Man you guys are going to hell!!! Give your lives to Jesus!!! Repent!!! hahahahahhahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Agree with Don insofar that number of jobs and overall comp are way down. Fixed Income-Dead..FX-Dead..Equities-Dead..MBS...Totally Dead. However for those institutional traders still in the arena IMO selling 600,000 GM .40 cents above the offer is a wee bit more like money in the bank than pair trading. I mean it's not like we hear stuff like "Sen. Jon Corzine formally of Bright Trading" or a news blurb "Former Bright managing partner Robert Rubin was to-day named Treasury Secratary"
The fact is Don is probably a very bright and intelligent guy. You can't build a daytrading empire without being so. I think 98% of daytraders would rather work for GS. That's obvious. A much greater pay, security and frankly prestige. But why would a promoter of daytrading concede? He would just be hurting any potential customers (aka commisions) he could get from readers elitetrader. There is still that 2% who will justify their leap into daytrading on comments like those. Its just business. Sometimes more obvious than not...
Security? Where have you been? Many IB's have downsized over the past few years. Working for a big IB also entails 60-70 hour work weeks and plenty of stress, while daytrading offers you 32.5 hour work weeks and freedom.
On the one hand, the current downsizing\merger fad has made jobs on Wall St. less secure, but on the other hand, 2 year guarantees are now the norm.... so if someone wants to lay me off after 6 months and pay out my 2 year guarantee, who am I to argue ? Also, I don't think you'd find anyone on the trading side working 60-70 hours per week (investment banking, maybe). I spent 5 years at GS and my hours were typically 7.30am to 6.00pm. The trading floor would be empty by 6.30.
First off, other than arb, I don't think anybody here has real "Street Cred." But you weren't a trader/salesperson were you arb? If you're good it doesn't matter where you are right? I mean there are guys at Schonfeld pulling down 7 figures (and I'm sure there are some at Bright and Echo. You're one aren't you Don? ) just as there are 7 figure traders at GS. As for job security, there's no better security than employing yourself. The real $ comes from running a fund and a lot of the greats like Paul Tudor Jones didn't have street cred either. If anybody wants compensation numbers, check out www.analyticrecruiting.com for a good heads up on the numbers. Also see www.vault.com (if you care to wade through all the bullshit posts). There is a sales and trading message board w/ some pretty decent info from actual traders. For an honest description of market maker salaries read "How I trade Options" by Jon Najarian where he answers the burning question, "How much do the guys in Chicago make?" Hope that helps.
always take my comments as "promoting" prop trading or anything else. If you search the boards, there are many examples of my suggesting that people do something entirely different. I just happen to know many people in the industry, at various positions and levels, and there simply is not any need for "in-house" salaried traders any longer. The few that are there are "grandfathered in" ....No big deal, there are plenty of jobs in the business, just not trading jobs per se'.
How's the new job going? I noticed you brought up some 1993 numbers...have you been able to find some friends that can give us some 2001 numbers? I know they (the numbers) are way down, but there should be a few still making big bucks....let us know!!
Here are some numbers from a recent survey: First Year Analyst $60K - 110K Bachelor's Third Year Analyst $80K - 200K Bachelor's First Year Associate $125K - 235K MBA Third Year Associate $150 - 450K MBA Assistant Vice President $200K - 600K 2-4 years Vice President $250K - 800K 3-6 years Associate Director $250K - 1MM 3-8 years Director / Principal $300K - 1.2MM 5-10 years Managing Director / Partner $400K - 20MM 7-10 years Department head $750K - 70MM 10+ years Don, why not give us a breakdown of what your guys make ? I'm highly doubt many pull in even 100K a year, in other words, the same as a 21 year old analyst.