How do I get a job at proprietary trading firm?

Discussion in 'Prop Firms' started by curiousv, Dec 22, 2018.

  1. curiousv

    curiousv

    I just finished bachelor's degree - Business management.

    But that just the degree ..I have more than 20 years of experience in day trading and investment.

    How do I get a job at proprietary trading firm?
    Just a bachelor's degree and experience is enough or do I have to study a particular course?
    if a particular course what do I need to study?

    And if any particular studies is not required ..how else I can get a job at those proprietary trading firms.
     
  2. JSOP

    JSOP

    Why don't you just trade for yourself if you already have 20 years of experience in daytrading and investment? Why do you want to work for a proprietary trading firm?
     
    wwatson1 and jnbadger like this.
  3. ETJ

    ETJ

    Expand your horizons to include family offices - some - not all have trading desks. You live in the epicenter of the single/multifamily office community. Bonuses will be modest this year and you can expect a fair amount of transition at this time of year.
     
  4. curiousv

    curiousv

    So I can have stable regular income ..when I trade, it is not consistent.
     
  5. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    There are two types. One were your money is first loss and one where they back your trading with their capital. The ones where your money is first loss, well they allow just about anyone to join. You only make money if you make money.

    The ones where they back you are looking for those with advanced math degrees, programming skills and/or the ability to take data sets and make predictive models out of them. Very hard to get in. Most are in Chicago. Look at the Careers sections and you get the idea. They are not looking for management degrees and day traders.

    https://www.wolve.com/
    https://sig.com/
    https://akunacapital.com/
     
    dealmaker, fan27, quant1 and 2 others like this.
  6. JSOP

    JSOP

    My advice: Get a day job and trade on the side until you can get stable regular consistent income then trade full-time. If after 20 years of day trading and investment experience, you still can't get stable regular consistent income, those proprietary trading firms that give you their capital to trade with won't want you. Think about it, if you are not making consistent profit with your own money, why should they let you risk theirs?
     
  7. Let’s say I have a deck of 13 cards labeled 1-13. I pull out maybe 7 at random. Make me a market on the sum. Now give me a two way on the average. We’re gonna have a 30 minute conversation and you’re gonna need to do 4 or 5 of these exercises. Then you’ll have similar conversations with 3 or 4 other dudes and we might throw a few algorithms questions or a coding exercise in there. Finally, we’ll all go to the bar and you’ll need to demonstrate you’re a normal human being. Then we’ll talk about your future in prop trading, and more likely than not that talk will not go favorable because every STEM major at an Ivy was given a free t shirt by whatever firm you’re interviewing at. I still have a couple I wear to the gym.

    That’s the sort of hoops you’ll be jumping through at Wolverine/Sig/Akuna. There are only a few of these that are big enough to actively post jobs, so don’t shoot yourself in the foot by applying until you’ve developed preternatural critical reasoning and memorized the interview tricks. To be blunt you’re probably not going to get an interview unless you have a substantial resume—this is just the reality of this game I’m afraid. It’s not easy to get in and once you’re in attrition is probably higher than similarly competitive jobs.

    So to give you something constructive to go on rather than crushing your dreams: read Sinclair’s books, get a prestigious advanced degree, work in software dev or a front office role elsewhere.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2018
    Stocktracker likes this.
  8. curiousv

    curiousv

    I think I could learn the tricks of trade from them ..while on the job. Why do you have to be so judgmental?
     
  9. In my experience *some* previous trading experience is looked on favorably as it demonstrates interest, but too much will kill you because they want to train you not listen to you training them.
     
  10. You don't go into prop firm as a trader for a stable regular income.
     
    #10     Dec 22, 2018