whatever you say, make sure to point out that whatever reason you got fired for, you learned a harsh lesson out of it and it only made you a better trader, and you'll never do whatever they fired you for ever again. trying to find excuses to justify it only makes you look amateurish. Admitting your flaws makes you look like a man.
the posts above this are spot-on. previous employer can't say stuff, you should be honest, and say you learned from things, etc. your truthfulness won't be the reason you don't get the job...but if they find out afterwards you lied, it's a legit reason to *lose* the job.
Darn, others got to the heart of this before I could, Never a down day before the 100K hit? Obviously that's BS. In the remote chance that it's true, no firm would fire you for those numbers, you'd be a rock star with those results (but they would have rung alarm bells on the big down day and you would have been paid a visit by a risk manager before things got out of hand). Lastly. What firm had the risk management incompetence not to know you were down that big? There's some experienced traders here and and it's very ballsy to try and pass this story off as true.
It's absolutely amazing how many threads are started with such obvious bullshit. But what amazes me more are the hordes of guys on here who think the questions are legit and take the time to write a serious reply. There really are a bunch of naive idiots roaming around on this place.
Say the stakes were being progessively risen. Then you had a drawback. Given the leverage/risk in the latter days, losses were significant. All big traders, even Warren Buffet have had years with significant losses. Even LTCMers are about to make a comeback. State that your strategy can be made more conservative, if desired.
A different thought I have is what the hell did this guy for 5 years after this incident. If you can make 20-40k per day at a trading firm, you should be able to get a great deal at a prop firm to replicate the performance even 25%. Which is probably exactly what I would ask. Why wouldn't this individual seek another similar position at a similar firm with such great performance? Why would you take a 5 year break?
Hmm an interesting array of answers. Obviously a lot of people are doubters in here, and would suggest that my story is bullshit - that is your prerogative and im not here to ask a question as to whether you think my story is true. Let me just explain a little bit about the trading that i did. I was working on a relative value / stat arb model - i.e. there was a position held overnight EVERYNIGHT! the positions were big and the trading was high frequency. The P&L is measured in theoretical terms (almost like an options book) therefore the sum of all the daily theoretical P&Ls would equal the actual realised P&L once the position was flat (either when it was fully unwound or if the model blown out). It is not a discretionary prop trading / scalping type of role. These are hedge fund desks and model driven strategies. Basically the firm i used to work for tried to say that i was not disciplined and hiding positions (basically not trading to the signal of the models) but this is the same way i traded every single day and it was only when i had a loss that it became a problem. Also my risk parameters, or limits, or anything like that were never told to me. We were just expected to follow the model. Anyways guys, i really appreciate all the help and advice, im going to go with the truth (there is no point in getting the job and then just looking over my shoulder all the time) although if im never asked about it - then i wont mention anything. Oh and in the last 5 years ive been working in 2 different but large bulge brakcet investment banks (not in a trading role) but my references are good and i wont have any problems with them. I know a lot of you dont believe the numbers i mentioned and thats fine (i dont have any worries about this - as my old firm can 100% verify this - although whether they will or not is a differnt question altogether). Hydroblunt - these positions are very difficult to replicate at a prop shop, as even scaling down the model to 10% of its size, would require a huge amount of capital, overnight margins (which no prop shop is ever willing to put up) and there was also no correlation margin haircut as the products were on different countries/exchanges. This is strictly a model for the hedge funds.
The best light you can put on your past situation is that in trading the very best lessons come from taking losses, and learning from the experience. You learn a hell of a lot more from failure than from success. You success in the interview will depend totally on your attitude about your past experience, and your confidence in explaining what happened, and how you've grown as a trader from it. Any successful trader who tells you he hasn't at one time gotten badly wacked is either very lucky or a liar. The question is, what has he taken from the experience?
Trump fires good people all the time. Just be honest but do divulge the info that is not required. If they want you tell test you anywyas. No sense in worrying about the past. It will only prevent you from moving forward just like a bad trade.
Just trade on your own... Why do you need to work for some firm? If youâre as good as you say you are then find a financial backer and trade for yourself. Worse case scenario, trade a DEMO account and print out your P&L for a 3 month period. "IFâ you can do what you say you can then I'm confident you'll be able to pick the firm you'd like to work for. If it's Forex you trade then I can help you find placement. Send me a PM. 322170