Real Time Trader Interview

I work at a small power trading fund and have an interview at a generation backed shop next week.

My experience so far is completely prop and discretionary trading across miso, pjm, nyiso.

The reason I'm looking to move is that my bonus was underwhelming last year (5cents of my book) and although we have had a really good year I want to have alternatives if I get a less than stellar bonus.

Any inputs on how working at a utility/generation backed firm would be different from my current position.

Also, what kind of technical/power plant related questions should I expect given my commerce background.

Thanks in advance. Cheers!

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Working at a gen backed place will be much different. Depending on the place and role, you won't really be doing spec trading but will be hedging the power plants. You should understand how a power plant's costs are determined and how they bid into the market. Depending on the type of gen, you may want to familiarize yourself with fuel procurement. You should also learn a bit about the ancillary service markets and how to participate in those to maximize revenue. Having some options theory would be good. With volatility where its at right now in the power and gas markets, from the gen side, there are a lot of attractive hedging structures that would utilize options. Depending on the shop, you may also be responsible for nodal risk so an understanding of how to hedge out the nodal risk would be good as well.

A lot of gen owners and utilities will also have much different bonus structures. You may feel you got screwed last year, but moving to a gen owner could eliminate much of the potential upside.

Good luck on the interview

 

Quis et facere quis vitae expedita est. Illum veritatis ipsa deleniti eum enim. Sunt et nemo aspernatur quasi dignissimos qui voluptatem. Illo consectetur dolorem libero nam tenetur voluptates.

Quisquam sit in et nobis. Dolore eaque dolores eos nam nemo rem ex.

Officiis dolore qui necessitatibus totam deleniti qui. Consequatur in soluta minima.

A quos quae velit veritatis. Est eos amet cupiditate ut. Qui culpa voluptatem rem rerum aspernatur dolor.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”