For what it's worth, for 9 out of 10 job openings in real HFT shops, with everything else being equal, candidates from 3M are more preferable that candidates from IBanks. Actually, most HFT job descriptions nowadays indicate "prefer candidates from tech companies than banks", but that is in the real world. Here whoever can BS the most is the best guy to build a trading system.
How can you create a system for something that is 100% random???!!! you don't.......therefore, the only system you need to create is one that sees order flow, gets in first, gets out first, and manipulates the markets!!! create a system that can get in 0.000000001 after a report is released. make bank
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/the-100-top-performing-large-hedge-funds.html Any of these top 100 are HFT/systemic automated trading?
With exception of couple of people, it should be very obvious for anyone to understand what I said. HFT job openings prefer candidates from technology related companies than finance related companies. Assuming you do not confuse IBanks offering low latency execution services for client algorithmic trading, you are wrong. By definition a bank is regulated by SEC and the Dodd Frank act made it almost impossible for those organizations to prop trade in any frequency. Any banks that had or still have HFT prop groups they either spin off as hedge funds, sell to hedge funds or simply close. Some have found the Market Maker loophole and still engage, but by far, banks are not deep in the game either measured in dollar or transaction volume.
Any news to support your point? I regularly see banks/ibanks hiring HFT related staff, but I am not located in USA. Ibank/bank is very big and has many departments. A trading related department experience would be much more important than having a phd in most of the cases, except very outstanding direct related hft kind of phd.
No, no news. Now that I am thinking about it you are right. The perfect candidates for HFT jobs are MBAs with background in High Touch Trading. PhDs in physics or other hard sciences, not related with trading, are not really very optimal candidates for HFT job openings. At the same time investment banks are thriving on HFT trading and are hiring to further expand their prop trading operations. Sorry for wasting your time.
I am not trying to sell you anything and I don't have to prove you anything either. I offered you my best advice, feel free to ignore it, as I am ignoring you moving forward. May-be, take an elementary-grade Math course ... 26,000 / (6*250) = 17 trades / day on average. Not HFT in my books. PS - as you couldn't see it, here is another Ninja bug ... they divide the total number of trades by the number of calendar days in the backtest, instead of using the number of trading days.
May be you believe these job posts are fake? http://jobs.efinancialcareers.com/job-4000000001163003.htm Quant Trader Ideal candidates will possess: Strong modeling and C++ development skills will be highly regarded. (so only phd can do programming!?) A proven track record, with a minimum Sharpe ratio of 3+, ideally 4+. (ho ibank experience, proved record right?) A strong academic background (ho not really have to be phd right?) In-depth knowledge of quantitative finance (ibank experience or related right?) http://jobs.efinancialcareers.com/job-4000000001151135.htm High Frequency Data Developer Minimum Bachelors in Computer Science or related field. Masters preferred. (ho not phd again!?, would you be too disappeared?) 4+ years of work experience preferably with a financial firm. (ho, they say they care about if you worked in financial firm or not, not university phd experience...ho no..)