How long to stay in trading with a niche skillset before hopping?
I am currently at Wintermute/Jump/GSR/Alameda (one of the ecosystem partners that also focuses heavily on HFT) and I have recruiters and headhunters almost every day contacting me about roles with only 6 months of experience.
Citadel (Securities) and Brevan Howard (Digital) are two of the opportunities that have popped up and I've been told they're specifically looking for people like me because there are very few people in the industry at these firms who are looking to hop back to traditional finance even if they're doing it with a crypto team. Since I'm only 6 months of full-time experience it's really interesting to see places like Tower, CitSec, IMC, and Brevan interested in poaching from the top crypto shops and I'm wondering if I should just stay at my current firm and continue to build up that crypto-native experience since I'm sure even 6 months longer at my current firm will make sure I really have cemented the basics of derivatives/HFT trading in a crypto firm and I'll be able to add a lot more value over in TradFi and maybe able to lead a team.
I actually had interest from DRW to discuss a DeFi portfolio management role if I had the background in DeFi and not options.
I think honestly my comp is great, the culture is awesome, I have lots of responsibility, and my firm is well known in the industry. I don't really need to hop until I start to plateau right? It seems like every junior is interested in what opportunities lie ahead 2 years down the line but will I be behind if I stick at the same firm? It sounds like my firm IS the exit opportunity right now. I wouldn't look to hop to BH Digital or CitSec or any of the other TradFi firms unless I was able to take on big responsibility and not just be a cog in wheel, but I don't think I'd be prepared for that for at least another 18 months. There's a lot of demand for junior and senior level hires in the space for TradFi but I don't see why anyone in my shoes would want to hop to Goldman's Digital Assets division or Brevan's Analyst level role and just sit in the corporate ladder and give up the career upside that these crypto-native firms give you.
P.S. Please do not move to crypto forum it gets buried under "How do I buy coin X", this is a trading specific career question; I just trade a niche product.
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