Recent content by Smoker

So has anyone on the thread gone from trading their own money to trading other people's money since I last visited? Hope all is well for everyone. Warmest Regards, Smoker

Hi chimera, How do you think the portfolio manager gets a shot at trading OPM in the first place? If you have the track record with your own money it is only a matter of time before someone comes after you. In trading like sports talent always is found. In the modern world it is...

Hi MrN, Well maybe we are talking semantics here but I personally don’t view anyone that ever used a fund of funds or feeder fund to do their investing as a professional asset allocator. Professional asset allocators do their own due diligence and do not pay other people to do it for...

The following was my comment on your above quote: I forgot to mention that the other reason you know no professional asset allocators lost money with Maddoff is Maddoff himself would avoid getting involved with professionals and just stick with fleecing the retail/amateur lambs because he...

It is the same for the off shore asset allocators and as with academic studies neither the names of the trader or possible allocator are passed until both sides indicate serious interest. As I said before I have never heard of a trader turning down initially a meeting and then if they pass...

Hi Smallstops, It is not to be “sneaky” but rather for practical reasons. Simply it is mathematically efficient to use algorithms to shift through thousands of track records to see if any of them warrant further investigation rather than thousands and thousands of meetings with anyone...

The standard idea is they want a CTA/Hedge Fund that is going to survive and be around and has the infrastructure to pass due diligence so rule of thumb is a minimum of 200 million in AUM. The max is in the tens of billions. Also they want to be able to get out without sinking the fund so...

Hi Guys, I really can’t give you a reasonable answer since my experience is very specific to a single off shore location. I can tell you I am in the Gulf because I am not interested in paying income tax. Also because I don’t have any interest in marketing or running a business I am...

When I interviewed with CRT, Hull Trading, Cooper Neff, O’Conner etc in Chicago in the early 80s they all had me do mental “speed arithmetic” during the interview to prove I could learn to follow my option sheets, quote spreads etc in the pits. It was pretty stressful the first time it...

Just if you want to leverage your talent and get seriously rich. Don’t really follow your thinking. To score a big allocation from the professional market you have to be a successful trader. There is simply no other way to do it. You might be able to trick the retail market aka...

A college interview is mostly personality while an experienced trader interview is mostly mathematics. BTW I have been off the board for a while so what happened to your job search dedicated trader? Cheers Smoker

Hi Seventh Cereal and Rationalize, The problem you have is no one with any serious money to allocate is lazy, just a punter or a degenerate etc. By definition in the real world the guys allocating serious funds are professional, experienced and pretty darn good at their jobs or they...

Only if you are a successful fund that generates alpha and attracts allocations from the professional and not exclusively retail sector. The free call is a biggie but another huge benefit is using the fund to manage your own money. You don’t pay yourself fees and if you are successful at...

Hi Ash1972, I think what you would learn is market making is a very good business. And an even better business when technology is applied and economies of scale kick in. Then an even better business when customer orders both market, resting and potential are used as leans for proprietary...

Hi Everyone, Ok I was originally before going to the Merc floor for CRT an interbank FX options guy out of one of the Canadian chartered banks which is where I first heard “yard” as slang for a billion. Ok, that was a good one; you got me on Paulson and I can’t really explain how...