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HF if you’re a complete rockstar and absolutely kill it, and it’s not even close. IBD is the much safer path. Assuming you’re an analyst, in five years you’ll be a VP making $500k if you’re top bucket, $350k if you suck but somehow make it to VP
^ Similar to HF, you’ll only get that kind of money if you’re a real rockstar in S&T. It’s also only doable in derivatives, structured products, exotics etc. (it’s getting hard to come by in cash equities)
It’s not just the HFT-style guys like Jump that are doing well, I work with “human” traders who still make 7 figs/year. And also they still need to know about finance, just as much as anyone else in my opinion, unless you’re a pure developer where you can probably get away with having less knowledge.
For sure, the hours and stress and lack of a social life are brutal and the job isn’t for everyone.
(Source: myself, as a VP in IBD)
I don’t have great visibility into S&T pay, but I get the sense it’s less than IBD by a somewhat significant amount, until you’re a little more senior and have a book with P&L where you’re compensated directly off that
CS equity is heavily focused on electronic trading (AES, Crossfinder) but the margins are thin in those spaces. I can’t speak to what’s been happening in all of fixed income but I know they’ve had mixed success in treasuries at least (look at AES Rates and also the Wake LLC JV). If you can land a credit/credit derivatives role, and get both flow and market making experience, it should make you some good money and possibly set you up for a transition to the buy side (AM/HF)
Having been in a bank’s S&T business, a HF and a big prop trading firm, I found that above average prop guys made more than similarly skilled Hf guys but the top guys HF kill it. Bank traders mostly had higher base but lower all in comp
If you asked this a year ago I would have told you to start some bullshit ICO and laugh all the way to the bank
^thanks vp. Hours are brutal though, and vp has lots of stress of managing up and down, building client relationships etc. Could s&t make similar amount or slightly higher?
Thanks ET. Very helpful. What about loan/distressed/cds treading? Could it be lucrative too if there’s enough flow or work for a bank w/ big BS? CS doesn’t seem to have a strong equity desk
Thanks ET and derivative trader! For props I think it’s mostly those big ones like jump which are doing well, right? And most of them come from engineering, math background and know little about finance. Feel that’s impossible/too late for me to transition into now. Have frds who got in some multi manager platform as analysts but see high turnover and constantly getting crushed (looks like if their PM is out they will get canned too), wonder if that’s worth it