Currently an algo trading intern from semi-target school
Hi,
I'm currently an algo/equity trading intern (sell-side) in Manhattan from a semi-target school (10 - 20 US news rank school non-ivy). I am trying to apply this summer to different kinds of trading firms (buy and sell side). I was wondering what are good places to work at as well as how to better prepare for these interviews. I was also wondering what kinds of trading jobs/firms provide the most lucrative offers (assuming I get in). I am kind of late into the game in finance, but managed to get a few late internship offers from both a sell-side and a prop shop. I have somewhat decent quantitative ability and data science research experience. Thanks for your help!
(edit) I was also wondering when the job market opens for traders (for those entering their last year of college)
Hey donkeykongkongo, I'm here because nobody responded to this thread after a few days...maybe one of these resources will help you:
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
Can you give a bit more context in terms of what you studied / what your skillset is? And maybe what kind of work you enjoy most - would you rather enjoy your day doing quant & technical work, or more qualitative stuff? Lastl, what are your career aspirations - high income above all else? Or prefer eg more enjoyable jobs, good exit opps, decent work life balance?
As someone who's worked in voice trading for many years, and currently works in algo trading - I'd never go back into voice for a variety of reasons. A lot of it will be down to your personality and aspirations though,
:")
Kinda sounds like your at northwestern.
I honestly don’t know what a buystrader is?
Like a mutual fund guy. Not many jobs there. Most buy side traders just execute. Not much income torque.
Bank trading seems boring now.
My guess you either need to go ib then to maybe an equity hedge fund (not as many jobs their), most of prop at least initiatally is going to be algo, other option is getting into one of the platforms. In trading you only have a few paths to hire a ton now 1. Prop - DRW/Jane st/optivers.
2. Platforms - millennium/sac/citadel. They still do a ton of algo type things.
3. Banks. But they do not do the prop type things they would have a decade ago. 4. BP/Shell trading development program
Other paths would seem to one-off opportunities.
Generally, I'd say there are two major skillsets needed in algo trading, to varying degrees though: Statistical research, and development skills.
Roles such as HFT stuff, latency critical products on the buy side (think USTs for example), or of course quant dev roles on the buy side are tilted a lot more towards hardcore development.
Pretty much all buy side shops have quantitative research roles as well, which is de facto statistical research for trading strategies. These can be either in support of some trading desk who gets to make the decisions (you'll want to avoid those - lower pay), or with direct PnL responsibility. On the sell side, statistical research plays a bigger role (compared to development) in either very mature products (FX spot), or more illiquid stuff (certain rates products).
Currently with your skillset, I'd say you're probably best suited for quant research focused roles, though you should not have any significant issues joining more development focused roles and building our your programming skillset there, if that's what you're more interested in.
In terms of pay, buy side pays better than sellside, with common pitfalls such as less job security. Work culture depends a lot on the shop, and can be 9 to 5 in a few extremely good cases, to 'we pay you not to see your family anymore' on others. Sellside pays a little less, though still relatively decently, work life balance should be a bit more predictable, usually around 10-12 hours a day (though depending on your bank and team, you can't always count on public holidays, or even regular holidays). Weekend work is relatively rare for most (but not all) teams.
Whichever way you go, try to make sure you have PnL responsibility, or are as close as possible to roles with PnL responsibility. Even the line of business makes a huge difference. If you're interested in good pay, never join a role that is under the IT or event quantitative research line of business, basically. You'll always want to be in the same organizational hierarchy as trading, basically.
The barcode username makes me think you played Starcraft.
bump
What are your goals? I interviewed with some of the big prop shops/banks/commodity shops/supermajors and they are all very different in culture and comp. Also, where do you want to live? What interests you and what are your skillsets? What is your appetite for risk/stress?
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