macro at hedge funds and banks

do traders who trade globally traded products (currencies, interest rate-related products, commodities, etc) have to work their sleep schedules around checking their positions in the middle of night? i'm curious how it would be different at hedge funds and banks, and how it would change with seniority? also if anyone has any experience in this, does it cause problems with your sleep if you have a big position on?

thanks in advance

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Best Response

If you're at a bank (or even many of the larger hedge funds and even the global props), there will be people in Europe and/or Asia who can/do manage the portfolio while you are sleeping or away. Some places opt to have people work 2nd and 3rd shifts to manage the portfolios (ie smaller hedge funds and props). Seniority... well you get to have more control over your schedule obviously, but from my experience and the people I know, it isn't that drastically different. If you trade FX/FI/etc., you're going to start early in the morning pretty much everywhere. Depending on what exchange(s) you are talking about (assuming you're talking about exchange traded stuff), not all commodities trade 24hrs and even if you're dealing with a lot of OTC stuff, you're significantly less likely to get something overnight versus during the relatively normal working hours.

 

Sell side fx options: we have desks in Singapore, London & New York, so standard day is 7-6/7. All locations trade the same book.

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