S&T trading to Prop

Can you move from trading at a bank to a prop shop? Looking at LinkedIn, the move seems to be very rare. Do prop shops hire from S&T at the junior (ish) level? I assume at the senior level there isn't much incentive to hop since pay discrepancies largely flatten out as you move up the food chain in a bank. If yes, which desks are suited for moving? Options and exotics?

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I would say the more innately prop focused your desk is in terms of taking on principle risk rather than trading flow the more likely you are to be able to hop. If you have a book on your own as an analyst (could be 6 months - 2 years) and your desk is something highly prop like equity derivs or FICC, you'll easily be able to lateral from a BB or someone with a great desk reputation to a prop shop. If you look at some of the market-makers in the crypto space a lot of them are coming from JPM/Goldman and taking on new prop focused risk/books at market-makers like GSR/Wintermute. Additionally a lot of guys at Goldman/JPM/S&T heading to Cumberland (DRW) for crypto prop as well. It basically depends 1) on your desk/product 2) if you have a book or p/l attached to your name 3) if you have good connections and a good brand.

 

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