Exotics Trading from Econ Undergrad

I’m going a rotational internship program and I was wondering if the exotic trading desks in either equities or FICC would have any interest in somebody with my background, or if a higher level of math and education is necessary (I.e. MFE, math degree of some sort,etc.) Also what would HF exit opp prospects look like from one of these desks? Thanks!

11 Comments
 

Was it undergrad tho or grad level because there’s a huge difference in quantitative ability supposedly.

 

I have an econ bachelors and sit on a non-linear trading desk in FICC at a BB, on the vanilla side. Depending on how exotic the structures you price / trade are it can require a maths background though its not a strict requirement, its advantageous. As long as you are numerate however, it should be fine. HF exit opps are good from these desks, know people who have gone onto sub PM, and analyst / strategist roles at good names.

 

I know nothing about trading and quant so please bear with my ignorance.

When people price options/ derivs/ structures on trading desks/ quant desks, what do people LITERALLY do from a math standpoint? Like, does anyone literally put pen to paper, by pulling up equations like Black Scholes or smtg? I assume not? Is it mostly building mathematical models on a computer and coding.

 

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