Structured Credit vs. Prop Trading

I need to make a decision between two offers. Both offers are at BB banks; one is in structured credit focusing on synthetic CDOs; the other is under proprietary trading focusing primarily on the commodities sector.

The names for the banks are about equal so no difference in terms of name recognition, just trying to determine which product would be better and would give me a better experience. It seems that the structured credit market is extremely hot right now but the role is largely structuring, the hrs are longer. I am more interested in the trading side but there seems to be much higher risk in the prop trading position.

Would like any insight regarding long-term career potential, skillset building/learning, and compensation. Thanks.

6 Comments
 

Simply depends on your personality and skill set.

Prop - Greater risk, greater rewards. Depends alot on your trading skillset.

Structured - Much more quantitative than prop. More stable and hot for now. Upside not as great as prop. Exit ops less than prop.

 

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