Commodities Trading - Differences between firms?
Anyone know the differences between trading at an oil/energy firm like BP, on a commodities desk at an IB, and at a huge diversified producer/marketer like Glencore/Trafigura, if any?
If you had the choice, what would you go for?
Thanks in advance.
Very long, but thorough piece on commodities trading firms.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Commodity-traders-The-rb-1862733731.html?…
great, thanks :)
The one who pays me more, with doing less. Do Less, get paid more = winner.
Commodities Trading - Shed some light on the differences (Originally Posted: 11/04/2009)
Can anyone shed some light on the differences bw commodities desk at an ib vs the more "physical" trade shops like a glencore, trafigura... I'm looking for like culture, type of work, reputation, compensation, career progression. Thanks
lots of the ibs have phy side and lots of the phy shops you listed have fin sides.
comp at the junior level is not much different
and how are these firms viewed in terms of perhaps transferring to an Ibank's commodity desk. I ask because many of these firms are located out in Stamford and I would hope to make it back to the city on day
why would you want to trasfer? there is some dumb notion on this board that you would want to leave to work for a BB. up until about 5-7 years ago BBs were not even intersted in Commodities
FYI where do you think the BB's desk heads come from? its not another BB.. Its Enron, Dynergy, El Paso, Coastal. BP, Shell etc etc
Huge world out there outside of the BB's
I understand that and am in no need to head to a BB. It's more that the opportunity I may have is in Stamford and that's not somewhere I want to be long term. I suppose transitioning to a simialr firm in NY would work as well but I just wanted to make sure Ide have options in NY.
if you have a lead in stamford who cares about all the other shops?
because like i said, I don't live in Stamford and while the 1.5 hour commute is doable, it's not something I want to do in the longrun so I want to make sure that if im going to "invest" in this for 1-3 years , should the commute become a real nuisance, I have options back home. Thats all.
no clue kid what you are asking.
This isn't hard to figure out. If you make money and can do so with risk control and consistency then you will have people beating down your door with offers after a few years. However, is trading something you actually even want to do? Sounds like you may not be 100% committed (which is totally fine!)
No I am very commited. trust me. Ill explain to you why I ask so many questions. Assuming this pans out, I may have an offer to take on a sort of Trading Assistant role at one of these commodities trading firms. Unlike banks where you it is very difficult to move out, I was told by a few people (and read on this site) that at these types of firms, they sort of require newbies to start out in the role and work up. Also, I currently have a job at a botique consulting firm which while not great, isnt bad. My dream is to be a trader. I basically just have to make sure this investment is going to be worth it. I just dont want to be stuck in this assistant role all the way out in Stamford (i know its not that far..). As it stands, I am willing to take on this risk in the hoped that i will be eventually be able to be a full fledged commodities trader (preferable in NY). I'm not so what is so difficult about my question as it seems quite simialr to the 100 other posts posted on this site daily. My only difference is I don't care so much about prestige, just more about possible opportunity and making sure im not heading down a dead end road where as I could have just stuck out my current job for a year or 2 and then gone to BS.
if this is your dream job. drop everything and take it
energy, metals, or ags? reason I ask is that NY would not even be the ideal location for energy, definitely not on the physical side.
big bank > small one. more structured, larger balance sheet, less risk and hounding over what you are doing.
selling this
I don't agree with this.
Bigger bank = more BS, more layers of bureaucracy/deadweight between you and the big bosses, more useless meetings, more paperwork to do anytime you or your team want to do something innovative, more organizational and strategic inertia, more time wasted watching powerpoint presentations, more politics affecting what should be purely monetary decisions.
my 2nd year working I had a very cool boss and he told me he spend on avg 28 hours a week in meetings... he would not start his day until 2 pm more days
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