How do you become a Quant Trader?
Dear quant traders. I have a really vague understanding of what you actually do, but it seems quite interesting. As someone who enjoys solving problems using maths and programming and also has an interest in finance, I would like to get an insight on how you ended up with that profession and what skills are required to be a quant trader. More specifically:
1) What is your educational background?
2) What areas of mathematics do you use on a daily basis? Does one have to be a mathematical genius to succeed?
3) Which programming language do you use? Do you utilize machine learning algorithms?
4) What training is required before applying to be a trader? Do you get to be trained at the job?
5) What is the growth potential of the role within a firm?
6) Are there good opportunities to work in this field in the UK?
7) What online resources are the most useful for preparing to become a quant trader?
Thank you in advance for replying. From my understanding, most quant traders work in quant hedge funds, which is were the highest salaries are available. Any further information is greatly appreciated.
I'm not a quant trader, but the prospect of being one is what got me into finance to begin with. I was working in cybersecurity and came across the following resources that were my introduction to the subject:
What Hedge Funds Really Do - A book that accompanies a Coursera course on quant trading.
Machine Learning for Trading - The aforementioned Coursera course. Which is free and, appropriately enough, starts today! So you can get started literally right now.
I will say, if you are already a programmer, the technical aspects of this course will be underwhelming, and if you work in finance, the finance aspects of it will be underwhelming. At least at the time I did it, it was not a fantastic or amazing thing, but it is a good start to get familiar with the space.
I'm not a full time but have secured a couple of internships at prop shops as a quant trader. I can speak for the prop shops (JS, DRW etc)
1) Most quant traders have STEM backgrounds with mathematics and computer science being the most popular. However, you should be able to secure interviews with any STEM heavy major.
2) Interviews are mostly focussed on probability questions and 'betting' games which are essentially questions where you have calculate optimal strategies to a game etc. Statistics could be useful but is not really important. On the job, it is a mix of everything.
3) Python is most commonly used by quant traders in their work.
4) To apply to be a trader, you should focus on your probability 100%. You have to comfortable with difficult questions and be able to absorb information quickly as questions can often be quite dense and you have limited time to understand them. Also, learn to gauge how confident you are in your answers as interviews will often require you to provide a figure which represents your confidence in you answer, which may be in the forms of bets. All quant traders are trained in the finance knowledge they require on the job, programming is also taught on the job, but having prior knowledge will be extremely helpful.
5) Structure in a quant firm is quite flat and heavily meritocratic. If you perform well, you can promoted to desk head etc.
6) UK has offices for most quant firms.
7) Books are the best option in my opinion, "heard on the street" is a godsend. Also brilliant courses in probability are surprisingly helpful.
Hope this is helpful!
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