I am interested in getting into or finding a few sr swaptions traders / basis traders in Chicago for my large prop trading company. We have 85 traders with experience across most asset classes. Does anyone know what or who the major competition is in this space? Is it mostly dominated by large banks and hedge funds? Any input would be a great help. I am a 10+ yr equity and index options trader, and feel that this would be a natural addition to my team. any thoughts or comments?
What sort of basis you referring to? Bond basis, I assume, but could be LIBOR/OIS basis, 3s1s basis? I am also not entirely clear. Are you looking for people or are you looking for work? Also, when you talk about competition, do you mean outfits that would compete with you to attract traders or just other shops that trade similar products? EDIT: In answer to your other questions. Indeed, large HFs and IBs are where it's at . Most of them are likely to be in NY. Feel free to PM me, if you have more questions.
I am by no means an expert on this business but the basis of this I would assume is still hedging... Therefore I would think you will have a hard time finding info as it would be dominated by very large banks who have traditional clients who are interested in swaps. Aka thats OTC, shadow-banking and unregulated. Hedge funds IMO fit this category also. I have to assume what you want to do is go into swaptions on interest rates (just stick to currency options if you want go play currencies against each others). Philly's products XDC, XDE, XDA etc for currency options. So if you are looking for interest rates wizards my first thought would be to look for good bond traders, following interest rates is a big part of what they already do...
thanks for your reply, sorry that I was a little unclear. I was speaking about Bond basis trading. I am looking for a couple of sr traders (5+ yrs) to expand my trading group. We have 85 traders (on and off floor) with coverage in options across several options asset classes and we are looking to expand in to swaptions. I was hoping to get some insight as to other shops that trade swaptions. Since we are a simply a prop; I was wondering if we are going to only be going up against large banks and hedge funds, or if their are other props in this space? I have been on the CBOE all my trading career; and am not familiar with this space.
No, not anymore. I was there as the head of Options Floor trading for over 6 yrs before semi-retiring and taking 1/2 of my NDX position with me. I was trading on my own and helping a few close friends find traders when they needed them. Also helped a few other firms find talent in front and middle office while manging my trading account. I am currently wearing two hats, options trading and VP of recruiting in front office trading and analytics. Its a fun combination and allows me to leverage my knowledge and relationships from trading. I actually P&L about the same for both!! (~1-1.5MM/ per) BTW ~ Jump is now around 180 traders, and about 260 in total. They focus mostly on FX now.
Well done, it's an impressive resume... As to Jump, yes, they're big. They hired one of my former colleagues (Eurodollars and cash bonds), who blew up in the fall of '07.
I heard that Dyson (the vaccumm guys) are still their only investors. They put up about 100MM a few years ago and have gotten a very nice RIO since!