Meeting With Derivatives Trader
I am a recent college graduate from a pretty well regarded (but not target) university on the east coast. I've had two internships in PWM @ 2 separate BB's but am totally uninterested in that kind of work. I am looking to break into banking but am not sure of what capacity.
I have a meeting set up tomorrow with the father of a close friend who has been a trader for 30 years, most recently specializing in derivatives.
He is not really in a position to offer me any leads but I think it is a great opportunity to learn more about trading (a topic I am relatively uneducated about).
I was wondering what type of information I should try to get out of this guy. What kind of questions should a new college graduate ask this successful trader?





It depends, does he work for
It depends, does he work for a BB or prop firm?
Regardless, you could start by asking about their background and products they trade.
"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
He does not work for a BB.
He does not work for a BB. So I guess it's a prop firm. Is that right?
How did it go? I actually met
How did it go?
I actually met with a guy yesterday as well who was an options trader in chicago.
Interested as well. Where did
Interested as well. Where did you meet, how long did your conversation last and what were some of the questions that you asked? I'll hopefully be meeting a former volatility arbitrage trader next week, and a commodities trader the week after that.
"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
General rule is when you talk
General rule is when you talk to more senior people, it's kind of wasting their time to ask about minute details of, say, how options work. You can learn that yourself or from someone junior (btw you should try to meet his team and sit with them as well).
Seek more things you can't get from a junior person - what's his edge in trading, what are the most important traits in his opinion, what other product except for derivs would he be most interested in, what does he look for in a candidate, etc etc etc.
I don't accept sacrifices and I don't make them. ... If ever the pleasure of one has to be bought by the pain of the other, there better be no trade at all. A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud.