Highly driven Macro HF Trader looking to change firms and explore new opportunities

Hi everyone! I have been working at my current fund for just over 2 yrs, and am looking to transition into a different HF or Prop Shop. I started as a summer intern in 2013, was hired on as a TMT analyst on the trading desk and also focused on global macro research, then was promoted to trader in July of 2014 and specialized in equity/options on tech sector. I've had a passion for market since before I was a teenager, and am always driven to outperform. I've been mentored by the best managers in the industry, and possess extensive knowledge in macroeconomics and financial markets, in addition to a sharp comprehension of institutional trading and Asset Management.

My current fund had expressed interests to supply seed capital for a global macro fund I have been working towards launching, but after waiting 9 months have not received an allocation. All of the fund infrastructure had been set in place, but I am currently looking for established firms to trade in with the current prime market conditions for trading.
Unfortunately, due to NDA restrictions with my current firm, I do not have a disclosable track record, which is a deterrent for many firms.

I turn 22 this month and am hoping to find an opportunity quickly to take advantage of the current increased market volatility. Here is my resume, with the current company name blocked out. Tips, advice, and firm recommendations are welcomed!

Name
Address
Phone | Email

EDUCATION
Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL /USA
Bachelor of Business Administration – Finance (partial) January 2014 –
• Honors: Wrork Scholarship
• Relevant Coursework: Business Statistics; corporate finance; Financial Accounting; I/O Psychology; Legal Environment of Business; Macro/Micro Economics; Managerial Accounting; Statistics; Trigonometry

WORK & LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE
Current company Chicago, IL / USA
Associate July 2013 – Present
• Responsibilities include: research, derivatives strategies, and trade execution.
• Experience:
o Comprehensive knowledge of current and historical macroeconomic environments, as well as an acute understanding of how global markets are impacted across asset classes when changes to monetary policy and economic conditions occur.
➢ Concentration(s) – Credit cycles; monetary policy and its objectives/ramifications; impact of geopolitical changes on global economies and markets; reflexivity and catalysts for black swan events in global markets
o Traded forex and equity/options on tech sector.
➢ Consistently monitored cross-asset and sector correlations to manage exposure to cross-asset risk, in addition to capturing arbitrage opportunities
• Equities, Index and Treasury Futures, Forex, ETFs, etc.
➢ Utilized a contrarian view of a company’s prospects, compared to Street expectations
➢ Targeting well-capitalized, deeply liquid products
➢ Identifying value (i.e. discounted or overvalued) in volatile environments
➢ Mentored by capital markets, institutional trading and asset management experts and advisors
o Researched upcoming new issue transactions in the pipeline for an IPO fund
➢ Primarily focused on large cap technology companies

Hedge Fund South Africa Cape Town, South Africa
Research Assistant for Foreign Domiciled Funds May 2013 – June 2013
• Responsible for generating confidential reports concerning foreign legislation for EU, US and South African domiciled Funds
• Prepared focused presentations for board members to share with clients.
• Recognized as the firm’s top research assistant to date, in addition to being their first US employee.

Savant Capital Management Rockford, IL / USA
Administrative Intern December 2011 – January 2013
• Provided support to department heads for various projects from data entry to interacting with clients.
• Experience:
o Database cleanup for merger with The Monitor Group
➢ Transferred contact information to the company’s CRM database
o Cost basis review for custodial accuracy
➢ Worked with a team of four to compare cost basis of the custodian to the company’s database
o Researched prospective client locations for future presentations
o Provided hospitality to clients prior to meetings

Assistant to Implementation Services
• Provided support work for implementation of database services and reporting
• Experience:
o Posted new money that was transferred over from custodians
➢ Recorded daily client deposits into the company database
o IPS follow-up for new accounts in order to verify the transfer of funds
o Reviewed security activity verifying accuracy of open funds

State Representative, (Representative's name / District) Rockford, IL / USA
State Legislative Intern June 2013
• Accountable for research and advising for organization perspectives on various matters
• Speaking with constituents regarding their concerns and relaying them to the representative
• Assist with writing blogs focused on current legislation
• Attend events on behalf of the representative (special sessions called by governor)

Summit Ministries Manitou Springs, Co / USA
Two-Week Intensive on Leadership Development July 2012

SKILLS, ACTIVITIES, & INTERESTS
Technical Skills: Bloomberg, EDGAR, Microsoft Office, CRM, Axys, Junxture
Certifications: Series 3, Series 30, and Series 31
Activities: Networking at hedge fund and trading sponsored events, Toastmasters International, Volunteer Youth Work, Youth Camp Counselor
Interests: Golf, Backcountry Skiing, Earned Black-belt in Tae Kwon Do, Working Out, Playing Drums, River Kayaking, Skeet Shooting, Reading about Finance and Economics

Again, any tips, advice or direction are welcome. And if anyone has any leads or thinks their firm may be interested, feel free to message me! I'm in Chicago, but am open to different locations.

P.S. Not trying to brag/showoff with my experiences or knowledge, I always try to extremely humble and open to different perspectives. As the saying goes, "Hubris kills."

 

Honestly I would stay at your current firm until you've gotten enough experience of running pnl. You got promoted fairly quickly so I assume you have shown sufficient credibility which is a solid foundation to build upon. Switching firm right now seems to me like having to start at the bottom all over again. That's at least what I would've done.

 

I had good mentors. I would agree with you, but at the moment I am not actively trading, which means money has been tight while I have been waiting for capital to launch my fund. I receive a small amount from my manager for doing research and analysis, but that barely covers the necessities. Even after I had become an analyst, it was a hassle trying to obtain paychecks through my entire experience, and they were still minimal ($25-$30K per year).That's why I am looking for a different firm, and I understand it's likely that I will have to settle for less, but I feel my skillsets will help me move up farely quickly.

Understand, I have waited since last October and am still unsure as to when or if I will ever see the capital.

If you're always trying to be the best at what you do, the number of people out there better than you only gets smaller.
 
Best Response

This is all a little funny, but let's just assume everything is as you describe...

My one bit of advice would be to tone down the whole "comprehensive knowledge" and "acute understanding" stuff. Firstly, this ain't the way to go about being "extremely humble". Secondly, at the ripe old age of 22 the likelihood of you actually possessing these characteristics is exceedingly small. Putting things of this nature on your CV is just inviting trouble.

In general, it sounds like your CV contains a lot of financial jargon and very little substance. Moreover, it appears that you've collected the jargon from all corners of the mkt and the whole things sounds quite silly, to be honest.

 

It is a discretionary macro fund, so we didn't utilize algo or hft strategies. The arb opportunities I primarily focused on were volatility arbitrage plays on options pricing. Ex. Selling far out of the money strangles the day of an earnings release on high beta companies to collect premium from the increased implied volatilty being priced into the options approaching the release. But I primarily focused on trading intraday momentum on tech stocks, since there are larger price swings and more opportunities, especially when trading equity options.

It's kind of a gray area, but I wouldn't try to detail as specific as a percentage, we have a really good legal team... But I can say my performance was comparable or above those at an institutional trading desks at bulge bracket banks and firms. My target for exiting a losing trade would be a 1.5-2 point move in the underlying, multiplied by a delta of .50. For spot fx, I targeted 5-10 pips against me, dependent upon the momentum of the trend or if the pair was trading in a tight range. Winning trades exits were more intuitive, but I would usually close as the product's traded momentum appeared to be reaching resistance. While I have been waiting for capital to trade, I have still been papertrading to remain consistent on a daily basis. For FX, I started the account off with $5M, for Options, 125,000. Performance on a montly basis, depending on the volatility in markets, I can usually generate at least 20-30% for FX and 100-150% using equity options. I have comprensive knowledge of macro and it's impact on markets on an intraday basis, as well as long term (etc. predicted EUR decline to 1.2700-1.2300 in August of 2014). And strong understanding of capital markets activity (new issue transactions, M&A, etc.) impact on markets, in addition to how they will perform when they begin trading and/or impact a current publicly traded company.

If you're always trying to be the best at what you do, the number of people out there better than you only gets smaller.
 

I mess BS...

NDA doesn't keep you from an unofficial track record and if you actually managed money then it will become official during DD check. Smells like you were involved in ideas of trades but weren't actually managing risk, this comes up a lot...

 

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