“You gotta love public markets”
Why do people commonly say “you just gotta love the markets” when people are analyzing HF as a career choice? Isn’t it wise to analyze your career decisions just as you would analyze a trade? Furthermore if you have a strong attachment to being a “risk taker” and “loving the markets” does it not make you more emotional during drawdowns?
When people say "you gotta love the markets" in the context of hedge funds (HF) or public markets, it often reflects the intense passion and obsession required to thrive in such a high-stakes, fast-paced environment. Based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s why this sentiment is common and how it ties into your points:
Passion for the Process: Hedge funds demand a deep love for the day-to-day grind of analyzing markets, finding inefficiencies, and making investment decisions. As one WSO contributor noted, "You only survive and advance in this business because you love the day-to-day of your work." Without this passion, the volatility, stress, and uncertainty of the HF world can become overwhelming.
Emotional Resilience: While loving the markets can make you more emotionally invested, successful HF professionals develop the discipline to separate emotions from decision-making. As another WSO thread highlighted, "Volatility doesn’t stress me out. If I get blown out, so be it." This mindset is crucial to avoid emotional reactions during drawdowns.
Risk-Taking and Rationality: A strong attachment to being a "risk-taker" can indeed lead to emotional pitfalls if not managed properly. However, the best HF professionals channel this attachment into calculated, data-driven decisions. They analyze their career choices and trades with the same rigor, understanding that emotional discipline is key to long-term success.
Career Fit: The phrase also serves as a litmus test. If you don’t genuinely enjoy the markets, the HF lifestyle—marked by long hours, constant pressure, and the need for consistent performance—may not be sustainable. As one WSO contributor put it, "You should only pursue the HF path if you truly enjoy the investing process—not just the idea of it, but the actual day-to-day work."
In summary, while it’s wise to analyze career decisions like a trade, the love for markets is often seen as a prerequisite for enduring the challenges of a hedge fund career. Balancing passion with emotional discipline is what separates successful professionals from those who struggle during tough times.
Sources: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/private-equity/why-i-left-pe-switched-to-the-public-markets?customgpt=1, HF vs Career Banker @ CVP/PJT?, Ho-Hum to Hedge Fund, Q&A: Non-Target School to Portfolio Manager at a Top Hedge Fund – 6 Years Out of Undergrad, Guide to Careers in Market Risk
Best explained by the GOAT. Go to the 50:00 mark.
https://valueinvesting.substack.com/p/druckenmiller
I used to think you can power through this job if you don’t love it but it drains your soul if you don’t love it
its just a job bro
you can love it hate it or anything in between
plenty of people out there who dont particularly care for the job but do just fine
Because it is hyper competitive x100 with no barriers to entry, zero differentiation from one place the next, and has power law outcomes.
There’s an army of people just like you and some of them absolutely love the markets and can’t stop thinking about it. They’ll talk stocks any chance they get, at wedding, at funerals, bar mitzvas, and everywhere in between. If you’re not as obsessed with it as they are, you don’t really stand a chance,
Being obsessed with the NBA does not mean you will be an NBA player. Being obsessed with politics does not mean you will become a senator or governor.
I've known some older guys that are like this, but often times I find they don't have anything useful to say. They have the attention span of goldfish and will constantly tell you they like or don't like names, expect with no view other than "it looks cheap". Easy to constantly talk stocks when you put no thought into it.
Classic comment that demonstrates lack of understanding the difference between necessary and sufficient. Above guy arguing is that being obsessed with your coverage is necessary to be competitive. You are saying it’s not sufficient for success. Both of you are right. One needs to be obsessed with stocks while being thoughtful and diligent in doing the work. Not a controversial opinion
Intellectually bankrupt argument.
No one said you’re guaranteed success if you’re obsessed. But you are guaranteed mediocrity if you’re not.
If you work in the HF game and don’t understand that, it’s pretty obvious where you stack up.
well said
public market investing is closer to chess or poker than a real job - there are thousands of very smart people who would play chess/poker all day for very low amounts of money because they enjoy it, with a few people who get wealthy off it
what that means if you dont enjoy it and only find it a grind you will have a tough time
And more importantly, a little red never scared anyone away
Nor a little green
because at the highest level of investing/trading, it requires passion + skills to succeed. for PE, id say the intelligence level required is much lower than those who trade public markets. mostly relationship driven but if you stillwant to succeed in ultra competitive PE market, passion is a requirement now too. PE guys are just dumber since they just follow the cookie cutter mindset. public dont work this way.
in public markets, any joe schmo with $1K can enter the market unlike privates where its basically gatekept by institutions. you also have so many random movements that will fuck your psychology at any given time with various market pariticipants with different mandates and thinking. to weather all these and ultimately succeed (aka generate alpha sustainably over many years), passion just becomes a prereq and a bare minimum. when you are trading names that move 5pt against you with no news and reason, can you stomach it and have conviction to double down? things like this happen all the time. you really have to love this assfuckery of the market to withstand all this bs. if you dont love it, youll get burnt out soon and a hardo next to you who lives and breathes this shit will eat you alive. sounds cringe but its true.
there are some people out there smart enough to be good at this job without loving it, but they usually burn out. After every good trade, you have to work on another one. It can be endless and if/when things go wrong your week will get very busy. If you dont love it, you will either be mid or burn out.
Always had mixed feelings about the statement. Feels like sometimes people are more in love with the idea of being in love with public markets (and telling everyone about it) instead of yknow... Just doing it and loving it
you can do fine if you’re not obsessed. But there’s always infinite things to do.
And people who are obsessed create their own luck , see more things, get more at bats, go through more ideas to find the gold nugget, dig more and deeper, and become a little more accurate than others.
Given small % advantages add up to big outcomes in this biz, that’s why the obsessed will tend to do better.
The job is pretty interesting and fun as it is though , so it’s not hard to love aspects of it.
It’s hard to love the stress, constant sprint+marathon, and unpredictability though
100% agree, have to love the game.
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