From my experience, if you really really want the hedge fund spot or heading a trading desk at a top 5 bank.. Goto a top 10 business school and have a huge math background, and anything else (including experience or CFA) doesn't really matter.
Actually this was more of an analyst position - which in the past has lead others directly to the position of managing director. CFA/MBA are held by other managing directors so at least in this company it is viewed as a relevant credential. With the large oversupply of such credentialed people companies can currently ask for many additional skills as requirements: In this particular case the company values its technology as a strategic resource and was looking for people that had current understanding and experience in these topics as welll .... enough to chart a strategic direction. I'm sure there are many arenas where merely holding the CFA is more than sufficient .... It just depends what type of comapny you are looking to join (or start).
just to bring up a point here, what REALLY is the difference b/w a successful hedge fund trader and a successfull prop. trader? What good is a top 10 MBA with little proven trading exp. vs. a slightly above average intelligence prop trader who has been in the business for awhile and has a proven record? If I was doing the hiring, I would take the prop guy in a hartbeat.. It seems to me that hedge fund managers would ALWAYS be looking for proven prop guys.... The funny part is, working at an IB trading orders flow is a cake walk compared to making $$$ on your own in the market.. funny how the "status" gets reversed...
If the prop guy has audited P&L statements that show a solid annual return on a multi-million dollar portfolio (after commissions) for several years, then he'd be marketable at a hedge fund. Educational pedigree is irrelevant. A prop trader who generates a 50% return on a $150K account would probably not get an interview at a top hedge fund. A trader who can make 15% on a $10 million account most certainly would (unless he's way below the S&P). A whole different skill level is required to be profitable at the multi-million dollar level that small account traders lack. That is the difference between being a prop trader and a hedge fund trader. Many good prop traders make poor hedge fund traders and vice versa. Hedge funds can afford to have tough screening criteria for trading trainees because of supply and demand. There are many qualified, high pedigreed, unemployed people out there! ______________________________________________ Money talks in this industry and bullshit walks!
Really? For example, an average CDS book is worth couple billions in notional and it needs to be properly hedged on a whole slew of risk factors. Running a balanced book of OTC derivatives is not straight forward.
True. I was refering to the equities side of the business.... I should have been more straightforward.
Only if you are in salestrading. And your book of business better be in the listed side, otherwise your customers will send their orders to ECN's...
sle, credit default swap and CBO, CDO, and structure fixed income derivatives products maybe complex in nature and pricing. But that in itself is quite different than trying to outsmart the market like doing positive expected return strategy that has legitimate edges. All of Ibanking in nature is still being a middle man. No matter how complex the product one trades, you are earning a spread for your liquidity providing function, which though nontrivial is no where as complex as finding tradeable , scaleable edges. Otherwise, why do we see so many IB traders skip over to the HF world to earn the cut instead of being a middleman holding a multi-billion hedged derivatives book...