http://news.efinancialcareers.com/n...erica=18&om_rid=C4y8l5&om_mid=_BMh7gCB8Uk7UPz
Trading is Starting to Look Like a Bad Career Move
Sep 7, 2010
Sarah Butcher
In a fit of political correctness, banks are eschewing prop traders. First it was JPMorgan. Now itâs Goldman Sachs.
There are not places for all these prop traders in hedge funds, which are fussy about the prop traders they take on. They only want the very best.
Does this mean most prop traders will be relegated to the oblivion of the spare room?
Apparently not. We have spoken to two and they are both weighed down with offers to join banksâ flow desks.
âThere are opportunities popping up all over the place,â says one junior trader on the verge of redundancy. âIâm planning to move back to the flow business and am very confident thereâs stuff out there.â
âIâm talking to about four different banks about customer facing roles at the moment,â says another senior credit trader whoâs been working in prop. âThereâs been a massive merry-go-round in credit and a lot of banks have holes to fill.â
Trading Careers Are Not What They Were
Nevertheless, trading isnât quite the career it once was.
âMarkets used to be a lot looser â it was easier to make money by arbitraging between related contracts. Sixty percent of trading is algo now, which is making it much more difficult to achieve that,â says William de Lucy, head of proprietary trading firm Amplify Trading. âThese days, you either need to have a view on the market based on an understanding of fundamentals and macroeconomics, or you need to be able to work with algos.
âThere are probably half the number of jobs, and half of those that remain are going to quantitative people,â he adds.
Headhunters working with traders, at least in the UK, claim opportunities are drying up.
âItâs definitely become more tricky to place traders over the past 18 months,â says Tej Dhindsa at recruitment firm Ingram Mayet. âOnce banks have cut traders, they are not necessarily replacing them and are farming out roles internally instead so that existing staff take on more responsibility.â
Dhindsa says there are numerous traders whoâve been out of the market since 2008, many of whom took voluntary redundancy in the belief theyâd be able to get back in and are now stuck in spare rooms trading their own money.
Despite this, the prop people we spoke to had no regrets whatsoever about their choice of career. âTrading is absolutely not a bad job,â said the senior one. âIt can pay more money in a few years than most of us idiots are supposed to earn in a whole lifetime.â
Trading is Starting to Look Like a Bad Career Move
Sep 7, 2010
Sarah Butcher
In a fit of political correctness, banks are eschewing prop traders. First it was JPMorgan. Now itâs Goldman Sachs.
There are not places for all these prop traders in hedge funds, which are fussy about the prop traders they take on. They only want the very best.
Does this mean most prop traders will be relegated to the oblivion of the spare room?
Apparently not. We have spoken to two and they are both weighed down with offers to join banksâ flow desks.
âThere are opportunities popping up all over the place,â says one junior trader on the verge of redundancy. âIâm planning to move back to the flow business and am very confident thereâs stuff out there.â
âIâm talking to about four different banks about customer facing roles at the moment,â says another senior credit trader whoâs been working in prop. âThereâs been a massive merry-go-round in credit and a lot of banks have holes to fill.â
Trading Careers Are Not What They Were
Nevertheless, trading isnât quite the career it once was.
âMarkets used to be a lot looser â it was easier to make money by arbitraging between related contracts. Sixty percent of trading is algo now, which is making it much more difficult to achieve that,â says William de Lucy, head of proprietary trading firm Amplify Trading. âThese days, you either need to have a view on the market based on an understanding of fundamentals and macroeconomics, or you need to be able to work with algos.
âThere are probably half the number of jobs, and half of those that remain are going to quantitative people,â he adds.
Headhunters working with traders, at least in the UK, claim opportunities are drying up.
âItâs definitely become more tricky to place traders over the past 18 months,â says Tej Dhindsa at recruitment firm Ingram Mayet. âOnce banks have cut traders, they are not necessarily replacing them and are farming out roles internally instead so that existing staff take on more responsibility.â
Dhindsa says there are numerous traders whoâve been out of the market since 2008, many of whom took voluntary redundancy in the belief theyâd be able to get back in and are now stuck in spare rooms trading their own money.
Despite this, the prop people we spoke to had no regrets whatsoever about their choice of career. âTrading is absolutely not a bad job,â said the senior one. âIt can pay more money in a few years than most of us idiots are supposed to earn in a whole lifetime.â
