Prop trading

Background: Upcoming commerce graduate from Aus who landed three jobs in different universe: 1. Fundamental Equity HF @ HK (think of MLP/BAM/P72/DESCO) 2. Quant Trading @ Sydney (think of Optiver/SIG/IMC) 3. IB @ HK (MS/GS) Previously, I did a banking internship with another BBIB and realised...

22 Nov 2022

Hi Folks, I've been a lurker on the forum for a while, but this is my first post. I have really enjoyed all the insight from this diverse group of financial professionals and look forward to your feedback on my question. I am posting because I'm curious about what my options might be for pivoting...

15 Nov 2022

Hi, Has anyone recently had an interview for Quant trader role at Volant Trading ? I have an interview lined up for a role in HK and the information available on glassdoor is limited/outdated. I am preparing for general probability/EV brainteasers stuff and mental math. I wanted to ask what the...

08 Nov 2022

Hello, I am a current freshman studying computer science student at University of Minnesota(Non-target), and I want to get an internship at Akuna Captial or another prop firm. Can anyone provide advice on what I should do? At the moment, I have been grinding leetcode, I am going to start working...

27 Oct 2022

Hello, I am a last year Master's Degree student in quantitative finance. I do not have any experience whatsoever in the industry, so I'm having a hard time getting an internship at banks. I may be getting an interview at a prop trading firm as quantitative trading intern. Would this be useful and...

25 Oct 2022

just did the eclipse trading math test online last friday. does anyone know how long they take to get back to us if successful? am really interested in the firm and kinda worried that i bombed it (even though i felt it was a relatively manageable test...)

11 Oct 2022

hey all, i've received offers for an prop trading firm (tier-2, think akuna, imc, etc) and an up and coming power trading firm . im concerned about my ability to thrive long-term in an options trading firm as i only have a background in economics and will, at some point in time, be uncompetitive...

09 Oct 2022

Hi all, I'm an undergrad going into my first job trying to see which of the following opportunity will give me the greatest growth. I think I would like a job that will offer me a good career trajectory 5-10 years down the road and at the same time not boring to start with (I consider plain...

19 Sep 2022

BB Trader analyst here (derivative product but not super flowy). Is it possible/probable/a path well trodded/ a good idea to pivot into a quant trader role at a proprietary trading firm or market making firm? Current job is very cool but I've become disenchanted of the a) lack of risk taking...

12 Sep 2022

I've seen some job postings of fundamental research analyst roles at prop shops like Citadel Securities, Optiver, and SIG. My understanding is that the analyst performs fundamental analysis based on corporate events/macro strategies and trades the headlines. While the skillsets on these roles seem...

09 Sep 2022

I know the obvious differences. What i mean is... Is quant trading really more about math and having a passion for math and trading at ib more markets based, some math, coding, client relationships. Would quant trading not be a good career for someone who does not like to solve math problems on a...

08 Sep 2022

I am currently applying to prop shops in Europe and would be interested in knowing what people on this forum think about them! JS/Citsec/Optiver/Flow Traders/SIG/IMC/Virtu/DRW/other places that I'm missing would really appreciate any insights in their culture, specialization, summer internship...

07 Sep 2022

I have an upcoming final interview with options MM, and one of the interviews is called desk shadowing. It's not an in person interview so really don't have a clue how this would go on. If it was on site it would have been really natural that I watch the trader do his job, understand the strategies,...

27 Aug 2022

I was looking at the internships offered by several prop shops/market makers and saw that Jump Trading had an internship position called Tech Ops Engineer. In the description it talks about working with traders, researchers and developers so is this just what they call their Quant Trading/Research...

07 Aug 2022

Hi, I'm a rising sophomore at a target studying math who's currently interning at a quant hedge fund. A few days ago I was offered a return offer which included working during the school year and then receiving a FT offer once I graduated. (This was strictly meritocratic. I had no connection to this...

04 Aug 2022

I'll try to keep this short. I graduated one year ago with a CS degree and 3.4 GPA from a non-target (think average state school, between top 25-50). I am a huge fan of trading/finance, but I am not sure if transitioning is the right move and how I should approach it. Currently, I am working a dead...

03 Jul 2022

Hello Sales & Traders, Could someone in the field kindly suggest me which and where are the most recognizable S&T networking events for great sliding doors moment ?! (+ Mailing list groups!!! ) Thanks A

02 Jul 2022

Hey everyone, I've ended up with some unexpected free time and am looking for off-cycle trading internships from October to April. There don't seem to be many resources out there with lists of off-cycle internships, particularly in quant, so has anyone got any suggestions? Thanks!

06 Jun 2022

Hi guys, I would like to get some advice from anyone who is familiar with hedge funds and proprietary trading firms. I have an offer with Wolverine Trading, for a junior trading position and another one with a top hedge fund for a valuation analyst position. If you could give me your thoughts on...

02 Jun 2022

I definitely have a lot of experience with intraday and a good amount of swing trading experience, I know that I have a very solid and sustainable strategy for trading intraday, but I have heard that since automated trading systems have started to outperform humans for small time frames its best to...

23 May 2022

Hi WSO, I was wondering how hard it is to make a transition from sell-side trading at a "Hedge Advisory" (we do financial hedging for oil and gas companies) to a hedge fund or a prop desk? I joined the company when it was much smaller and have gotten experience in several areas of the business...

27 Apr 2022

I am an incoming first year in IB at GS/MS/JPM. Honestly, I am not 100% sure why I decided to go through with banking because I am expecting that I will hate it and I don't really think I need a lot of money to be happy. I first got interested in finance when I started trading freshman year of high...

17 Apr 2022

Hey Everyone, I was recently approached by Mako Trading for an equity analyst role. The role is mostly centering around general equity research trends to generate actionable equity trade ideas. There also is some thematic report writing involved to understand longer term trends. Anyways, my...

08 Apr 2022

I'm not really sure of the difference between asset management and trading, (unless one is done for client and other is done for the fund itself). I'm not sure what direction to go into as I'm still a student, but I know for sure that I want to be full time trading every day and nothing else. I know...

29 Mar 2022

Hey guys! For the context, I'm French, 24 y.o., top 3 French engineering school and top 3 MSc Finance in the UK! That being said, Im coming to you as I plan to redirect from IB - where I was doing Project Finance - to trading. I feel like it's the only field of finance where it will be quantitative...

15 Mar 2022

Hi all, I'm a junior in college interested in the prop trading space. I'm wondering how would people with more experience view tier 2 trading firms such as Virtu, Flow, IMC, SIG, Akuna, DRW etc. From what I've seen, tier 1 firms that stand out to me are: Jane Street, Citadel Securities, HRT, maybe...

09 Mar 2022

Deciding between two junior year internship offers. The trading firm is very unknown, but I'm told first year TC will probably be around 150K - 175K. SWE is Amazon. Points I'm considering: Compensation is a lot more variable at the trading firm, and I've heard career path is hard to manage if I do...

01 Mar 2022

From what I can gather, trading firms in London and Amsterdam like Jane Street, Optiver, Flow Traders, ... offer graduates a total compensation that comfortably clears six figures. Does anybody have insight into how the pay in Dublin shops (Virtu and SIG) compares (maybe broken down into base, bonus...

28 Feb 2022

Hi monkeys, I have been on WSO for a while now. I have always been interested in statistics and mathematics and I believe a prop firms or a S&T role would fit me best. I have been trying to find target schools for these finance roles and I cannot find a good list on WSO. I know MIT and Princeton or...

14 Feb 2022

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost Title summarizes the road I've traveled… consultant → intelligence community/SEAL Teams/Special Operations → director of research at a well known hedge fund → tech...

06 Jan 2022

Good evening, Long time passive WSO lurker here that has decided to finally register and engage on the forums. I finished my postgraduate degree towards the end of last year and after several applications and interviews I managed to land a job as a junior trader at a power utility company. I have...

11 Jan 2022

I posted it on the S&T forum initially but realized this is a better forum to post it in. I've been offered a position with the e-trading desk of Morgan Stanley as a strat to develop algorithms that have a direct impact on the PnL, and another job as a Quant Researcher in an options Market-Making...

15 Dec 2021

UChicago undergrad here planning to major in econ and computational/applied math -- anyone have a list of good quant places to shoot for internships at? I have heard the interview process is hella competitive but that pay and worklife balance is relatively good. I am worried about the exit...

12 Dec 2021

Hello, I recently accepted a graduate quant trader offer at one of the more reputable Chicago prop trading firms. Previously, all my experience had been in software engineering, and I found that the job really didn't satisfy me. I always loved statistics and wanted to pursue a career that seemed...

11 Dec 2021

Started an entry level job out of college at a market making firm about half a year ago. Was wondering what the process for entry level lateral hiring might be for quants / quant traders / quant researchers. Should I stay where I am for a year? Two years? before trying to make a switch, or is...

03 Nov 2021

I was never good at math all my life. Not the worst, not the best, maybe average, or slightly below average. I don't think I'm the analytical type really, but I'm not sure about this because I haven't really applied myself enough in this aspect. Currently I work as a Researcher for Data analytics...

19 Oct 2021

Hey guys. I have a full-time offer from a medium sized quant HF (think 30-60 people and 5 to 10 years of history) and a long 4 month internship from a big trading firm (think jump, HRT, Tower) with the intention of hiring me after if I do reasonably well. I am hesitating a lot, the offer from the HF...

17 Oct 2021

I searched around a lot but didn't find any relevant discussions on Day Trading firms in Canada. Anyone can provide good reliable firm names currently. I only know of DTTW and Alkaline Capital with whom I am already negotiating but apart from them any other good names

09 Oct 2021

Hi, If you have done interviews for trading, you probably know that they require you to calculate the probability and expected value of winning in a given game, and at the end of each problem, knowing the probability to win, and the expected value, the interviewer would ask: If you had 100$, how...

25 Sep 2021

Hey everyone, I am very new to this website. Just want to preface this post by saying that I do not feel as if I deserve a job at these top quant trading firms, but I would like to think I have what it takes to make to the first stage... My situation is: - Education: Attend UK target (i.e. Oxbridge)...

10 Sep 2021

Quick question: Which prop trading / market making shops would be worth turning down top BB (JPM/GS) trading offer for? Not going to be more specific, but given my educational background, I think I would fit in better at prop trading/ market making shop... (obviously a much higher barrier to entry,...

10 Sep 2021

I'm one month in operations and I'm falling asleep at work; it's not intellectually stimulating. I recently graduated college with a finance degree and could not find a job for the life of me. A little nepotism landed me a job as an operations analyst in NYC, but I want out. I want to become a...

26 Jun 2021

The only ones I know of opening up soon are Optiver and Flow in August recruiting for May 2022 graduate dates. Are there any other top/mid-tier firms that have opened up for May 2022? Thanks in advance!

01 Jun 2021

Hello, I am a rising freshmen going to Williams. I have my eyes set on entering quant trading at prop trading firms such as HRT, SIG, DRW, Citadel and the likes. My goal is pretty set and I want to prepare as soon as possible so I can secure an entry level job at one of these places. What steps...

28 May 2021

Will prop trading firms allow you to continue trading after you have declared bankruptcy? You are required to report bankruptcies on your form U-4 to the firm you work for, so if you declare bankruptcy, then will they still let you trade?

13 May 2021

I've been at TT for 15+ years and after working on the CME floor and trading upstairs for a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA). If you have any questions about TT, fire away. I was the product manager for X_TRADER and the original Product Manager for the TT platform and would love to hear our questions...

30 Apr 2021

Trying to figure out if pursuing a professional masters degree from Cornell in applied statistics is a good idea if the goal is to work for prop shop/quant hf (think jump, citadel, virtu, SIG, akuna, optiver, imc, etc). also wondering how it would compare to the financial engineering masters...

22 Mar 2021

Hello guys, I am currently an agricultural commodity trader at ABCD type of firm. I am thinking of getting into the prop trading industry but I am not sure if my background is a fit as commodity trading is quite different. I am also not from a quantitative background. I have seen that most people...

14 Mar 2021

I am due to graduate and have three offers that I am tossing up between. The three firms are Optiver, Vivienne Court Trading and JPMorgan. Both Optiver and VivCourt are Graduate Quant Trading roles in Sydney. JP Morgan is a Sales and Trading role in Asia. I am unsure of which one to select. For each...

22 Feb 2021

Hello all, Has anyone ever heard of or applied to Maverick Derivatives BV? (Not Maverick Trading) I recently received a Python Assessment as part of the interview and was wondering if anyone has gone through this interview process and can shed some light on the assessment difficulty or the rest of...

18 Feb 2021