Fixed Income VS Equity ?
Let's vote: If u have to choose between Fixed Income Trading and Equity Trading, which one is ur choice? why?
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Do fixed income, margins in equity trading have shrunk significantly, as far as fixed income, straight bonds are going the way of equity as pricing to the overall market is becoming more transparent making it harder to make money in those as well.
fixed income, no doubt
The gist of opportunities that I see in equities these days involve computer programming. Since I'm not a programmer, I'd lean towards FI.
If that's a toss-up, I like Fixed income, think it's more interesting.
Here's a scenario:
1) You're going to a BB and can do either equity or fixed income trading. 2) You have a specific equity desk (cash) where the people are great and you feel they'll give you a lot of responsibility early on. 3) All else equal, you like equities more than fixed income. 3) But you're worried about the future prospects of equities trading.
Which do you go to?
Go where u like the people!!!!
If you like the people, chances are they'll like you in return. If they like you, they'll teach you.
I wouldn't worry too much about where you start off. Do your job well and opportunities will present themselves. Who knows? Maybe there'll be some turnover when you join and you'll get your own book really quickly. That's certainly better than hanging around and waiting for three years before a spot on the credit derivatives desk opens up, for which you would have to compete against everyone and their uncle.
i have friends who trade spot fx, which is sort of similar to cash equities in that everyone keeps banging on that it's no margin, gonna be automated etc. it's an awesome role; my closest friend on that desk loves his job. if you like equities, and you like the cash guys, and they'll teach you...go there. if you want after a while you can move into something else.
...no question take the fixed income job. Equity traders and salesman just arent as smart or well respected as FI people. Equity S&T is a joke.
Thanks all. The advice has been helpful.
equity derivatives or plain equities? (go for the derivs if that's the case if not FI)
there's money in long/short equity strategies at hedge funds but equities at banks are dying in my opinion....
FI all the way.
FI is fucking huge. what kind of instruments are we talking about here?
no Dan, you're huge. don't ever forget it.
truth. 51", 34", 20.5"
gotta love week 3 of test, tren, and that good ole dbol.
Shit, Dan. You pretty much gotta rely on bespoke suits. I doubt you can get 51 OTR anywhere.
How about if we bring FX into the picture (and not only spot) ?
Is it better to trade FX at a bank well known for that, or still safer to cling to FI ?
i agree w/ what is echoed throughout this post. In my opinion, FI requires more intelligence than (most) equity trading. I personally like the complexities of FI.
Overall, I think more people are interested in equities, do you all feel the same way? This is good for those of us in FI!
As I understand it, FI is 10 times bigger than equties as far as size. FI is more techinical, as some people have mentioned. But equity is more volatile, and that can be more fun.
there are areas of FI that can be very, very volatile. But I agree equity does seem fun.
Don't know too much about equity, but I work with the Traders in Fixed Income, and most of them are pretty smart. But Bonds are fun! Don't think its all analytics...you get more of that in CMO's...but take my opinion with a grain of salt because my bank is more biased towards FIxed Income.
Which areas are those? Is it as volatile as say the equity markets this past month?
Volatility can be fun in the short run, but the fastest desks tend to have very young guys as their bodies and minds can't take it anymore. FI floors are generally considerably older than equities floors for this reason. Something to think about.
WOuld like to bring this topic up and hear everyone's views once again.
Where would be more attractive for S&T, Fixed Income or Equities?
In particular, I have heard traders saying that Equities, Credit and Commodities traders usually earn more in bull markets, while in bear markets, they tend to not do well. This is assuming that flow trading is their main job function, rather than prop trading.
FX and Interest rate trading, on the other hand, are stable in either bull or bear market (for stocks or the economy in general). In other words, your bonuses wouldnt be as much as the Equities/Credit/Commod traders.
What is everyone's views on it?
FI vs. Equities for trading (Originally Posted: 01/04/2008)
Email today asking for preference for either FI or equities trading at UBS for my undergrad internship as interviews are coming up soon, was hoping for some opinions and discussions of pros vs. cons of each. Thank you in advance.
Well, im glad i get to be the first to chime in. Seems like everyone on this forum likes to bash equities. They probably read liars poker one too many times. UBS is often regarded as the leading BB in equities, so this certainly gives them a step up. Equities at many other shops usually isnt their specialty but UBS tends to do very well in this department.
Which internship would I learn the most, have the best options coming out of you think?
How is UBS Equities or Forex/Currency in Connecticut? Also, how much quant skills would they be looking for in an equities interview? Thanks.
why cant you apply to both?
..........................
people bash equities bc there are no spreads plus it is much more transparents/less intellectual. many firms have moved their equity model to a lot more prop as you cant make money making markets so i would find out how UBS us.
im also not sure if equity is in CT or NY as working in CT would be a dealbreaker to me
Bateman may i ask your background. No offense I just hate it when i here college sophomore econ majors talk about how equity has no spreads and you cant make money off the flow.
For the knuckleheads that can only make money off a wide spread then so be it. If your only skill is buying at the bid and immediately trying to dump it at the offer because you are unable to gage market depth then you probably arent as smart as you think you are. Transparency means tranferrable skills which gives you more exit ops later down the road. Lets face it no one trades Credit Default Swaps from their beach home...
Second im not in this for the intellectual stimulus, im in it to make as much money as possible. But we both know neither one of us are budging on our stances so i will cut this short.
"Lets face it no one trades Credit Default Swaps from their beach home... "
actually i know one or two who do....
Jimbo
UBS is definitely a strong equities shop -- by some accounts, one of the top two places in equities on the street (for the most part, they suck at fixed income, though).
As far as spreads go, margin compression is a reality across products, both in equities and fixed income. Do you think spreads are gargantuan in the rates world? In fact, on the structured products side, equities still have a lot of juice. Of course, spreads are pretty wide in the MBS space (outside of pass throughs), but I wouldn't advise going there.
I heard bankers in public finance make less than in other areas. Is this also true for trading? Do Muni traders make less than other areas of FI or even equities? Is muni trading less volatile or a less active market?
In general, fixed income is really interesting and involves a lot of math. Equity is a little less mathematically involved.
That said, I transferred from being a quant developer on the fixed income side to being a quant developer in equities derivatives, and I have to say it doesn't feel that much different in terms of the complexity of the products. Knockout options aren't that much simpler than even some of the more complicated things I've seen on the credit side (callable bonds, fixed-to-floats, credit correlation derivatives).
I guess it depends ultimately on what you want from your job. Fixed income is much more varied in that you can jump between currencies, tenors and assets throughout your career. But the record years in FI are in times of trauma, 2008-2009 were the best years of all time for FI desks on the street. Unfortunately that means you don't get paid as much as say the equity derivs guys in their good years, which is when the world is long in a bull market and they get paid till their pants fall down from the weight.
I've never been one for equities so went to FI straight away, but that was because FICC is what interests me.
FI took a BEATING during the fin. crisis... CDOs, credit derivatives hello?!
Equities revenues are more stable than FICC.
At one London BB, the differences between the culture are huge. All the equities guys have been there for 5+ years, whilst the whole FICC floor was basically new guys brought in. This has a huge effect on the dynamic of the floor.To be fair, I would take FICC over cash equities (but not over equity derivs) just because it seems a little boring to me, no matter how fun the guys are (and most cash equities desks the guys are fun lol),
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