What to do with my life?

[shotstakovich]

not one mention of drawdown that is very sad. also to be credible it would be nice to have a 3rd party state your performance. then more likely doors will open for you, but the fact you went directly to your profits red flagged you. no one gives a crap about your performance until they first know the risk associated with the gains.[/QUOTE

not one mention of drawdown that is very sad. also to be credible it would be nice to have a 3rd party state your performance. then more likely doors will open for you, but the fact you went directly to your profits red flagged you. no one gives a crap about your performance until they first know the risk associated with the gains.[/QUO

What do you trade ?

Long term options. I focus on making money on direction and volatility.

 

[shotstakovich]

Another red flag.

how is that a red flag?

 

[nickynoes]

Yes, perhaps that's what I need. It's just so hard to bring myself to think about things other than the market.

It gets easier the more you try. Also it might even improve your trading. You can take a break from the markets, they will always be there along with the opportunities.

 

[expiated]

how is that a red flag?

 

[EsKiller]

May I ask why you are trying to break into the hedge fund industry ?

 

[nickynoes]

View attachment 195724

Position sizing should not be based on any generic rule, but rather the statistics of your system.

 

[shotstakovich]

May I ask why you are trying to break into the hedge fund industry ?

I interned at a small hedge fund in college, and my background is in fundamental analysis. I would be happy at a prop trading firm as well, although most of those seem to be heavily quant.

 

[shotstakovich]

View attachment 195724

understood. To be fair, I've since brought my position sizing down a lot since college. I do hedge out delta risk for very large positions, especially when I have a view on vol

 

[Specterx]

So, I had a post from a couple years ago that basically asked the same thing.

After college I worked at a minimum wage job to rebuild my trading losses from college. I improved tremendously since my blow up and managed to quadruple my account in a few months. I then found work at another firm that paid better, but there were a number of things in that firm that I was not comfortable with (legal issues, etc).

This year my account is up around 80%, and I'm still trying to refine my approach to trading and risk management. It is a mixture of fundamental, some technical, and sentiment. I'm a contrarian, and like to position myself against the crowd if the risk/reward is good. It seems like I hold my trades anywhere from a few weeks to a month. Position sizes range anywhere from 5% to 20% of my capital.

I've reached out to different people in hedge funds and prop trading. A former poker player-turned hedge fund manager told me that I should focus on getting really good at a skill outside of trading in order to stand out from the pack. He got into the industry via poker, and I guess he hinted that maybe I should try poker. Aside from that interaction, most of my efforts have led nowhere.

It seems impossible to break into this industry...

First off, to echo another poster it sounds like you are taking way too much risk in your trading. Risk per trade is what matters, and regularly risking more than about 2% is inviting a catastrophic drawdown.

IMO you need to get on the career ladder ASAP leveraging your existing skills and degree. Hedge funds are a tough way to go as the industry is declining, every year funds close and release thousands of experienced pros into the market. Consider getting a masters if you have the funds, a masters is the new bachelors as far as many employers are concerned and schools can be useful in hooking you up with internships or jobs. From the way you describe your strategy it seems like you could do OK trading nights and weekends while working a normal job. Look at trading as a 10+ year path of building your experience and track record while your day job pays the bills, contributes additional trading account capital, and perhaps helps you make some connections.

 

[fan27]

BS in Finance

If I was in your situation, I would be asking myself how could I quickly build up my trading capital and trading skills. Given you have a college degree, you could get a sales job and in short order be making six figures if you can hustle. Depending on your expenses, you could have 200k saved within five years and hopefully have a good trading track record to go along with it. From there, you could look at raising capital to trade or join some sort of group/fund to trade their money.

Good luck!