I am doing a Masters in theoretical physics from a top 3 university in Canada. I have recently become interested in algo trading, but I see that many of the roles in New York require a PhD. Is it enough to form connections and do many algo trading projects during my Masters in order to land a job?
PhD in You don't need a PhD to get a job in systematic trading (please don't call it algorithmic unless you want to be developing execution algos). Asking for a PhD is mostly a way to filter out dumb people (especially for recruiters who can't tell if candidate has the skills or the brains).
According to my long time observation, I would guess No, you don't have to get a PhD for the kind of jobs, providing your computing skills are good. http://www.efinancialcareers.com/ Agree.
Those grapes, man, so sour Social aspect aside, it's hard to dispute that expected value in institutional finance beats almost every other industry.
There are plenty of brokers with fast enough API access..... that just about anyone who has good ideas for algorithmic trading will do far far far better trading their own capital than earning a salary at some other place.
First of all, the financial math does not work out. A first year quant analyst is probably taking home 120-150 base plus 50-100 bonus depending on how good you are. Assuming a set of personal strategies that generate 20% ROC with 2-3 Sharpe (a very good setup indeed), you need around a million dollars in capital to match the income from a job at a fund. Second (and probably more important), being at an established place will teach you so many things that you can't learn from reading books. Just being around people that have been doing quant trading for the last 20 years and are good at it will teach you so many things, from general concepts (attitude toward risk etc) to details like combining factors etc.