Prop trading comparisons: Virtu vs. Flow Traders vs. IMC/SIG/Akuna
Hi all,
I'm a junior in college interested in the prop trading space. I'm wondering how would people with more experience view tier 2 trading firms such as Virtu, Flow, IMC, SIG, Akuna, DRW etc. From what I've seen, tier 1 firms that stand out to me are: Jane Street, Citadel Securities, HRT, maybe 5rings and Optiver? But there is not a lot of information regarding the difference between tier 2 prop shops. More specifically, I've found little information on Virtu and Flow. Is it because they do fewer campus hires or are these two firms not in the same tier as the others? Are some of the companies I mentioned in the list considered better than the rest, especially when you're starting off your career? Thanks in advance!
Take it from someone at one of the "tier one" firms that honestly a lot of things (first year pay, prestige) really don't matter for shit once you hit the desk properly. What you should account for is whether you have interest in the product, whether the training is good and whether you get along with the people at the firm well. At the end of the day people will get paid market rate for however good they are - and people often go from "tier 2" firms to "tier 1" firms and vice versa. Just worry about getting good at trading :) any of the firms you've mentioned can set you up to be a very successful trader, and if you are a successful trader then you can (more or less) have your pick of firm.
Thanks for the reply! I definitely agree with the fact that being a good trader is more important than the prestige of the firm. From your experience, do you think any of these firms provide better training than the rest? Additionally, how often do you see people jumping from one prop firm to the others? (I thought people rarely go from shop to shop because of the non-compete)
I'm not sure about training for most of them - but if you have an offer you should be able to chat with them and get a feel for what it's like. About non competes - yes, that can be an issue but traders with a couple of years of experience are in high demand right now and firms seem to be willing to wait it out (I know 3 grads who have jumped after a couple of years). Genuinely though, if there's one thing I've learned it's that the firm you get along with best is generally the best choice at this stage in your career. Right now you need to find mentors and learn the ropes, and the firm that helps you do that will be the one which maximises your comp in the medium term and long term. So... Talk to them and really get to know them as best you can :)
The only one I've heard bad things about is CitSec, where some people have said it's sink or swim type stuff (good for experienced people, bad for newbies). Only heard this through the grapevine though.
Thanks a lot! These are pretty helpful info. Would you mind sharing a little bit about what your salary trajectory looks like? I have offers from the tier2 firms mentioned above and I'm trying to make a decision. I enjoyed my conversation with almost all the firms I've interviewed with. One of the firms told me that I wouldn't really be trading for the first 6 month - 2 years until I get a good sense of the system by shadowing and doing operations stuff. The other firms told me that I would go through some training but did not mention how long it would be (I suppose it would be less than 6 month). In general, would a long training period set you back or does it not effect the career trajectory in general?
I'm not sure where these tiers came from (fresh grad starting comp?) but these tier 2 firms don't have a lot in common.
Virtu: publicly traded with a strong focus on technology. Profits are good but compensation doesn't seem to scale with pnl
Flow: also publicly traded with a focus on exchange traded products. More focused on Europe than US. Other than 2020 profits in recent years haven't been so great
IMC: technology focus and historically big in index options
Akuna: newer smaller firm
SIG: very big and profitable old firm. At least in the past had a reputation for high turnover and not great comp for juniors
HRT and CitSec are also more quant focused than the above firms. In quant firms it is easier to add value if the firm has good infrastructure and research frameworks but many good quant firms are also rather secretive and siloed so it's hard to learn.
Thanks for the reply! I indeed did most of my rankings by comparing ng starting comp/ how competitive the hiring process is. Which firm do you think gives the most valuable experience for new grads?
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