Hi guys, I would be really pleased if some of you could take a little time to give me an advice, or your thoughts... I have been working for 7 yrs as a proprietary trader for a Bank on High Yield markets. (Bonds and CDS) I had exposure limits of $80M apprrox. and a large freedom to explore other fields (convertible bonds, structured finance, etc..). During those years, I was reasonably consistent in my P&L, and I made around 200k yearly, bonus included. The problem is that I was bored by the environnement, and that the bonus was poorly related to my own results. It depended more on the results of all the group, with of course a lot of corporate politics, etc... I decided two weeks ago to join a small shop to daytrade on the ZN. This time I will share my profits (If any!) with the firm. For the moment, I found short term trading extremely interesting, but incredibly difficult and I must give some credit to you all that make a good living from it. Honestly, I can't even see for the moment how is it possible to be consistent not holding overnight positions... I know I traded 2 weeks only, but the purpose of my post is that I just had another offer from a Bank for a High Yield trader position (better paid). Therefore, here is my question : Should I stick with The daytrading job, with the casual atmosphere and the hope to be one day independant or should I go back to the "classical" trader carrer in a bank (consider the tie every day ) in a field I already know? My fear is that I won't have the choice anymore... Thanks to all of you, and sorry for my english, I am not a native speaker. Cheers
Find a hedge fund and trade there. Why would you go shop at kmart when you can shop at Bloomingdales?
============ L-Luke; Interesting because more often than not, don't post intraday; more end of day ,premarket or near open. Don't give investment advice, but do you have a intraday personality like market makers/specialists??????? I do not; but like to do business with them. I also remember in my typing class the teacher seemed to give the good grades to faster people like Bright Trading Company; she never read much on turtles Could probably live with a tie or bowtie for 7 more years if i had to; especially if it helped me trade/invest thru home office. Thats common in banking business/most all jobs; tendency to under pay on bonuses, probably because every business has expenses, lean years, or related/politics. Wisdom is profitable to direct.
Stick to the day job -- start trading on the side -- until you feel competant --than have a go at it. Btw, I'm just a newbie learning myself.
By all means take the new bank job offer. Trading the equity futures is one of the most difficult markets to make money in, let alone a consistent living. Is there anyone at your current firm thats making 200k+ trading the YM? If you don't like the corporate environment, then try to find a hedge fund that will allow you to trade high-yield bonds and put some of your experience to work. Otherwise you'd be letting it go to waste trying to trade the YM.
the man has already proven he can make money on a large book. I would take a shot at a prop firm for a year see what happens. Handling 80M and taking home 200K with a bonus, a lot of work, not a lot of $ to say the least. with an I-bank experience like that he can come back to the corporate world anytime.
I think there is little correlation between success at a bank trading desk and success as a self-trader in a completely different market. The critical benefit of working at an investment bank is superior information and being able to see order flow. Without that, your edge disappears to nothing.
I heard most of them make far more than that. But I am the new guy and there is a culture of secrecy, so I can't be certain.
Take it, pal. This is not for you .. you will just go down the pan with the other 95% who try out their unrealistic and ill-informed dreams. Continue to work your way as an office stiff.