How to become a trader

[thegman]

Read Liar's Poker. it is good

[apguy]

thegman said:

Read Liar's Poker. it is good

Traders, Guns & Money is better though. I've read both recently and Satyajit Das really knows his derivatives

[NoelWatson]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

smithsi said:

Any advice.

Position has come up within my company to be a trainee derivatives trader.

I've within IT for financial companies for 10 years and am interested in a career change. Any hints, there must be a few City traders on here from time to time.

Depends on what sort of person you are and what sort of traders your company prefers (old hands or up and comers).

The thing that this depends on is how quickly you'll think they're all cocks. Pure traders (not people trying algo trading etc) are a breed as are some I.T. people. They're breeds that were born to hate each other.

There are exceptions obviously and I'm lucky to know a couple of traders that I really get on with, but it's best to know what it can be like. If you like expensive shirts and shoes, thought Audi TT's were cool and have a 100% (or more) mortgage on a flat just outside the worst part of town you'll fit in fine

I wonder how much the type of trader differs depending on

a). Age
b). Bank
c). Asset class and level of complexity.


I have worked with (admittedly only in one bank) flow, correlation and structured credit, and they are all decent blokes. I was sitting with some equity traders for a short period and that experience was certainly "different".

[apguy]

NoelWatson said:

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

smithsi said:

Any advice.

Position has come up within my company to be a trainee derivatives trader.

I've within IT for financial companies for 10 years and am interested in a career change. Any hints, there must be a few City traders on here from time to time.

Depends on what sort of person you are and what sort of traders your company prefers (old hands or up and comers).

The thing that this depends on is how quickly you'll think they're all cocks. Pure traders (not people trying algo trading etc) are a breed as are some I.T. people. They're breeds that were born to hate each other.

There are exceptions obviously and I'm lucky to know a couple of traders that I really get on with, but it's best to know what it can be like. If you like expensive shirts and shoes, thought Audi TT's were cool and have a 100% (or more) mortgage on a flat just outside the worst part of town you'll fit in fine

I wonder how much the type of trader differs depending on

a). Age
b). Bank
c). Asset class and level of complexity.


I have worked with (admittedly only in one bank) flow, correlation and structured credit, and they are all decent blokes. I was sitting with some equity traders for a short period and that experience was certainly "different".

Agreed. I'm an IT bod who works Front Office. Equity Derivatives now, but in my past 14 years I've sat next to:
- Treasury FX traders for a US bank (nice guys, easy job and little stress)
- Equity Tri-Party Arbitrage within a US bank (traders playing with clients money and mainly technical, nice blokes)
- Commodities for a US bank, specifically energy and metals (another nice easy job, young traders who thought it was the dogs without realising they were at the bottom of the pile)
- Bond traders for a German bank. (Days of not much happening and then a bun-fight when it kicked off)
- Equity Derivatives for a Hedge Fund. (Animals, biggest bunch of ar*e traders I've ever had the misfortune to work with, on the other hand they paid me a fortune)
- Equity Derivatives for a Japanese bank. (Far more technical based than the Hedge Fund, more studious and infinitely more approachable)

They all have their pros and cons. Oddly enough, would I be a Credit or Equity Derivative trader? No, but I'm happy to chance my arm in FX.

[cannedheat]

smithsi said:

NoelWatson said:

smithsi said:

NoelWatson said:

smithsi said:

Any advice.

Position has come up within my company to be a trainee derivatives trader.

I've within IT for financial companies for 10 years and am interested in a career change. Any hints, there must be a few City traders on here from time to time.

What type of derivatives?

Mainly credit I understand.

In that case I may be able to help, but firstly what type of credit will you be trading?

e.g.

Single name CDS
Indices
Tranches
Strucutured

Misled by HR, turns out it may be IR derivatives. Will investigate further.

Thanks for your help.

PS Interesting web site Noel. I come from a IT tech background, in particular familiar with SQL Server and C#.

have a look at some of these books...

here

I've had some of them out of my work library and they're great... very understandable.

[smithsi]

apguy said:

thegman said:

Read Liar's Poker. it is good

Traders, Guns & Money is better though. I've read both recently and Satyajit Das really knows his derivatives

I thought that Traders, Guns & Money was going to be another Liar's Poker, just about the the scandals and what traders get up to. I read it this weekend and it is definitely poles apart. As you say the guys knows his derivatives, there have been lightbulbs going off in my brain regarding areas that I have touched upon, but not gone into in too much depth (in particular the credit risk area and the quant stuff).

Will have a look at the reading list somebody else submitted and see if there are other books worth adding to my collection.