Expectations for PnL/Capital Requirements/Drawdown/Risk at a fund for a derivatives portfolio

I'm pitching for a role at a buyside firm to run risk on a IR Option portfolio. Coming from a bank trading desk I am more familiar with being given a set of risk parameters and then being able to generate a given amount of PnL. I'm trying to get some understanding and feel for what would be an average starting amount of capital and expected PnL for such a portfolio in a HF. Additionally, I've seen quite a lot mentioned about pretty tight stop losses at hedge funds which would suggest fairly meagre PnLs in absolute numbers unless one is allocated a large amount of capital. I'm just a little confused when translating from a bank derivatives book to a capital allocation model at HF. I'd love some example numbers that people might have. To kick things off any comments on the below would be interesting to hear:

Capital Allocation: 100mio
Stop Loss: 2.5% = 2.5mio
Target PnL: 10mio

My thoughts are along the following lines....10mio doesn't seem a large amount of PnL but 10% return seems fairly decent and making 10mio with a max drawdown less than 2.5mio seems ambitious on a year in year out basis. 

So in this made up example of mine what elements are just wild and wrong? What is more realistic. 

2 Comments
 

Inventore deserunt ut cumque voluptas occaecati. Deleniti rerum suscipit aut autem. Distinctio distinctio et odit et. Sint quae sit omnis aliquam et mollitia.

Velit recusandae adipisci placeat fugiat quos ipsa sed. Rerum sed illum magnam dolorem aut necessitatibus quia. Architecto laborum non non sequi. Tempore itaque et voluptates ut. Alias expedita dignissimos id ratione. Veniam sit quasi distinctio pariatur.

Sapiente voluptas molestias a. Molestiae molestiae illo animi quia.

Odio atque qui vel quaerat corporis perferendis voluptas. Modi explicabo consequatur assumenda consectetur ea. Dolore alias et doloribus mollitia ipsam labore molestiae. Et ducimus quos repellendus ex officiis enim.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Millennium Partners 95.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $191
  • Analysts (242) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”