trading

So I'm sure everyone is aware of the huge surge in the price of Dogecoin in the last 3-4 months. It fucking kills me that there are actually morons with no investing or finance experience getting rich off of this intrinsically worthless joke-coin (https://twitter.com/prothedoge?lang=en) AND then go on to brag about how much money they've made, promote it, etc. I have friends with no investing experience who Yolo'd $500 or $1,000 into it when it was around $0.07 and will not stop talking about how much money they've made. I've been following it since the beginning of the year but never pulled

04 May 2021

Background - Attended a top non-ivy undergrad with a degree in mathematics and economics. Prior to leaving for a multi-strat hedge fund (think Bluecrest, Millennium, Balasny, etc.), I was a macro derivatives trader on the sellside. The vast majority of my daily work was focused on idea generation, backtesting and quantifying risk/reward on prop positions with the rest 20% market marking related. Given my current role on the buyside, my product scope includes futures, bonds, CDX index swaps, CDX index swaptions, IRS, Swaptions, ED$ options and more exotic derivatives as well. The objective is

06 May 2021

Mod Note (Andy): Q&A/Interview Tuesdays! Email me ([email protected]) if you'd like to do a Q&A or interview for WSO My background is working in a high yield/distressed trading desk as a research analyst and trader, before making the move to a credit hedge fund within one of the major PE firms. The guys on the public side of the wall are a different breed than the private-side banking guys, who I think have a pretty high level of representation on this board relative to fund guys. A little rougher on the edges, and probably a little more intense in general. Hopefully I can shed some

11 Sep 2020

I feel like I've been answering a lot of questions regarding the state of S&T going forward as well as what a S&T trader does (and trading in general) so I figured it might be helpful to do Q&A. I remember as a freshman in college I used this site extensively to help me eventually land my internships and then my job. Some background on myself... I went to a target school (non-ivy). I've been in industry a little over 5 years and am a VP level trader at a macro type desk (metals/fx/rates) at a BB. I spent my first year focused specifically on rates. My focus now is more on metals and fx, but

06 Apr 2020

Hey all, I'm graduating from my B.Sc. this year and joining a big investment bank as an analyst. I'm excited for the work, but I'm a bit worried about being able to do a masters later on. I really want to do an economics master at LSE or in the U.S. at some point, maybe after 2 years of work. Will it be harder to be accepted? Would I have to give them references from professors I wouldn't have talked to in years? Will I remember anything from my B.Sc.? lol Any experience with applying for a masters after having worked for some time would be very helpful. Thank you

27 Apr 2021

I'm currently in the placement process for my s&t internship ( trading track) at a top BB Would you guys be willing to shed some light on some of these desks: • rates trading; both securities and swaps • credit indices (CDX and CDX options etc) • high yield • distressed • equity derivatives ( index and single name) • energy derivatives • EM credit • Chief Investment office Are these desks good places to be and what type of person would be successful in these roles? Any insight would be much appreciated.

05 Feb 2021

For those of you who are traders, how frequently do you use python/r in your job? I know that this question varies for someone who works at a market maker vs. someone who works at a trade house, but for those of you who do program can you give me a sense of how you use it on a day to day basis?

08 Feb 2021

I wanted to make this post in order to say that S&T as in "sales" 'and' "trading" is better than i-Banking bc In my job i am able to have hands-on experience trading sT0nks and talk with cli3nts. i also am passionate about Marcuts. i laugh at all i-Bankers for working so much hours when you could make more $$$ and have better exit ops in trading these days due to the rapidly increasing demand of h3dge funs and asset managements. ik many i-Bankers will have a hard time reading this post, but i would encourage u to channel that frustration into trying to land a top tier trading role.

03 Dec 2020

Would love to have a discussion about the current state and the future of a sales-man. Please add your two cents and personal experiences. - For argument sake, assume you are or would be FICC sales or exotics on a good desk making good revenue. - What are the current actual bonus's looking like in this record year? - Will the sales person still have a role when automation rolls through, ie.. G10 spot there is already automation... but there are still salesman? - For those who are in it... are you looking to pivot, or is this a sweet spot? ** I love doing it... love the pace, love the

11 May 2021

It's been a while since I've visited WSO. Yet in my early 20s, this was the place that I would often come to for information and guidance. In the spirit of giving back, I'll share my story and a few nuggets of wisdom that I believe may help others who are also trying to strive in their professional lives. #### My background I went to a Canadian semi-target university majoring in finance and economics. In my 2nd year university, I discovered capital markets, trading/investing. I knew this was what I wanted to do but still had much to figure out. After I graduated, I worked in research at a

17 Mar 2019

Hi I need help, I interned at an unpaid insurance company that made me a cold call, freshman year and quit after two weeks so they hate me. upcoming internship HR wants an employment letter saying I interned there for background check, what should I do..... can I just make up a fake employment letter. need help, thank you!

10 May 2021

Hello Monkeys, I am currently in the process of transferring and was frustrated by the lack of a centralized source of information about transfer friendly schools for IB, so I made one for the website. Anyone who has some value to add related to placement from any of these schools, please comment so I can make this more detailed and useful for students looking to transfer. Note: I will intentionally leave out schools with really low rates of transfer because for most applicants, they're unrealistic to consider. best transfer schools for investment banking Northwestern (12.5% transfer

22 Mar 2018

Hi guys/gals. Anyone who did the HireVue for Morgan Stanley 2021 SA S&T in either FI/IED S&T or PBCS yet? If so, would you mind sharing the questions? It almost seems eerie that I can easily find IB questions in the most 3 recent years - which appears to be unchanged - without even a single post even inquiring for S&T. I heard from an alum that apps are not even gonna be looked at until July but somehow my dumbass still do it early. Anyhow thank you for the help!!

14 May 2020

I read a lot of misleading information regarding sales jobs in banks on this forum recently (I am lumping sales/sales traders and all products here). I won't mention any particular users, but it got me angry. Given I have not contributed to WSO in a meaningful way in more than a year (apart from my sly comments slagging muppets...) Here we go, in no particular order: Myth 1 - Junior sales go out all the time with clients No they don't - you've just given a corporate card to a kid, and more than USD 50k as a salary to someone who was used to eating ramen noodle and attending BYOB parties

29 Mar 2018

I have a question: For about a year now, I have been paper trading, starting from 3000 USD and I'm now at roughly 50.000 USD. Most of that money was acquired through buying and selling a few different stocks, for example SNDL and most recently TNXP. On average I made around 100 trades in a day (I didn't trade every single day). Regarding stock pricing, I put a buy limit at 1.03 USD and a sell limit at 1.04 USD (talking about my most recent trades on TNXP). As I said before, I did this about 100 times a day and managed to generate some good profit. Now, considering that we are talking about a

24 Apr 2021

I will be as honest as I can and will love hate or advice regardless what it is. I transferred to a target school a year ago as a junior, if you look at my post history it will explain everything. And after being there for a year I've slowly re-evaluated everything. IB was the most promising career that would be lucrative with time whether it be going to PE or whatever else. Although after coming to a point, doing a random accounting internship this summer, just so I can have the opportunity to recruit for next summer, (which if I put the effort in I will land something, and just started the

30 Jul 2020

Hello everyone, I see people on instagram bragging about how trading is turning their lives around basically acting as finance gurus teaching you how you should live your life. Most of them don't have an economic or quantitative background (not that is strictly necessary) and can't even understand what trading actually is. I don't have much knowledge about the topic but I guess they use what people refer to as technical analysis and that's it. Is there an expert that can articulate in detail why what these people do doesn't work, that is not so simple to do trading and that to actually do

22 Apr 2021

I just received an invitation to take the Shell TDP assessment, and I was wondering if any TDP alum can share their insight. Also, I hear the interview is brutal.. so if anyone has anything to say about that I would appreciate it. Thanks

15 Sep 2017

About me Been working at a top tier Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Firm in New York for 7+ Years which makes me an old geezer. Ask anything you want about the industry, happy to answer and help guide you. Separately, I worked for three years at a proprietary trading firm in Chicago before jumping into real estate so happy to answer any questions about that as well and how the two industries compare.

15 Jul 2019

Hi, Questions: How would you go about "following the markets" for S&T/trading internships? S&T interviewers, what do you ask and what are you looking for in the markets portion of an interview? Also please critique my preparation methods: 1) Prepare for the classics * cheat sheet table of indices on the day of the interview * how would you invest 1 mil * 1 Long/1 Short stock pitch - First pitch:

15 Jul 2020

Hey all, Before diving into this I think it makes sense to at least give some context and background on me personally just so we're all on the same page. The general gist of what I am curious about from anyone with experience is the goal of getting seeded to start a small fund. The goal would be $2mm-$50mm. I'll get into why in a second. As way of background, I am 34, C-suite exec (think VP of Corp Dev/Treasurer/CFO) at a mid-cap public company on the east coast. I have an MBA and CFA and have done pretty well for myself being outside of the 'high' comp / 'high end' NYC finance world. I

16 Jun 2018

Well... this market is fun! Worst week since the crisis followed by the biggest single day price gain in history... Question I have here, is the bounce back driven by: a) A waning of the fears over the Coronavirus? b) A bounce back because the market was oversold last week? c) Biden's win in South Carolina and backing by Klobuchar and Buttigieg? d) Something else? From what I am seeing, the options market is still pricing in a pullback, to somewhere around the 2900 level on the S&P, so will be interested to see how the week goes. What does everyone think and what are we buying? Do we think E&P

02 Mar 2020

Hey everyone, I know we're all wondering how banks and others are going to handle this summer. I know some desks have been back for months now and it seems like these internships might be more likely to be in person. If anyone has any news or notes on trading internships specifically please share!

25 Feb 2021

Can any buy-side traders speak to trading with Nomura counterparts? I'm considering an offer and looking for some insight on how smooth these transactions are, and how I've been told that prices and volume are competitive but want more perspective. Thanks

27 Jul 2020

Hi All, Hope you are all safe and healthy through these trying times. I am a MO Operations (Trade Support) Associate at a bulge bracket bank in NYC. I am in dire need of some advice. I really want to be in a Sales/Trading role, it's been my passion since I was in middle school and I know it's my calling in life. I have listed a short summary of my journey for context. 2017 - Interned with a FX broker on their Sales desk, and received a full time offer a few months later. Unfortunately all interns were let go 2 weeks before my graduation date because of illegal wrong doings by senior management

19 Jan 2021

I've applied for a junior trader position with this firm, and so they've sent me an email with directions to take an online mental math test. Does anybody know what the Akuna test is like, specifically? Can't seem to find too much information about it online. All I know is that there is a 22 minute time limit, and I've got 2 weeks to take it. Thanks in advance. To begin preparing for your interview, JobTestPrep has everything you need to know for Mathematical Reasoning Test interviews, including a myriad of questions with thoroughly explained answers. Online Math Reasoning Test Preparation

28 Jan 2015

Every now and again I get PM'd a question that I think might be applicable to a lot of you on WSO. When that happens, I get permission from the person who asked me to share with the site. This is one such time. I suspect a lot of you can relate to this feeling, so here are my thoughts on it. [quote="Jaspast06"] Hey Eddie.. I just read your post on minimalism and I've got some thoughts and questions for you, if you've got the time. I am recent graduate from a good college, just began a job as a trading analyst on the credit desk at a mid market type investment bank. Focus mostly on riskless

17 Nov 2016

I am an incoming MSc Finance student and would then like to go into Sales and Trading, any advice on what i should do over summer in order to make my September applications stand out? Any courses that i should do? Should i learn python?

05 May 2021

Introduction I thought it would be helpful to write down my experience these past 3 months. I've been applying to S&T and Asset Management positions for the past several months. In total, I've received 4 offers from Big Banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Though I'm glad it's over, the process was a lot of fun. I meet a lot of interesting people, brushed up on my interviews skills, landed a killer SA position and missed an ungodly number of classes while flying between New York and campus.

04 Apr 2011

Hi guys, I'm a junior market maker at a US bank working on a desk close to the vol desk in my asset class. I am very passionate about the Vol side and I have created this thread hoping that it will become a primer about the different resources people should use to learn about vol in different asset classes. Therefore, I invite people here (especially current/former IB vol traders) to share their experiences about what resources (books, articles, banks' primers, etc.) people could use to learn about vol from a market maker's perspective. From my knowledge so far: General Vol: Options

20 Nov 2017

All I've heard is that the markets become more efficient and that people can now buy/sell assets at the correct price at the moment of the trade. Please enlighten me. Thank you.

12 Aug 2019

Applications for full-time analyst positions at the following firms are now open unless otherwise stated. Get after it, monkeys! See you on the Street ;) Front-office IBD, S&T and/or Research Deutsche Bank Evercore (superday scheduled for 8/8) Lazard Lazard Middle Market Wells Fargo (Application was available 7/23. Appears to have been temporarily delisted) Perella Weinberg Partners (Applications under review as of August 5) Lincoln International (Application always available. Deadline unknown) Goldman Sachs (Applications closed 7/27) Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (Application available 8/15-10

05 Sep 2014

For many, institutional sales offers the best of all worlds: great pay, fewer hours than in corporate finance or research, less stress than in trading, and a nice blend of travel and office work. Like traders, the hours typically follow the market, with a few tacked on at the end of the day after the market closes. Another plus for talented salespeople is that they develop relationships with key money managers. On the downside, many institutional salespeople complain that many buy-siders disregard their calls, that compensation can exhibit volatile mood swings, that they are overeducated for

13 Mar 2018

It's interview season! Susquehanna, Jane Street, Goldman, Citadel -- it's all here. Redacted for people who want more practice Questions 1. For a 3 sets tennis game, would you bet on it finishing in 2 sets or 3 sets? 2. I have a square, and place three dots along the 4 edges at random. What is the probability that the dots lie on distinct edges? 3. You have 10 people in a room. How many total handshakes if they all shake hands? 4. Two decks of cards. One deck has 52 cards, the other has 104. You pick two cards separately from a same pack. If both of two cards are red, you win. Which pack

16 Sep 2018

I've worked as a trader for around 4 years now from structured products trading to linear to options and I find it completely stupid. To be fair the structured products desk (exotics and hybrids) was quite intellectually challenging and I found the work interesting. You could always dig deeper and understand more about the inherent risks and characteristics of the product. But now most of what I do all day in my role is punt FX and I find it completely stupid. All I do is stare at charts, hold a finger up to the wind and make a trade and endure the swings. I have a budget to make on pretty

26 Apr 2018

Been studying up for a S&T interview and this is driving me crazy. (1) Inflation vs. Currency Value: Negative Correlation The relationship between inflation and currency value is by far the most straight forward in my opinion. Inflation decreases the value of currency in purchasing goods, which drives down the currency's worth relative to other currencies. Please let me know if I'm wrong on this. (2) The relationship between inflation and interest rates is making little sense to me. (a) Positive Correlation: On one hand, high inflation causes investors to demand a higher yield on their bonds

23 Feb 2021

What is the trading policy at your firm? are you allowed to buy yolo gme calls? do wall street firms typically allow lax policies so you can invest in whatever you want? I do not want to be tied to one single source of income (the job). Insight is appreciated. Thanks!

02 Mar 2021

Hi all, I'm a rising junior and am currently applying to 2021 SA programs in S&T. This summer I do not have a real internship so I have doubled down on coding and following the markets everyday and formulating my thoughts on the macro picture. I got rejected from Citi back in late April so have been feeling a bit down, and was wondering how can I best prepare myself to be competitive for other banks that are kicking off soon? If anyone is willing to be my mentor and talk for 30 minutes - that would truly mean the world to me. And any advice/encouragement would be truly appreciated. Thank you.

08 Jul 2020

I've noticed that the conversation in the energy industry over the last couple of years has really started shifting towards decarbonization and sustainability. Regardless of what anybody's personal beliefs are, all of the major O&G companies are facing stiff pressure from shareholders and lawmakers to reduce emissions. In addition, places like New York City, California and many European countries have pledged to be carbon neutral by around 2040. This trend will only continue elsewhere, and if it happens, it seems like demand will decline fairly quickly. I know that in some cases these goals

27 Dec 2018

Hi, I want to start out by thanking anyone for reading this. I am a 23-year-old male who is optimistic about life even when I probably should not be. I have been lurking here for a while, drooling over the success stories of some the most intelligent and hardworking people I have ever been exposed to. I feel ashamed even sharing my story, but I figure its time to atleast get an opinion. So I will tell you my story. I am a 23 year old college student who matured only a year ago. I entered an easy admission public state school after highschool because all of my friends were going there and we

16 Aug 2019

Hi, I would like to set up a thread about prop trading in UK/Europe. What are the strongest players, how much can a new joiner make, etc

07 Dec 2020

Mod Note: Lone Wolf is the newest addition to our contributing author team. He is an independent trader/consultant, and has held several different trading positions including floor trader, liability and proprietary trader as well as Head liability trader and market maker. This spans 17 plus years in all of Canada's major financial hubs. In the old days, on a regular basis, we used to receive internet touts on pink sheet (should be called brown sheet) "companies". Spammers would regale us with tales of quick riches, amazing opportunity and boundless moves higher in said stock followed by in one

25 Mar 2013

Hey, I am an international student and I just got offers from the business schools at Durham (UK) and Fordham (NY) and from the liberal arts school for Economics at UT Austin. I'm not 100% sure about what industry I want to go into yet but I really like trading and consulting at the moment. Since I did not get into McCombs I'm worried I will be gatekept from accessing certain resources and recruiting events whereas Fordham is known for its business school. I think Durham on the other hand is very prestigious but I'm not sure not their business school is seen at the undergraduate level. UT is

08 Apr 2021

Hello everyone, My name is David, I'm 20 years old and from the Netherlands. I've always wanted to make a career in trading, I've been studying it from a young age (mainly TA even though I am becoming more aware that TA isn't actually used as much professionally). I'm in my second year of my bachelor in Economics, which I specifically chose because I read that it was sought after for a career in trading. I've been trying my best to get a good GPA, currently around a 7.7/10. I got some sales experience to get out of my comfort zone, got some work experience in a place where you make 14hour days

24 Aug 2020

Hi Monkeys, I recently caught the quantitative finance bug so it's been a few days since my last post. Since catching this bug I've been trying to read and learn as much as I can on ways to practice quant finance - and I found tons of material. In fact, it's so much material that I was hoping to hear your thoughts on where to start or what to attack first. Below are list of the resources I was able to dig up along with what I consider to be their key features...for anyone who is in the same boat as me at the moment, I hope you find these useful. Datacamp.com * Quantitative

27 Oct 2017

I mean like the spam emails you get or the very suspicious commercials you see on...suspicious sites. I know basically nothing at all about crypto or...trading scams in general, but just out of curiosity...what exactly do these people do? Is it just a pyramid scheme type of thing?

21 Apr 2020

One thing that a lot of students falter with during interviews is the trading idea. Im writing this post to help some of the monkeys currently preparing for interviews realize that what they are spewing out as trading ideas are instead sales pitches, and they should be presenting a trading plan to the interviewer instead. This will put you miles ahead of other candidates interviewing and show a bit of understanding of what it means to be a successful trader.

28 Dec 2010

Hey guys, Found this site over at ZH, lots of free pdfs that deal with trading. Haven't had the time to really look through it but I'm sure there are some gems that people will appreciate. Here's the link: Trader's Library Enjoy.

22 May 2011

Hi, Can someone explain how exactly a physical commodity trading house makes money and why there is a need for independent comodty houses, whats there right to exist? What are the risk when trading commodities physical and how can they be hedged, are there specific hedging strategies that are applied by physical traders? physical commodities trading overview Physical commodities trading is a business that exploits the arbitrage that exists when selling oil (or any commodity) for physical delivery in different markets or at different times. Our users explain below. [quote Gekko21]Physical

05 Oct 2010

Hi folks, I am choosing two spring part-time internships and will need to make a decision in a few days since both roles are starting soon anyway. Any feedback would be appreciated. Offer 1: Market Risk role at a large regional commercial bank. However, it is non-traded and I'll be working mostly on liquidity stress testings (and MAYBE one interest rate risk and fx risk). Offer 2: Operational Risk role at a well-renowned MM bank. I'll be working on operational risk management in the Commodity and Global Markets group and the day to day work involves working with data analysis and reporting

23 Jan 2020