Please help me rank these trading desks for this summer (detailed)

Hey guys,

Barclays is not doing a placement day this year for some reason. Instead, the HR sent all the trading interns a list of product desks we could choose from and let us rank them in order of preference. Their guys will match the interns up with trading desks based on both preference and our resumes. I will get to rotate on two desks (4 weeks each). I like something that is quantitative but not OVERLY quantitative (i'm not a math PhD). I also like to work with a relatively fast paced product. So given the current market condition, which desks do you think are optimal for me?

These are the desks I'm leaning towards,

  1. Principal Credit: their prop desk. it's authorized to trade a bunch of stuff (rate, credit, equity, equity option). it trades on special situations as well. My worry is that prop desk will be a lot of fundamental analysis but not necessarily "fast-paced".

  2. Emerging market: apparently it's growing fast. Trades FX, rate, credit, equity derivatives in 60 markets. I lived in a emerging market country for 15 years and think this desk maybe right for me.

  3. Commodities. Barcap is good at it so i can prolly learn a lot. but i dont have any experience with commodities.

  4. FX: they are good at it and this operation is huge. i like the option side of FX. However, absolutely no experience with FX trading.

  5. FI rates: have had internship experience dealing with IRS, and im told that interest rate products are NOT adversely affected by the credit crisis. but i would hate to end up making market in treasuries.

  6. FI Credit: I like the quantitative side of this. correlation/exotics sounds really cool. so is structuring. However, this area has been adversely affected for the past a couple of months. would this be a bad time to jump into it?

  7. Equity derivatives: like the mathematical part of it. have taken classes/worked on hedge tournaments in this field.

Stuff I'm trying to avoid:

  1. Bank Loans: doesnt sound like an exciting thing to trade.

  2. Prime brokerage services: doesnt sound very analytical, sounds more like sales

  3. Residential MBS: well, MBS is taking a hit.

  4. ABS and Commercial MBS: again, taking a hit

  5. derivatives counterparty risk mgmt: sounds middle office to me.


Is there anything I'm ignoring? Any advice would be appreciated. I really want to end up on desks where I'll have fun working. Also, should I contact traders from my preferred desks and ask them to hook me up? What else can I do to maximize my chance of getting placed on a good desk? Thanks in advance.

 

I might be very biased here, but based on my own research emerging markets is were it is at. Especially if you lived in an emerging market country in the past and can speak Arabic/ Russian or some other emerging market tongue ;) HOWEVER, equity derivatives is very plain vanilla in emerging markets, but give the market some time to grow and you will see more and more complicated products. I'd chose the emerging market + equity derivatives desk if I were you.


Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is. - My ex girlfriend

 

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