Back after several years...

Discussion in 'Hook Up' started by Steve Tvardek, Feb 2, 2013.

  1. Hi Everyone,

    It's been some years since I was active here on ET but I am posting this now because I am hoping to find work once I graduate from business school in a few months and thought that I might tap into ET and see if anyone remembers me and would be willing to take a look at my resume and/or meet with me about possible opportunities (hopefully in trading or something related but am open to other opportunities as well).

    For those on here who don't know me or don't remember me, I traded equities for Hold Brothers (and later Dimension) from 2003-end of 2006. I went from knowing nothing about trading in March of 2003 to making low 6 figures in 2005 and then doubling that in 2006. In 2006, I had 5k risk capital up with the firm and turned that into $230,000 that year by being methodical, disciplined yet aggressive in the certain situations (based on price action, open book etc). I never used more than a couple hundred K in buying power and my goal was to focus on consistency first; exposing myself to the least amount of risk I could while still earning a nice living. For 2 years (2005 and 2006) I posted my P&L every day in the P&L thread here on ET, which I just recently found and went back through for old times sake. :)

    Fast forward a bit. After the NYSE completely changed it's structure in the beginning of 2007, I gave futures trading a chance (ES). I soon found that trying to scalp the ES, in an environment where the vix was between 10 and 12, was really tough. I keep at it for a couple years before deciding to work on creating an algo (as the trend seemed to be towards this anyways). I immersed myself completely in this and, as of recently, feel pretty good about the near finished product. But, I also felt that I needed to expand my skill sets as well, so I went back to school for a couple years. I'll have an MBA in a few months from City University of New York (CUNY Baruch) and currently carry a 3.72 GPA and an academic scholarship.

    In early 2011, prior to graduate school, I was hired by a guy to execute trades for his equities and ETFS model through a hedgefund account (Hedgefund was out of the Philadelphia area and has 200 million AUM). While the model had a long track record of success in currencies and fixed income products, the equities model produced mediocre returns and, by August 2011, I decided to go to graduate school full time.

    In May of this year I will graduate. I don't know if anything will come from this post necessarily, but I wanted to reach out to this community nevertheless. I have a great deal of experience in equities but am also a good people person, with solid analytical skills.

    I appreciate you taking the time to read this and if you'd like to contact me, feel free to send me PM or post in this thread. Thanks everyone. Have a nice weekend!

    -Steve T
     
  2. You also have the ability to express yourself lucidly, in complete sentences. That must be a plus nowadays.

    Good luck!
     
  3. Things have changed radically. Firms much prefer no experience they train than experienced old dog ways. Maybe get into the capital raising business for hedge funds with real edge. The old trading skills are worst than useless-- as far as getting hired in the biz and sorry to say, so is the MBA--- just my experience. I bet you will do well, but it won't be directly trading. related, good luck!
     
  4. Nice to see you back. The MBA won't open any trading doors and the microstructure edge you had is gone. Best to take a corp gig that values the MBA (GE, for example) and trade on the side.
     
  5. cookding

    cookding

    wow... some work ethics. best of luck steve! (hope your algo kicks ass)
     
  6. My lawn needs cutting.
     
  7. Welcome back dude
     
  8. the1

    the1

    Completely agree. An MBA is a fluff degree as far as trading is concerned. I would recommend the OP take some classes in Quantitative Finance if the school offers it. Many schools offer Certificates in Quant Fin. Northwestern and Stanford offer an online Cert.

    http://scs.northwestern.edu/info/ms...googlesearch&gclid=CK_-jrejm7UCFexxQgodPBIARw

    http://scpd.stanford.edu/public/cat...Profile.do?method=load&certificateId=14715517

     
  9. Didn't he say he was building his own algo?
     
  10. Thanks for the responses so far. Yes, I am working on an algo but it's time and capital intensive and will most likely have to be something I do on the side. First order of business, though, is to find a job for after graduation :)

    I realize that an MBA is a different type of credential not specifically related to trading, but my hope is that it will make me more well-rounded, in the eyes of potential employers. As I mentioned, I would certainly like to get back into trading or a related field but am open to other opportunities as well.

    I appreciate the advice so far!

    -Steve
     
    #10     Feb 4, 2013