While the salaries of some of these firms are attractive, keep in mind that the owners of all these firms made their money because someone at some point entrusted them with capital to trade and passed their edge on, teaching them how to profitably trade the markets they were brought up on. ie- they were 'backed" (in terms of capital) by someone who acquired an edge before they came around. They didn't build their careers on cushy salaries and bonuses. This was (and still is) the model that this industry was built upon. I can guarantee that none of the biggest players in the various futures and options markets started with an attractive salary like the ones above. They took a risk and made peanuts clerking for someone who had enough confidence to show them the way and then eventually moved on to trading their own account. I got into this industry to kill it. While making 80k-200k a year is a very nice living, it is not KILLING it. Every trader I know that kills it began with the model I am explaining. Anyone getting into the industry now needs to think about this and decide which road you want to take. If your interest is technology, fine, different discussion altogether. If you want to trade, your intention should be to eventually trade your own account. I'm fairly certain that getting into this industry in 2009 with a firm like DRW, SUS, CTC etc will not get you there. Sure there are guys at the aformentioned firms that trade their own account without a cap but those guys were around from the beginning or closer to it ie when the firm was younger. Anyone who's been with these firms for 3+ years correct me if I'm mistaken on the above assertion. The current model at larger firms is to pay an employee a salary and a nice performance-based bonus. It's capped earnings. What I found so unique and opportunistic about trading when I got into it was the opportunity to make limitless amounts of cash if you're good.