wondering at investment banks where you can have prop desks, is it day trading? swing trading? investing? can you trade options, futures,stocks,bonds, commodities? say you are on a base salasry for being a prop trader at an IB, what % of your profits would be a bonus?
I think prop desk exist in inefficient markets in which the bank has an edge because of the information it gets from clients. And then you have prop desks thatare just freaking programmers, like the ones who found a holy grail in flash trading at Goldman, so holy grail it's a matter of national security ! Anyway I think it's safe to say prop desks the way you imagine them are going the way of the dinosaurs .
why do you say that? anyway, one of my friends knows of a guy who trades stocks and bonds in RBS in the uk
they are huge and every bank has them... they trade every product and every instrument in every asset class... they make the most of the banks money and run very large VAR positions.
banks make money off flow. the prop desks start up and are taken down because some MD thought it was a good idea. IMO, bank traders are the worst of all traders but they have flow and capital. Without the bank behind them they fail. That being said if you can get on a desk at a bank do it and sharpen you sales (BS) skills.