Idunno. Why would you leave sell side for buy side unless you were earning more? Why would they hire you if they thought you were taking a pay cut? You'd only leave a year later. If they really need guys who are good at executing trades, they'll seek out good buy side traders and offer more.

If it's a DE Shaw, AQR, Millennium, Kepos, Citadel, or Renaissance, I'd think long and hard before I said no. These firms don't have a lot of voluntary turnover anywhere.

 

What Wellington said is close to what I've seen too. Interviewed last spring for an assistant trader at small HF (~$500mm AUM), and starting was 55-65k DOE. This was in NY.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for freedom of thought which they seldom use.
 
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I would say this is directly proportional to the size of the firm in terms of AUM and also the amount of employees. Generally but not always, larger firms pay 10-20k more in terms of base. No clue as to bonus. I know a former colleague who worked for a small equity fund as a portfolio analyst with 2 years banking experience in credit analysis who made 45k in Chicago eight years ago. Another friend currently works for a commodity fund at a Chicago wealth management firm making mid 50s + bonus. You could try looking at self-reported salaries on Glassdoor for a gauge of what this role pays in a given region.

 

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