Leaving HF within a year
Hi guys,
I moved from the sell-side to the buy-side for a PM role at a MM HF earlier this year but in the short time that I have been up and running, I have found that the set up of the fund makes it very difficult for me to trade the products/markets in which I have made the majority of my money over my career thus far. I had been given the impression at the time I started that this might be the situation but they had said that they were keen to take on board whatever changes I requested to improve the platform and help me succeed. Thus far, all requested changes have largely been ignored which is forcing me to avoid trading my core markets and instead take risk elsewhere in products that I am less comfortable/experienced with. Suffice to say, the results have not been great. I am still receiving messages from other HFs but I am unsure if it is too early for me to look into leaving and how those funds would perceive it if I were to push aggressively for a move at this stage.
Would they read it as an excuse for not making money so far even though its only been a few months? The alternate option is to try and claw PNL back to flat which may read as a better story. I'm trying to be cognizant of the fact that I do not have a buy side track record at this point and would like to put myself in the best position to succeed long-term on the buy side, especially if I'm being set up to fail at my current shop. Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
I think you're better off leaving asap, because you no longer even have faith in your own trades. In fact, if I were you I wouldn't even have bothered to begin trading if they were demanding I leave my area of expertise to dabble in something completely foreign. If you leave now with close to $0 PnL, you can simply tell the truth when interviewing for a new role. You and the platform simply weren't a good fit, you recognized it, and immediately jumped ship. But if you accumulate a bunch of losses, it looks like an excuse/cope and you become much less attractive as a product.
It always boggles my mind why bdev is willing to onboard a bunch of PMs but not bother to check if they have the infrastructure to accomodate them. No one wins from such a deal.
Totally fair, but realistically you are now given a comp that is 80% percentile in sell-side comp with zero politics, internal meetings, pressure etc..While the fund’s expectation could you need to adapt your style and rebuild your business over time. They are screening for typically trading talent expectation is on the PM to make it work.
Totally agree with the above. If you're doing something you don't believe in it's absolutely not worth staying. There are plenty of cases of people who do this and the explanation of "I couldn't trade my core competency" will go over fine. If you're down small no one will care.
Also - I will say as someone who has seen plenty of guys make this transition in derivs products. It's f*ng hard to move your strategies profitably to the buyside. Consider moving back if you were head of desk or similar if those seats are available. Maybe 3/10 guys end up making a similar/better living in my market on the buyside vs sellside.
Thanks for the responses. Definitely helps make my decision easier.
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