Traded a stock while interning at an HF how fked am I?
Hey guys I’m an intern at an equity hedge fund. Used to trade on the side before my Internship. On my first day at the desk, I traded a stock. Literally the next day compliance talked to us about how we can’t trade individual names and they need our account statements.
My account didn’t have the trade on it only the ones before so I was fine. But now compliance is asking agin for our recent account statements and mine show that I made a trade while I worked here.
Probably fine as long as you don't do it again, since it was your first day. Just send them the account info they asked for, and maybe even mention in the email that you did a trade on your first day before the talk because they hadn't told you yet, but now that you know, you won't do it again. You might want to casually mention it to your boss just so he's aware. But I doubt anyone would make a big deal since it was your first day before they told you.
For reference -- I once messed up the paperwork on disclosing a personal trade I did, and compliance asked about it. They sent me a form letter email about how all trades need to be disclosed, but since my paperwork was clearly an honest mistake and there was clearly nothing unethical going on, there were no penalties and they didn't even bother notifying my boss over it (though I told him anyway, just to keep him informed). Your case was also unintentional, so I bet it will be fine since you have a good excuse.
In my opinion, it will really depends on the difference between the volume traded before your internship and the volume traded once your started this internship.
Also, I hope you didn't trade a stock for the first time once you started working at this HF because it can look really sus.
I said before "you might want to casually mention it to your boss", but come to think of it, yeah, that should definitely be your first step. Just tell him you did a trade on your first day before they told you not to do it because you didn't know it wasn't allowed; but now you know and you won't do it again and you're willing to disclose all the account details, but ask his advice on whether you need to explain the details to anyone in compliance. If he's a good boss, he'll just send a note to compliance on your behalf explaining the situation and everything will be fine.
(I'm assuming your trade was just an ordinary trade and not something super suspicious like a million short-dated call options on a stock your fund is about to buy. If that were the case, then yes, you're screwed. But if it's just a normal day trade, you're probably fine).
If it is a stock that your fund is not involved with, then I think it should be fine since it was literally your first day of work as an intern.
I was dabbling with metal stocks prior to joining the first fund I worked at (fortunately fund was predominately into tech and didn't hold any commodity stocks). My boss at the time was really good (and I was pretty upfront with compliance) so ended up having no issue
Make sure to tell your boss immediately and be honest. He will be your first line of defense if compliance makes a big deal about it so you don’t want him blindsided. I doubt they will though, compliance issues happen all the time, and usually by mistake, so help them check their boxes and you’re fine.
You will soon be homeless and dead by 30. What an insane mistake. How could this happen. You might as well have launched the entire USA nuke stockpile.
This is why bankers can't have nice things
Veritatis illo beatae dicta et exercitationem et delectus accusamus. Omnis ad corrupti tempora earum. Accusantium qui ad in qui. Id ut molestiae aut fugiat voluptate. Beatae quam rerum velit mollitia.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...