Best non-quant, non-algo shops to work for?

What are the best firms that use discretionary trading, intuition, some technical analysis is fine (moving averages, Boll bands etc.) but not heavily mathematical? I'm very interested in the economy and the markets, but am not a fan of algorithms or heavy math.

Thank you.

 
5:
What are the best firms that use discretionary trading, intuition, some technical analysis is fine (moving averages, Boll bands etc.) but not heavily mathematical? I'm very interested in the economy and the markets, but am not a fan of algorithms or heavy math.

Thank you.

Doesn't really exist. Even before computers took over it didn't exist. Not in the prop space. You might want to focus on managing money via an investment advisor, CTA,or hedge fund. Not starting your own but working for one.

 

Check out T3 Trading or Chimera Securities. I don't which is the best prop shop for discretionary trading but those two look decent.

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." - Albert Einstein
 
Best Response
rock612:
you either want to work in discretionary global macro, or you want to join a prop shop. consolidated trading, spot trading i've heard arent too algo.

Spot is like the biggest algo shop in Chicago! LOL. And Consolidated is market making. To the OP, honestly, you need to get into managing client assets. How you do there is your prerogative. I suggest you find an RIA with a lot of money under management and work for him. One day you can build your own business and you can run your macro ideas. Prop firms have ZERO interest in that crap. They don't want your view of long term on rates, they are trading the curve 40k round turns a day. And they tie up zero capital. The main reasons prop firms don't do macro stuff is that it eats up capital. It's useless to them. Even if you make great calls it's useless to them!

 
ACD_Trader:
rock612:
you either want to work in discretionary global macro, or you want to join a prop shop. consolidated trading, spot trading i've heard arent too algo.

Spot is like the biggest algo shop in Chicago! LOL. And Consolidated is market making. To the OP, honestly, you need to get into managing client assets. How you do there is your prerogative. I suggest you find an RIA with a lot of money under management and work for him. One day you can build your own business and you can run your macro ideas. Prop firms have ZERO interest in that crap. They don't want your view of long term on rates, they are trading the curve 40k round turns a day. And they tie up zero capital. The main reasons prop firms don't do macro stuff is that it eats up capital. It's useless to them. Even if you make great calls it's useless to them!

Spot's bread and butter is vol arb trading. They've been struggling a lot, but that's true for most prop shops in chicago. Not sure if they're the biggest algo shop in the city. Are you defining it as number of employees, profits, or some other metric?

 

Thanks for the responses-

It doesn't have to be a prop shop. I'm fine working at other types of firms, yes I understand why prop shops have to make short term trades.

"consolidated trading, Spot Trading i've heard arent too algo."

I actually interviewed with consolidated several years ago. I made it all the way to final rounds in their Chicago office. First off, they are a very cheap firm - they fly west coasters in and out same day to avoid paying hotel fees. I had to wake up at 4:30am that day, and got back home at 11pm. Every other Chicago firm I interviewed with paid for a decent hotel, so this left a sour taste in my mouth.

Consolidated may not be heavily algo but judging from their interview, they appear to be very quantitative. The superday consists of a 1:1 interview, group interview and a computerised maths speed test. The 1:1 interview questions consist of maths olympiad-level probability-type questions - quite frankly, I'm highly doubtful those types of questions correlate well with good trading/market making skills. The person who interviewed me was supposedly a MIT or Caltech grad (or a comparable institution)

 
5:
Thanks for the responses-

It doesn't have to be a prop shop. I'm fine working at other types of firms, yes I understand why prop shops have to make short term trades.

"consolidated trading, Spot Trading i've heard arent too algo."

I actually interviewed with consolidated several years ago. I made it all the way to final rounds in their Chicago office. First off, they are a very cheap firm - they fly west coasters in and out same day to avoid paying hotel fees. I had to wake up at 4:30am that day, and got back home at 11pm. Every other Chicago firm I interviewed with paid for a decent hotel, so this left a sour taste in my mouth.

Consolidated may not be heavily algo but judging from their interview, they appear to be very quantitative. The superday consists of a 1:1 interview, group interview and a computerised maths speed test. The 1:1 interview questions consist of maths olympiad-level probability-type questions - quite frankly, I'm highly doubtful those types of questions correlate well with good trading/market making skills. The person who interviewed me was supposedly a MIT or Caltech grad (or a comparable institution)

Surprised that consolidated interview was so quant since it's not a great shop. Not surprised they're cheap.

 

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