Trader

[HyperVolatility]

@ Alain: Yes you are correct.I forgot to mention it.My apologies



@ Goldski: Yes, you do have the opportunity to become a flow trader at a bulge bracket.

 

[financeguy]

hmm yeah not sure about the comment about exit opps in the BO or MO of a bulge bracket.. doesnt really seem to make sense.. i think traders who have that experience did so as a stepping stone to becoming a trader when starting out their careers as so many traders do - but if you start out your career trading you dont stop and do support functions for a while.. if you're a trader now you don't want to go to the BO/MO and then try to get back to the FO.. sounds dizzying and wrong to me.. thats not to say that MO functions like quant and market risk aren't relevant experience for a trader to have - it's just to say that being a trader an extra X number of years equal to the amount of time you spent in MO would be better experience for trading intuitively.. and its hard to see how other BO/MO functions would be a valuable background for trading
in any case.. your exit opps are always greatest at a bulge bracket, thats just the nature of the game.. you join a boutique shop so that you can do something you couldnt otherwise do at a BB (like prop now), or because you like the culture there better (smaller group, etc), or simply because you think you'll make more money there.. but i would caution you from taking a job at a small shop with the hope that one day you'll have the opportunity to go to a BB.. thats not to say its impossible, its just to say the flow tends to be BB-->boutique and not the other way around
really it's very difficult to assess all these things without knowing exactly what kind of a desk you'll be joining.. it is not necessarily true that if you're not joining a BB that you'll just be covering custy trades.. any chance you could name a competing firm or call up these people who have given you an offer and figure out what you're getting yourself into? it just seems like you don't really know and that's not a good way to go about making career choices! we can all talk on this forum about hypothetical functions and exit opps but its all sort of meaningless since no one, including you, seems to know what this job is!

 

[HyperVolatility]

hmm yeah not sure about the comment about exit opps in the BO or MO of a bulge bracket.. doesnt really seem to make sense.. i think traders who have that experience did so as a stepping stone to becoming a trader when starting out their careers as so many traders do - but if you start out your career trading you dont stop and do support functions for a while.. if you're a trader now you don't want to go to the BO/MO and then try to get back to the FO.. sounds dizzying and wrong to me.. thats not to say that MO functions like quant and market risk aren't relevant experience for a trader to have - it's just to say that being a trader an extra X number of years equal to the amount of time you spent in MO would be better experience for trading intuitively.. and its hard to see how other BO/MO functions would be a valuable background for trading
in any case.. your exit opps are always greatest at a bulge bracket, thats just the nature of the game.. you join a boutique shop so that you can do something you couldnt otherwise do at a BB (like prop now), or because you like the culture there better (smaller group, etc), or simply because you think you'll make more money there.. but i would caution you from taking a job at a small shop with the hope that one day you'll have the opportunity to go to a BB.. thats not to say its impossible, its just to say the flow tends to be BB-->boutique and not the other way around
really it's very difficult to assess all these things without knowing exactly what kind of a desk you'll be joining.. it is not necessarily true that if you're not joining a BB that you'll just be covering custy trades.. any chance you could name a competing firm or call up these people who have given you an offer and figure out what you're getting yourself into? it just seems like you don't really know and that's not a good way to go about making career choices! we can all talk on this forum about hypothetical functions and exit opps but its all sort of meaningless since no one, including you, seems to know what this job is!

Dude ...we are saying the same thing............of course if you are a trader you do not want to go to the MO/BO and spend like 2 years there in order to get back to the FO but many times the competition is fierce and you are forced to get a job which is "related" to trading (risk management, quant,etc).

Getting a job as a trader is not as easy as someone might think (even if you have an internship) and this is particularly true in the current economic conditions.

There are no many jobs available around and the competition to get a position (even a junior one) at a trading desk is crazy and it is not so rare seeing people in this situations.

However, working for a small-middle cap fund or prop shop is not a bad career path AT ALL...........in a big bank you are less free to move because everything is incredibly scheduled and organised. In a smaller working environment you learn much more and getting a promotion is actually "relatively" easier

www.hypervolatility.com

 

[goldski]

How do you answer this questions without mentioning anything about money...

"Why do you want to be a trader?" I got asked this in a prop trader interview the other day. The guy seemed to be pleased with my answer but I was basically really honest about it.

How would you answer it, considering 99% of MFE students want to be traders.

 

[alain]

So goldski,

what was your answer?

 

[happypantsmcgee]

nowadays, a day trader is the one that gets taken to the cleaners by the high frequency trader.

Completely depends on what kind of trader you are talking about. I know guys at prop shops that still do fairly well, granted it isn't as easy as it used to be, it's still doable. HFT has certainly had an impact but to say that the human trader is obsolete is absurd. Trading is like any other profession, it waxes and wains as more innovation and exploration takes place.

 

[goldski]

So goldski,

what was your answer?

It's basically one of the only few things I am good at.

(of course I had proof to show that. )

 

[HyperVolatility]

this video is called "TELL ME WHY YOU WANT TO BECOME A TRADER"

I am sure it will help you figure out the best answer

 

[goldski]

Does anyone here work at BAML ?