How can I get relevant experience for Proprietary Trading?
Was denied an internship based on a few things but mainly because of my GPA. What can I do to stick out in the field to let others know GPA is not a reflection of my work ethic? I had some family history that impacted my GPA early on involving failing two courses over the summer and it's hurt me ever since. Should I be focused on trading a personal account and developing a consistent track record? I know some firms like traders coming in with their own profitable strategies while others like traders coming in with a blank slate so they can train them. I'll be focusing on learning more about python and data analysis as well as looking into probability theory and statistics to be more competitive on the quant side - as I made it pretty far in with some of the quant shops and enjoy trading derivatives more than equities.
If you made it "pretty far in" you didn't get denied because of your GPA
I'd say maybe do some kind of programming project involving NumPy and pandas and all that.
Thank you for the response focusing on what I can improve on rather than just obviously stating my GPA was not the only factor that got me denied. I think I'll focus on that. Maybe do a few projects over the summer with Python and Data analysis and throw those on the resume while also trying to get a funded account with a few online firms so I can document consistency and start tracking statistics on my own trading.
GPA was not the issue if that's your excuse. Try to get a role in a tech firm (FAANG) or at a bank (trading). That should put u in a good position.
Not an excuse at all. I'm very humble and look at my entire resume and experience with humility and while some sections might be weaker than others I know for a fact my GPA is not competitive at all and I've had two situations where I get to the final round and they request a transcript and have spoken about my GPA being weak as the only downside. My personal experience and story stick out and I interview well but I know my academic record looks very weak compared to my competition which is why I try and focus on the growth of my personal account which has landed me most of these interviews since the size of the account is similar to the starting size of some of these firms. I'd rather hear advice on how to improve and stick out rather than focus on how it isn't my GPA.
Prop shops tend to give interviews out without much screening. If you are talking about legitimate proprietary trading shops (Optiver/IMC/JS/CitSec/SIG/Akuna/CTC/Belv etc.), when you get to the interview stage your GPA doesn't mean shit. I'm not attacking you. This is the simple truth. I've received offers at almost all of the firms I listed above and help with recruiting at my current firm. If a recruiter said that everything is great except your GPA and reject you, they are lying. It was just an easy thing to blame your rejection on. In addition, I doubt your retail trading account matters except for showing interest.
I'm only an intern, so take this with a pinch of salt. Focus on learning programming + maths and stats. And make sure you do specialized projects in area that you're interested in. If you're into equities do some L/S/statarb project etc, if you're into macro do some RV/basis trading/swap spreads etc. Based on my own observation too many candidates have a generic equities trading bot project, and that almost certainly will not set you apart from other candidates. Learn in depth about the products that you wanna trade, and build a strategy around it - you mentioned that you wanna trade equity derivs, so do some projects related to vol forecasting/volarb/dispersion trading etc. Wouldn't focus on growing PA - that barely means anything in interviews. Good luck!
Thank you so much for the reply I really appreciate it and it’s very insightful. I think this summer I’ll focus mainly on the programming projects and building up my resume and just leave the personal account going in the background with some longer term strategies. I appreciate your help! Any recommendations for brushing up on probability and stat textbook/information wise? I do very well in mental math scoring very highly on some of the math sites, but probability and stat I struggle a little with.
For the IQ-style probability/stats questions you can't go wrong with Heard on the Street + A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews. For statistical techniques/modeling questions try Elements of Statistical Learning + Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control (my personal favourite).
Generate a track record through a PA, for sure. I mean, depending on your time horizon, you may not be able to be extremely impressive but for a prop firm, it would make sense that a prospective trader has actually got some skin in the game already. Your experiences will serve as talking points during an interview.
Makes sense, thank you. Time horizon around 6 months so maybe 120ish trading days of developing consistency and the proper psychology? I know consistency and minimizing drawdown is seen to be much more favorable than someone swinging their account around and taking on massive risks, so I've been trying to focus on becoming consistent and plotting my progress using journalytics.
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