Why do Global Macro PMs come from equities or commodities backgrounds?
Not necessarily the case, but in terms of great managers:
Equities - Soros, Druckenmiller, Robertson
Commodities - Dalio, Tudor Jones, Kovner
Why is this the case? Is working in commodities the best route towards global macro?
Like you mentioned, not really the case but I would guess: - Equity market has been around since forever. Very mature market and encompasses the whole macro theme well. - Commodities has a developed derivs market and the first equity derivs can be traced back to the commods market.
I suppose commodities would serve you well but I would be leaning more towards FX and rates/credit.
There are a million types of global macro and that's really a pretty small sample set of basically people you've heard of, not exactly a cross-section of the macro universe or even the all-time greats within the macro universe.
Tudor is (or at least was) largely a momentum/swing-trade strategy which has its roots in futures markets.
Soros ran quantum as a macro overlay on a long/short equity book-read The Alchemy of Finance for some great color on how this works-using "core" holdings of a somewhat-market-neutral stock portfolio as collateral for currency and rate bets.
If you mean Julian Robertson I wouldn't really call Tiger macro at least not during its heyday.
The point above about commodities as the root of the derivatives market (especially futures) is a great one.
The categories you made are too broad, but I see what point you are trying to make. The "commodities" background can mean almost anything, and Dalio started off much differently than Kovner or Paul Tudor Jones (research vs. fx trading vs. futures trading). There are all sorts of ways to break into "global macro", and there is definitely no set path. Read Inside the House of Money to see all sorts of different things people do and how many different trading/investing styles can come from people who would be classified as "global macro" managers. The best thing I can recommend to you if you want to be sitting in that seat is to be patient, make money, get lucky a few times, and if you are looking for an entry level position then as of right now the janitor has better odds to manage money than you.
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