Best graduate programs for Global Macro trading?

Hello everyone, I would like to know which graduate programs could be considered the best to gain the tools and skills neccesary for a career in Global Macro trading.Due to professional commitments initially my priority would be on line programs but there would be a possibility to relocate to a location in Europe temporarily if needed. Thank you very much in advance

 

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First - keep in mind you need to cast a wide net when looking for jobs in finance as it's a shrinking industry (apart from last year) with few seats. That is doubly true for global macro trading (both the 10 years of shrinking and the relative surge of last year). I'd suggest keeping open to trading any kind of macro product as there's no "set path" like in banking.

That said, get a master's in finance from top uni (Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, French ecoles, HEC, Bocconi) and your chances of getting a trading job at a bank grow which then you can convert into a global macro trading position down the line (note the "can", there are a lot more bank trading seats than HF macro trading seats). There's also a good chance no one will hire you into a trading job so keep that in mind before shelling out the cash for one of these programmes (some of them are quite pricey). I guess if you keep your eyes on the prize and keep pushing for a trading seat in a bank eventually you'll get there conditional on having strong grades at one of the above places. If you're non-Asian minority or female chances for a bank trading seat increase.

Obviously, there's always a chance of making it without good grades/brand name uni it's just not very big.

There's also another possible path (without going through a bank) and that's directly going into a HF either as an analyst or via middle office and then trying to leverage the experience into a trading seat. I have seen it happen but it's tough.

 

If rates start going up, then yes macro will be interesting. It has been interesting since corona but there are some indications that it will go back to being boring. If inflation truly is transitory (I think it is) there's no reason for a rate lift off any time soon and tapering is pretty well signalled. There is some central bank divergence leading to some opportunities but other than the massive steepener stop outs last few months have been pretty boring in macro. 

Good to mention in terms of casting a wide net - Fixed Income Relative Value (FIRV) is very macro-ish and seems to have more seats available for newcomers. You still deal with rates and have to be aware of macro environment while also allowing you to take advantage of a more quantitative framework/skillset if you develop such. This means that there's a hard skill requirement for new hires (being able to code and knowing your way around regressions and PCAs) which means that competition is slightly smaller. As long as there's some volatility to cause dislocations there should be opportunities and if there's no volatility you can always try to get cute around carry trades.

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