Map to SAC

Great point.. I guess it is a difference between career oriented people and otherwise. For me, 'working' for anything less than a massive amount of money is like a death sentence compared to the freedom I have doing things on my own since Im capapable of building reliable trading systems with very low overhead from scratch.

Quote from trdwl:

The premise of the question seemed to turn on why highly talented people, educated at the most elite institutions of higher learning would be focused on employment opportunities at primarily highly capitalized, high profile hedge funds such as Citadel, SAC, etc.
The leap you make from the statement I made about a $10-15 billion dollar barrier to entry, to the assumption that I am making a claim that one can't make money trading with anything less than a $10 billion base of capital is a giant leap indeed.
My presumption is that most of those that have invested the time, effort and considerable money in an Ivy league education and are considering a career in finance, and more specifically at a hedge fund initially lack the startup financing to launch a major hedge fund operation.
This was the case in my own experience. I worked at two large funds before I was in a position to attract substantial institutional funds.
To answer the original question more directly: Anyone can connect to the internet and put together a few thousand dollars and test their skills in the markets. The PRIMARY reason that those with top tier educations seek out positions with elite hedge funds is for access to their very large sums of working capital.
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Quote from stephencrowley:

Great point.. I guess it is a difference between career oriented people and otherwise. For me, 'working' for anything less than a massive amount of money is like a death sentence compared to the freedom I have doing things on my own since Im capapable of building reliable trading systems with very low overhead from scratch.
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The only problem is that building reliable trading systems from scratch does not lead to massive amounts of money. This stuff is rapidly becoming a commodity: while there still is some money in this there is no way I would call it massive.

Just a decent living and if you are happy with that and being just a software engineer then thats OK ....
 
I dunno about you but I can live pretty happily on 100K a year and not having to wake up each day if I dont want to and not having a boss...



Quote from prt_systems:

The only problem is that building reliable trading systems from scratch does not lead to massive amounts of money. This stuff is rapidly becoming a commodity: while there still is some money in this there is no way I would call it massive.

Just a decent living and if you are happy with that and being just a software engineer then thats OK ....
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Quote from stephencrowley:

I dunno about you but I can live pretty happily on 100K a year and not having to wake up each day if I dont want to and not having a boss...
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Its great running your own show ... and if your compensation is acceptable then that is great ....
 
I too now prefer to work independently. I do sincerely believe however that my time on the buyside bestowed upon me an education more valuable than any formal one ever could have. In my experience, the founders of the successful mega funds are truly gifted though somewhat eccentric people. I've been fortunate enough to have been in a position to have learned from two high performance money managers.
At the end of the day the crux of the issue comes down to how much capital you would like to have on hand, once you begin trading independently.
 
Thanks for all your answers. I think passion, commitment, perseverance, and creativity are the keys. Academic route provides a good initial boost.

SAC is just an example, representing an elite hedge fund. The goal may as well be becoming an elite trader, an elite money manager, one of your guys. No, not to brag, but to be good at the game. Sometimes I wonder just what exactly does SAC do In the Market Wizzard, the author paints a story of a fast trading firm. How can someone day trade millions in a stock?
 
I'm not sure, but I would bet they have to have basically 0 commission. I talked to one firm that averaged 80 million shares a day (not in one stock) but I'm not interested in waking up at 7am.

Quote from NatTrader:

Thanks for all your answers. I think passion, commitment, perseverance, and creativity are the keys. Academic route provides a good initial boost.

SAC is just an example, representing an elite hedge fund. The goal may as well be becoming an elite trader, an elite money manager, one of your guys. No, not to brag, but to be good at the game. Sometimes I wonder just what exactly does SAC do In the Market Wizzard, the author paints a story of a fast trading firm. How can someone day trade millions in a stock?
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