What books should I read if I want to break into S&T
Can anyone recommended me any books to read if I want to break into S&T. Something that would be useful for helping me with technical interviews, but at the same time and enjoyable read.
Many thanks
To be honest, I didn't really need to read any books for the specific purpose of breaking into S&T. Out of interest, I did read 'When Genius Failed', which I guess provided some historical background.
I think if you want to break into S&T, it's a lot about networking and just generally following the markets via WSJ, Bloomberg etc.
I remember when I did S&T interviews they were basically all behavioral, with a little bit on basic options valuations, what were my thoughts on markets, and then having a stock pitch.
Read the Big Short. Gives a good background of buy side/ sell side interaction. And any markets related books.
I don't think any book with necessarily help you do well in S&T interviews, but I think having a good understand of financial market history is useful as a sales person/trader.
If you're looking for some books to read that are informative, but still are entertaining I'd suggest: The Big Short, Liar's Poker, When Genuis Failed, and Demon of Our Own Design.
all junior traders on my desk were told to read the following
1) When Genius Failed 2) fooled by randomness 3) reminiscences of a stock operator 4) trading in the zone 5) Market Wizards (all 3-4 books) 6) Liars Poker 7) Steidlmayer on Markets: Trading with Market Profile 8) Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John Murphy
Thanks for useful information ^^
Liars Poker, highly recommend it
The Market Wizards books are by far some of the most entertaining and informative of all. If you are interested in Macro S&T then Inside the House of Money is very similar but more macro focused.
Reminiscences is the most classic book of any. It will teach you more than you could imagine about the behavioral aspects of trading and is always a good go to book discussion with any trader. It won't teach you anything technical about current markets though. Eg. options pricing, order routing, bond pricing
Starting S&T out of undergrad this summer - looking for good VBA books/modelling books + any tips/suggestions (Originally Posted: 03/12/2013)
I've talked with a few of the associates at the firm I will be with. They have said that VBA and financial modelling are pretty much the only skills I can work on ahead of time to bring to the table when I start.
Any tips from those who have worked a few years in the industry? Any help on resources or general advice would be greatly appreciated!
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=excel+vba+for+dummies
interesting how you got into a canadian bank without an S&T internship......HR in canada aren't the most creative recruiters
Fuck off prop trading sucks and you do too
I did actually do a S&T internship this past summer - I was on a sales desk dealing with mid-market clients however, so did not use VBA often. I am going into a rotational program so will likely spend some time on a desk where it is needed.
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781565923584.do
Thanks - I'm curious though: even though the book has great reviews, do you think it would still be useful having been printed in 1998?
I recall a copy on one of the trader's desk at a managed ETF fund I worked for. Not sure, but I believe that a lot of those older/simpler languages are pretty much set in stone. May be completely wrong though. It is just the language after all though, nothing to do with operating system.
I will repeat what I usually say
Combining Excel VBA for Dummies with viewing the code generated with the built-in macro recorder will get you 70% there. The other 30% is to implement what you learn by coming up with things you think code would be useful for then writing functional code for it.
OR, you could set yourself this challenge: code a macro that will, with one click,
(a) take your selected cells that are filled with ticker symbols (b) grab historical price data from Yahoo (c) enable you to choose between dates daily/monthly/weekly intervals (d) add an additional worksheet with the data for each ticker symbol (e) add a column that will calculate the returns for each period (f) graph each symbol's return history on the same chart
If you figure out how to do that while understanding what each line of code does I'd say you've done pretty well...
You want to be at the point where you are presented with a problem at work, you think to yourself "how could VBA make my life easier", and you take no more than 10 min to implement your solution
Excel and VBA are 2 of the most under-used and under-appreciated practical technologies in university (when it comes to finance). I've seen (and built myself) entire trading businesses run off Excel spreadsheets with VBA and a free instance of SQL Server. Get creative and take a real world problem...and then figure out how to build the solution in Excel.
For example..given the strip of the 1st 16 Eurodollar contract prices...what FOMC rate hikes are "priced-in" to the next 4 years of meetings. You'll need the list of scheduled meeting dates (and then extrapolate expected meeting dates)..and ED (eurodollar) futures contract prices as inputs...then figure out how to use excel to build the solution (you'll need to understand a little linear algebra for this...so you can use Solver within excel to help with the solution). I've intentionally left a few things out of this problem...those are for you to figure out (what was left out...and what to do about it)...if you are really interested in trading...then figuring out problems like these...and coming up with creative solutions is something you will both enjoy and need to be able to do. Think of this as your first practical application of your college education. And i want it done yesterday...bitch
FYI...this is something that any 1st year analyst worth their salt on a fixed income or fx trading desk should be able to do. If you can do this...understand what it means and be able to speak about it intelligently...then you should be able to impress the right people with your chops.
I used Walkenbachs power programming one. FOund it very good. But tbh VBA is best learned when you are given a project and you need to finda solution for it. Use Walkenback to learn thebasics of the syntax and the ngoogle for any tasks you need to complete.
Good Books to Prep for S&T internship (Originally Posted: 05/07/2012)
I'm hoping this topic will be useful for others as well. I'm prepping for my BB S&T internship this summer, and in addition to reading a lot of market literature, I'm trying to bulldoze through some "textbook" type books. Does anybody have some recommendations that cover the following topics:
Commodities Market Structure/Trading Fixed Income Currency Trading Derivatives
So far I've got Fabozzi for Fixed Income and Natenburg for options.
"The Bond Book," http://www.amazon.com/The-Bond-Book-Third-Edition/dp/007166470X
"Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" by Hull is pretty comprehensive.
http://www.Amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0131499084
It might be dated but I would venture to suggest Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham imho it should be mandatory reading for all S&T people esp. on the Equities/AM side. Def a good investment
http://www.Amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Edition-Foreword-Editions/dp/0071592539/ref=pd_sim_b_2
even further than the fabozzi textbook for FI would be fabozzi's "handbook of fixed income securities"
Some other derivatives/options stuff: Options Futures and Other Derivatives-Hull Option Market Making-Baird Options Trading-Sinclair Volatility Trading-Sinclair The Volatility Surface-Gatheral Dynamic Hedging-Taleb Options Markets-Cox
Watch Steve Nison's videos on "Profiting in Forex." You can find them on Pirate Bay (or pay $1000). He basically discusses everything you need to know about candlesticks, and you can apply that to equities trading during your internship.
Sweet, thanks for the recommendations. Does anybody have good books on currency and commodity markets?
Commodity markets...
Commodities and Commodity Derivatives - Modeling and pricing blah blah blah.. by Geman
If you are interested in options trading, know natenberg cold before moving on to anything else. It is the best primer. I'd argue that it is much better to know everything Natenberg says in his book than it is to understand half of it and then supplement those concepts with more advanced lessons from other books.
better than books: hone your programming skills and skills getting coffee. Being marginally better-read (and perhaps not even so) is not going to differentiate you against the the cohort - need to add REAL value.
A good point, actually. I tried to prep extensively for an S&T internship I once did, and still felt that I really just learned everything on the job anyways. That said, it can't hurt.
books for S&T (Originally Posted: 05/14/2008)
Hi,
I'm going to be doing an S&T internship over the summer and I thought it would be best if I managed to read some stuff in preparation. Also, this internship will be in Hong Kong, so any suggestions on how I can get in tune with the Asian markets other than reading stuff available on the news?
Cheers
Liars Poker, Traders Guns & Money, Predator's Ball, Black Swan, etc..If you are going to be working with derivatives then you should read up on Natenberg's Option Vol. and Pricing. Hope that helps.
Full list of books needed for FT S&T (Originally Posted: 03/01/2013)
Can someone give me a full list of books needed to successfully interview and start S&T at a BB full-time.
Thank you
i don't think this works how you think it works but since its friday, we can start by asking what product/desk you are thinking about
Apologies, I am new to this. if an individual has internships in private wealth management and IB. But wishes to apply to JPM S&T FT. Doesn't he need to have a general understanding of all the different products?
I personally am interested in energy derivatives, but as a new S&T analyst, shouldn't I have a good understanding of credit, FX, equity, etc? Or do I just need to master energy commodities?
Thanks
Books you would "read" are more of a supplement to books you would "study".
If you really wanted to go ha-moan and have some cash you should just buy the Kaplan or STC study guides for the various certifications required to do the job.
the interviews won't drill you on all of those, you just need to know the basics of each, which you can find on the internet
Book recommendations - Prepare for the coming internship (Originally Posted: 02/02/2011)
Wanna prepare myself for the coming internship.
Any great books/training materials on trading? How about for Sales?
Thanks for your time and help in advance!!!!
search function
I just read a book called 'More Money Than God', which is basically a history of hedge funds. It was informative and a pretty easy read. Link on Amazon here: http://goo.gl/L9xXB
Bit of a general question.
I just read 'traders, guns and money'. I found it to be a good read, mainly good for derivatives. Its more to give you an idea on the industry and how certain derivative products come about etc.
For developing a solid understanding on derivatives check out Hull - Options Futures and Other Derivatives.
The Big Short by Michael Lewis and Black Swan by Nassim Taleb
The Big Short is amazing, go for it. I loved When Genius Failed too.
If you're going into derivatives, the bible to start off with is "Option Volatility & Pricing" by Natenberg. For general trading, "Market Wizards". "The Big Short" is a great one just in general and very readable, but I thought "Black Swan" was too dense and didn't make that many points. It can be summed up by saying, "the market underestimates the possibility of radical game-changing events."
Natenberg for Options. Hull for deriv. Weithers for FX. Fabozzi for Fixed Income. Murphy for Technical Analysis.
+1 for the Big Short
A great book for just pure sales is "How to master the Art of Selling Anything" by Tom Hopkins. You will be a closer after you finish consuming his food for thought.
.
The Game. Notorious amongst these boards.
Another by Nassim Taleb is "Fooled by Randomness." I liked it. It was recommended to me years ago (before anyone heard of Taleb) by a CEO of a hedge fund.
I am an avid reader and finance guy. The following books should comprise much of your finance "bible"
More Money than God The Big Short Inside the House of Money Boomerang When Genius Failed Market Wizards Liars Poker The Physics of Wall street The Quants The Intelligent Investor (very dry)
Best "Introduction to S&T" Book? (Originally Posted: 12/09/2012)
I'm a CS-nerd at heart. But I'm interested in working in S&T next summer as an analyst.
I know very little about S&T. What's the introductory book to start learning?
would like to know as well
interested as well
liar's poker
^ something more technical? great book, but more of a story type
An easy intro would be Investments by Bodie, Kane, Marcus.
One of the few textbooks in my 4 years of school I actually used, and didn't immediately sell after the final.
I think the technical books will depend on what product you work with. I thought 'Street Freak' was a good book that was written relatively recently that is about the environment.
Where to learn S&T technicals (Originally Posted: 03/25/2013)
Non-target looking for a way to make myself unique during next recruiting season. Good buy-side internship this summer, will learn a lot and have daily exposure to the bond market.
Not sure what type of desk I want to aim for, and to be honest it sounds like I should approach the internship search with a fairly generalist perspective. Don't have higher 'quant' desk background.
I realize I don't have the sexiest pedigree, so I want to go above and beyond in terms of technical knowledge to get a leg up. I've already read the Vault guide as well as soft literature such as Liars Poker (which I know is for entertainment only). Basically, if you were interviewing an eager young intern what do you see as essential technical knowledge and what would 'wow' you.
Your not going to wow anyone with technical knowledge.. Maybe other than knowing whats going on in the markets and a good trade idea.
They want to see that you are hungry.
Wrong.
You are probably not going to amaze anyone in terms of knowing something they dont know if talking to a person about a product they work with, but you can definitely impress with your level of technical knowledge given your age.
I came from a non target and to be honest the only reason i got an offer at a BB was because I was interviewed by an options trader and was able to talk about second order greeks, pricing model deficiencies etc and really was able to show i have done some serious studying on my own time of the subject. There is no better way to show you are interested in the role.
Even when I interview kids now, number one thing I look for is if they have looked into technicals. If they say they want to work in equity derivs trading, I expect to be able to discuss with them what they think is the most crucial assumption of the black scholes model for example, or to be able to describe how your gamma exposure on a call spread changes as implied vol changes. Even if they dont know the answers, they should have done enough outside reading that htey can come up with an educated guess.
To answer the OP, depends how much time you have. If you dont have time to read a bunch of books, I recommend my interview guide. Basically covers a lot of theory you need to know for interviews. If you do have the time, pick up Hull and just read over it once, from there decide which product interests you the most and go from there. Some of the books I really like:
Options: the book by Euan SInclair, forgto the title, the newer one CDS: CDS bond basis by CHoudry Repo: Introduction to Repo Markets Bonds: the Treasury Bond Basis (really interesting) General: Dynamic Hedging by Taleb (very very good, doesnt read like a textbook either)
Also, worry about getting interviews first.
derivs, agree with everything you said but i don't think i could recommend a book on CDS from 2006 given how much change has occurred with contract standardization since
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