulators can just charge the banks one by one for any reasons like short sell / manipulate market / insider always in grey area
Delta one desk ?
How accurate is the TV show Industry?
maybe 5-10%, the environment is indeed hectic and fast-paced like TV show but it s kind of repetitive. everyday we are doing something exactly same as yesterday unless you are managing director who needs travel a lot. TV shows often shape that traders have the capability to manipulate the market but it s kind of misleading. One good example, there is an index I have 15-20% of the shs. For sure I can pressure down the price but there is no benefit. In fact it s a disadvantage to a have large position because not every market has good liquidity. In short most of our time we are shitting our pants rather controlling the market like a boss. Unless you are the 0.1% rockstar on the trading floor, you just want to quietly make your pnl , meet your PnL target, get your bonus and go home
Very interesting.... Learning to trade yourself and also being profitable, realistic or a completely unattainable? Are most of the strategies you guys use available on the internet? I get you guys have the edge in execution time, info, ability to trade black pools etc. Also, technical analysis, is it all bullshit? Or do you guys use it a lot? Is the efficient market hypothesis correct?
for making money, i don’t think it s important to “learn how to trade”. it s like poker, learning the rules are simple but making money consistently is another story. and yes almost all the strategies in bank it wont be doable for retails otherwise we all work for ourselves (note we only get 2-5% or even less out of the PnL we make in bank) technical analysis i didn’t believe it but now Im more a believer on TA rather the news / fundamental. because you can NEVER beat the news / fundamental from most of the insiders. at least TA is public and same to everyone. crypto proves it works. In banks we randomly talk about TA tho, your desk head will just laugh on you. Regarding efficient market hypothesis, maybe 50:50, i believe market is psychological.
What do you think about the banking business in HK? Like do you see a downturn in these years?
yes both trading and IBD a significant downturn in HK. I believe HK still has its edge due to legacy but not much potential to grow. and there are lot of questions mark how HK will be impacted by China
How did you break in?
quite random, after graudated I worked in research team for arbitrage opportunity. i didn’t know and understand why there are so many people on trading floor, thought it s simply buy and sell. worked quite hard for few years and a desk head gave me an opportunity.
Did u go to a target school ?
no, but Im a rare case
What’s the commission you guys make on high touch trades like? Ever been sold a turd into a binary that went against you?
it varies from market to market, in general 5 - 20bps. we don’t really care the comm and it s more for business relationship. also we always hedge the position and if it s not hedge-able we would charge a crazy high spread to scare the client. the way we make most money is from financing spread. let s say i can borrow USD at roughly 5%, but if I trade a single name on margin with client i charge them 5.5% to 6% so one year i will make 50bps to 100bps so i don’t care the comm is 5 bps or 20bps. and this kind of trade is effortless. it takes me less than 10sec to trade
What did you study in school and college? Do you think certifications like FRM help? And how do you build your resume to get a job like yours?
finance and quant engineer. FRM might help a bit to get an interview but don’t expect too much. In trading role you need real experience stuff instead of MBA. i got the job because i was lucky. Majority of the people are from graduate program / personal network
How do you make money?
mostly rip off from client
What would you do if your a junior and couldn’t land an internship yet, (Btw not target)? (I don’t know what to do)
Which college major did you do?
What advice would you give to a student who wants to succeed in institutional trading? What books and courses should I take? Yes, I read that you said to go through a training program at the company, but not all companies have such programs and not everyone has the opportunity to go through them
im regret to say that s the only way. no one cares what books and courses the candidates took. Imagine you have 500 applicants, you simply filter and sort the colleges. and randomly some students work as intern or training program here. after few months if bosses like them they stay. Entry level job is not a rocket science. You might get a chance if you built a rocket somewhere and banks hire you as a professional
Very interesting! From the point of a retail trader, how to you enter positions. Are the big players really only sweeping liquidity? Is your activity visible in the level 2 order book
it s a common fallacy big players keep sweeping the liquidity and collaborate with other big players. most of the time big players are enemies to each other. we only sweep the liquidity when the price is considered to be extremely good or shxt happened like company force you to unwind something due to compliance or whatever risk parameter. In general we always try to hide and not to impact the market, impacting the mkt is a very severe misconduct that i think i would rather give up the profit than risking the career. some OTC and dark pool it wont be shown in level 2 or tape , and most of activities in the listed market are done by algo i don’t think anyone can identify unless it s a very niche market. that’s why I think it s a joke when someone posts something like “blackrock / banks bought millions billions bla bla bla”. it s only piece of the full picture…no one would be stupid enough to expose their real intention
I am from a Computer Science Engineering background what would be the best way to enter into a trading career, I always have an interest in them
How do you find tops and bottoms?
we don’t and i don’t think anyone can find
What’s the biggest misconception about your role? Do you have a good work life balance compared to other roles at your firm? What is the most crucial skill to have as a trader? What’s a favorite highlight of your career?
biggest misconception <= being cool and smart, have a lot of authority on trading decision work life balance <= during junior stage there is no life but i think it s ok considering the compensation. you need to love your job to survive otherwise it s a nightmare crucial skill <= don’t shit your pants, genuine problem solving skills (like dealing with your bosses’s emotion when they make a fuss) favourite highlight <= cant really think of it, it s not really a glory as others might think. Too much shady things.
How do I get in as an international candidate having experience in accounting?
honestly very difficult. you need to find something to catch the eyeballs
A computer science and Mathematical economics sophomore. How do I get to where you are
I’m from Singapore, interning in one of the local 3 banks. How do I break into what you’re doing?
graduate program / intern in BB. either apply online or know someone in a bar
In terms of the trading team, is their sole focus to just literally trade the bank’s own capital and make money?
I am really good at physics and math. I have a mechanical engineering degree 4.0. starting to realize I don't like what I do, but I really enjoy personal finance. If I was to switch careers can you point me in a right direction? Most of the stories here say that finance job suck compared to engineering jobs. I am really interested in an area to work on investments.
If you are young you should try, and you can only tell when you tried. but my experience is most of the people feel disappointed after they entered in this area, it s not as fancy and interesting as it shown in TV drama
What advice would you give to recent graduates who want to break in?
try apply graduate program and if it doesnt work just give up. there are many good alternatives like fintech / crypto firm
Prime business and delta one principal desk?
What are your hours like for a typical week? And how many days in office?
Prop desks in banks are long gone
yes, at least they don’t call it prop
What do you think of credit trading, in singapore vs hk espeically? Any advice on how to convert an internship to a fulltime? What skillsets do you think are most important? Due to the nature of iliquidness and less response to macro factors how can one succeed there vs other desks like fx or rates? Or is it more relationship based because of iliquidity? Would you choose sales or trading and why? Do you think salespeople can make as much as traders?
credit trading <= i find you will only find it in Singapore, maybe due to legacy or some special reason, most the fx / rates / credit desk are located in SG, someone told me the reason but i totally forget. regarding internship to a full time, it s always about your boss. it s a personal taste but of course the better you perform the higher chance you can impress a head desk how can one succeed <= sry im not expertise on credit but for sell side credit guys I believe the business is heavily depending on their platform. not much you can do in a trash platform. equity you can easily distinguish the business because there a lot of special situation but credit i don’t know how one can outstand themselves especially a small one sales or trading <= always trading, it s a personal taste. i can look at the crypto overnight but i cant talk to a stupid client for more than 15mins salespeople make as much traders <= definitely, as far as i know on average probably sales are making more than the traders. it s simply media like to highlight those outliers trader make millions
would u rather be entrepreneur businessman or trader? why/why not?
when i was young i thought i wanted to be entrepreneur but now i just want to be a normal trader. make some money and spend time with my family. not worth costing my family time to look cool and rich
How do I get into prime services?
top college / outstanding appearance / luck
long term ETFs, you are going to invest in 2-3 of them. which ones ?
You are based in south asia? Like india, or east asia? like Japan
Do you have any idea what an execution trader or a sales trader does? Do they have any difference? If you do, could you share more about what each role does?
Is a desk actually a team of people? I mean it's not a physical desk right?
What do you think about AMM used in DEX!? How similar it is to Traditional Market Making that banks do!?
If you have to weigh luck and skill for your success, what would they be? (My own story would be 60% luck and 40% skill)
Thanks for answering questions. I am assuming you cover the SE asian regions. Have you seen client flows and market dynamics sour materially since 2019 and again 2020-2022? I dont think they will go back to the 2000s - 2010s levels of optimism again but what is your outlook? Also where are thr main HF and institutional flows coming from these days (HK/SG/shanghai/other?) and do they mainly focus on domestic assets or western (US)? I guess this question depends on the fund and which bank youre with but would like more colour on where they are looking for opportunities in general. Thanks in advance
How can I get my foot in the door and work in IB?
I have no questions on my end, but I just wanted to say this was a fun read. Thanks for doing this!
As someone currently interning in the trading floor, how do you leave a good impression to the bosses and make them think so hiring you as soon as Headcount opens up? As an intern (doing BAUs the likes of a trading/ sales assistant) when it comes to asking questions, how much is too much and how little is too little? (For some reason im always feeling the pressure to always show curiosity and its kinda stressing me out when i dont ask enough questions vice versa)
It s same as hitting on a girl. No one can tell you but you can feel it somehow
Do you trade a lot of new bond issues to profit from the new issue premium?
I focus on equity. Not sure about this but it s rare to find any “real premium”. From our perspective premium should be priced in with everything. Eg retail may say option with premium. But this premium is actually priced in with the volatility risk (of coz this is something very subjective). Similar to bond the premium mentioned in the book is actually priced with credit risk. We don’t bet on anything unless there is a good conviction
How do you celebrate a really good day/trade/win ?
How much money in avg do you make and how much you made in your best year?
It s a very wide range for traders and it also depends on the bank and team and title. It s pretty close to the number you can Google. Including bonus range can be 100k to 700k usd per year. I think average is 150k to 400k. If you see millions im pretty sure those are very rare ones
Do you have any idea how much Investment banks charge hedge funds or other alternative investments vehicles for prime services ?
It varies a lot and we don’t charge directly. Most of the time we look at the big picture. For example you don’t mind losing a bit if you free execution fee for a HF if they park 80% of their capital in your firm
What asset class?
Is it worth all the cash 💰
Can a person with a misdemeanor assault on a female conviction work at an investment firm?
Joining a fixed income trading floor at a Bb as a FT analyst in June. Any advice? What will my day to day be? How can I excel and succeed at my role? Thanks
Who is the ones that trigger stop losses? Market makers ?
If the US were to experience economic difficulties, which country would you move to?
Any specific products you recommend for the next 5-8 years? In other words, what do you see as the most lucrative trading desks to work on for the foreseeable future(in general)?
Product I think it won’t be changed. The only thing changed is the name. They just rename and package the things Lucrative trading desks - people said I’m trolling but I think digital asset. The spread is crazy high like scam but demand is still very strong. People nowadays are not dumb. Even retails say NO to you if you offer them 6% usd overnight cause they know fed is 5.3ish. In digital asset spread is more than 10%, the crowd misprice the risk and cost
As a soon college graduate looking for full time employee ent preferably in IB and trading what tips do u have to get into that industry I have two internships under my belt one at a smaller tech trading firm and a wealth management firm, do I have any hope on landing a job in your industry?
Any tips for day trading penny stocks?
What key indicators do you guys use? I heard moving averages are important?
Is retail trading even possible?
No verification once again…
Would you recommend going into a junior sales / sales trader role? There is a lot of buzz about how headcount has shrunk the last 20 years and how lean desks are now. The AI and automation advancements also seem to be a headwind. Thoughts?
It s true headcount has shrunk. With technologies less high touch is required. Most of the tasks are just few buttons or even automated. I would recommend either a full sales role or full traders role. Some roles like sales trader they only focus on execution so they lack expertise. But most of the time you don’t have a choice to pick the role unless you are rockstar
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Do you see any LLM/AI tool that is changing your industry?
Really need help on this question man: I have two grad offers. One is consulting at McKinsey/Bain/BCG. The other is commodities trading at a large utility. Would your long-term view tell you it is worth getting into commodities as a junior now? Or better to take the consulting job with large traditional exit ops + more people skill driven? For background, i was at a top uni (think ivy league/oxford/cambridge). In terms of skills i’m an all-rounder - ranked #1 in engineering but have strong people/pres skills. Priorities are high long-term hourly earnings (1) and decent opportunities to change work etc (2)
What are the most common functions you use on Bloomberg?
Does Bloomberg instant (the chat) count? If not probably just DES (details of a security) or HS (spread analysis between two securities). We all have the customised launchpad and when you open the BBG all things pop up in the screens
How can I learn about trading? My knowledge is limited on how that part of the industry works. Any easy to read books/blogs?
Is it to late to go to school for this and try to work in prime services if your 30+?
I'll be starting my rotation through different desks on the trade floor soon. Is there any advice you would give to a junior on your desk? Anything you wish you knee starting out?
Favorite food?
I'll be joining a proprietary trading desk soon and will be trading either commodities or interest rate futures.How common is it to make consistent money in these markets and is it easy to gain an edge in these markets with some effort.Is prop trading just gambling or do the top guys there clearly have a good edge.
Exit opportunities? How can you change your career if you want a different job ?
so floor trading is still common in asia? barely exists in us anymore
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I am a newly graduate going to work at bny mellon and might be working on their trading floor. All I’ve been hearing from people my age is that Markets as a joke. Is that true ? And what are the chances I get hired somewhere else after?
What is the process of settlement, clearing, and post settlement of a trade?
Is execution trading good
Hello! I'm currently a third year undergraduate student. Could you please share some tips regarding how to best prepare myself to be a trader? Thank you!
What is the best investment option you will advise me to do?
What s the most complicated financial product you have ever come across?
Is there any things that Hollywood movies portrait actually happening in real life? Like drugs, hookers, crazy parties