Is quant as a trade facing diminishing demands?

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BryanSg

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Hi guys, I have been reading threads around in this forum for a while and my appreciation for the insightful discussion here. So as we can see, the applicants for MFE programs is bouncing back this year and it seems like MFE programs are established recently. Yet, if prop trading is banned in IBs ( or say, more strictly regulated), where is the demand comes from for quant? And where are those existing traders and quants go after IB has to jettison their prop trading business? I think hedge funds have a demand for quant but what else?

Bryan
 
You can do more than prop trading as a quant....?
EDIT: For all those who didn't understand, this is an affirmative, not a question.
 
BryanSg said:
Hi guys, I have been reading threads around in this forum for a while and my appreciation for the insightful discussion here. So as we can see, the applicants for MFE programs is bouncing back this year and it seems like MFE programs are established recently. Yet, if prop trading is banned in IBs ( or say, more strictly regulated), where is the demand comes from for quant? And where are those existing traders and quants go after IB has to jettison their prop trading business? I think hedge funds have a demand for quant but what else?

Bryan
Click to expand...

Risk Management, Ibanking (new demand) , Structuring, Technology, Research. Even though prop trading is gone there is still a significant amount of trading at banks.
 
Some quant types are facing the need to transform from the original work and swallow other fields. For example the quant trader 1-2 decades ago (not surprisingly) involved quite different jobs and with the improvement of technology, they are completely different now. So the demand for traders (in this case) hasn't been lowered, but the demand for such type of trader (as they were 1-2 decades ago) has been lowered. This might be the case in above discussion.
 
Thanks for the discussion here. I'm asking here because I perceive that Prop trading might be the most rewarded place for quant.
I just switched to a small firm making trading platforms as client support analyst after working as a software developer in a software MNC. I guess that position could potentially teach me more about what's happening in Sales&Trading
 
euroazn said:
I'd say I'm pretty calm about it, I just found that madly hilarious.
Click to expand...
*sigh* Instead of being condescending, maybe spend the same two minutes formulating a mildly polite response?

@BryanSg, search this forum for the career guides, anything by Dominic Connor and possibly Mark Joshi, their pdfs offer a pretty good introductory explanation of the types of work available in the quant field. Prop trading is only a small subset of what is available, although possibly some of the more glamorous and highly paid work (assuming you're a gun, that is).

Perhaps if you offer a more detailed question of exactly what you're trying to accomplish, you might get more precise answers. Are you an aspiring quant? Quant Dev? Trader? etc etc
 
"Quant" is an oft-used and ill-defined term. I would rather call MFE graduates "financial engineer" instead of "quant".
If you think about quantitative developer positions, they are not going to disappear any time soon. They are the ones that got the machines running, the models updated, the data flowing.
If you imagine yourself as someguy in a white coat, think long and deep about the next version of Copula, Black-Scholes, I do not believe there were many of them to begin with.

It's again back to what role you see yourself in this whole picture. Just because you want to be in one specific role, does not mean you have the skill to be there. Everyone (and their neighbors) want to be an algo trader or some BSD, but in reality most end up in something else.
 
Thanks daleholborow and andy for your input. A bit more about what I'm looing for. I graduated last year from a University in Singapore and my first job was software engineer with the Big Blue, and switched to a firm making trading platforms just recently. I have passed CFA level 1 exam last year and taken GRE with a 800Q+720V. I'm currently enrolled in a master in stats program on a part time basis.

To be frank, I'm not very sure what exactly is the role I could expect. I'm looking for a job that is both challenging and monetary rewarding, either of which could hardly be achieved, by doing IT in Singapore. Also it's almost impossible for people come from an engineering background to break into IB or HF here ( could be possible if you know someone, sadly I don't ). That being said, MFE seems to be the only option left for me. Yet recently. I read some articles warning the coming glut of MFE graduates after crisis and federal government is putting more restrictions in prop trading. It will be a really big investment to go for a full time MFE program so I'm seeking for advice here. How much could a MFE program help if I would like to be a junior trader or PE analyst or what will be a more reasonable expectation?

Thanks
Bryan
 
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