freshman looking at commodities/fixed income/S&T, nobody at my school does this -- Where to start
few questions here, and sorry I know this might be early, and alot of writing, but I've really been struggling to get S&T specific info at my school--feels like nobody does it. For context, 4.0 in stat, econ, cs at a target school. Interning at a fairly quiet macro fund (think 500mil-2bil aum) over breaks + summer. I have also grown my PA over the past few years almost entirely uncorrelated to the market (did some bank stocks during covid but its been mostly energy commodities and rates products).
1.) where is a good place to start for prepping/optimizing for sellside/buyside macro products (rates/fx/mbs/energy commodities) for SA apps next year? What sort of technicals should I prep, is networking / preprofessionalism still a large component at BB S&T like IB? Where is a good place to look to prep for questions specifically about fixed income securities?
2.) Do school clubs matter as much for S&T? honestly the school club scenes at these targets totally threw me off guard. My high school was pretty chill but many dudes came in with WSP modeling courses done over the summer and everything. I only applied to one club that managed the most money--but at my school the clubs actually cut you if you dont know accounting + modeling + valuation, so I got fired lmao. Wasn't super into equities stuff anyways and I manage like half as much in my PA. people talk up a big game about these clubs tho--and it does seem everyone with IB/PE/HF are in the top ones. Should I try for these again, I have 0 extracurriculars other than academic research in macro--or can I save myself the boredom?
3.) Are there enough seats across these macro products to reasonably say "I'm gonna recruit specifically for sellside/buyside in x product"? I feel like there are thousands of students going into IB/PE etc, but at my school you can count ficc traders on one hand. I just want to make sure this it isn't delusional--if I decide I like rates the most for example--to recruit only for rates sellside/buyside next year because of so few seats.
4.) where are good places online/elsewhere to discuss macro investment theses. I worked quite closely with my PM this winter and really enjoyed discussing ideas. Its great learning technical skills at school (because I can be more useful to him) but I definetly learned the most discussing. Where on the internet do good macro traders discuss? any books/blogs to recommend?
5.) Lastly, do ficc sellside/buyside traders enjoy their careers/regret not going into IB/PE/etc.? Maybe because every single recruiting event/finance oriented person wants to go into IB/PE i sort of got the sense that people largely believe you face large opporutnity cost not going into IB/PE. To be fair here, they have a point. These meltdowns at SMs like Tiger, LP, etc wouldnt have happened in macro--Platt would have fired the whole building once his traders hit a 3% drawdown. Basically with accelerated recruiting, I want to make sure I don't make a decision because I was too stubborn to learn modeling/equities stuff--and that ficc pros actually prefer the field in retrospect.
Sorry for the long post, just really have 0 information and trying to get the ball rolling.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's a breakdown to address your questions about starting a career in Sales & Trading, specifically within commodities, fixed income, and macro products:
Preparation for S&T Applications:
Importance of School Clubs for S&T:
Recruiting for Specific Products:
Discussing Macro Investment Theses:
Career Satisfaction in FICC Trading:
Remember, the WSO forums are a treasure trove of information where you can ask further questions and get advice from industry professionals. Good luck with your journey into S&T!
Sources: Preparing for the buyside, Overview of Sell-Side M&A, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/how-to-prepare-for-restructuring-technical-questions?customgpt=1, [HELP REQUEST] How to prepare for the markets for S&T Interview?, Sales and Trading - A Comprehensive Guide
Couple of things. So at least for the sellside, S&T internship programs are almost all generalist and rotational and even in interviews, you won’t really go into which asset class you would prefer just because there are so many variables. But in terms of new grad recruitment for FT it is much more likely that you would target for a desk.
On the point for FICC traders vs PE and other fundamentally driven roles, the personality that fixed income trading jobs attract are just too different in my opinion as the pace of work is much faster in fi trading and there is a higher emphasis for quantitative analysis instead of micro accounting based analysis. I would also caveat that fi trading lends itself to many approaches and some people may be more macro oriented while others trade based more on product technicals.
Hey, I was in a similar position. I got top 3 BB S&T and then MM HF in macro. I wrote a reply but WSO said there was an error when I tried to post. You can PM me.
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