Joy Pathak
Swaptionz
- Joined
- 8/20/09
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- 1,330
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Compensation is very varied between sell-side and buy-side.
So from sell-side pay upto Director in front office as a trader is mostly structured. Analysts coming out of college on a trading desk could look at 80-90K entry level and 10-20K bonus first year. As an associate you are looking at around 125K-150K and around 25-100K bonus. As a VP you are looking at 175-225K salary and can get 100-150% bonus. Director is where the real money is made on the sell-side. If you are a Trader and a director you get % of your pnl. This can range between 5%-15% of PnL . An average fixed income trader can make around 10-15mm minimum in PnL for the firm with trading so you can make significant amounts take home. If you are a junior trader and you were part of even say 10mm it will not result in anything close to the take home pay of the book owner.
Buy-side is much trickier. The base are usually a bit lower but non trader roles can make 100% bonus as an associate or VP. I know of desk quants and developers on trading desks who are pulling in 100% bonus with a year or 2 of experience post MFE.
If you are in this industry just to make money...which is fine...your path lies in that of a Sell-side Trader or towards being a trader/PM on the buy-side. I dont know much about banking but obviously if you are part of anything that generates pnl for your bank you will be paid. Your pay purely works on how close you are to the pnl.
There are many paths on the buy-side though. There are also market makers/traders at prop shops who can make a good amount of money. There are the big asset managers and pension funds like blackrock, vanguard, norges,calpers,otpp, pimco which are good routes to becoming PM but obviously much tougher but much more relaxed life. Basically the path to these jobs is usually post sell-side trader.
So what is the difference between a quant trader and a quant analyst. You basically have to get to VP/Director level to be really considered a proper trader or run a book. Taking on risk is not a simple thing. The path to Trader is usually streamlined. You come in as part of the trading rotation program and you are trained to be a trader over the course of years if you are good enough to last that long. You can be a quant with 10 years of experience or a developer with 20 on the street and you will still need to start of at entry level on a trading desk to become a trader.
I am not saying that these jobs are better. They are just some choices. I have been in risk management before and I thought it was a great job.
Hope this helps....even though it's a bit jumbled up.
So from sell-side pay upto Director in front office as a trader is mostly structured. Analysts coming out of college on a trading desk could look at 80-90K entry level and 10-20K bonus first year. As an associate you are looking at around 125K-150K and around 25-100K bonus. As a VP you are looking at 175-225K salary and can get 100-150% bonus. Director is where the real money is made on the sell-side. If you are a Trader and a director you get % of your pnl. This can range between 5%-15% of PnL . An average fixed income trader can make around 10-15mm minimum in PnL for the firm with trading so you can make significant amounts take home. If you are a junior trader and you were part of even say 10mm it will not result in anything close to the take home pay of the book owner.
Buy-side is much trickier. The base are usually a bit lower but non trader roles can make 100% bonus as an associate or VP. I know of desk quants and developers on trading desks who are pulling in 100% bonus with a year or 2 of experience post MFE.
If you are in this industry just to make money...which is fine...your path lies in that of a Sell-side Trader or towards being a trader/PM on the buy-side. I dont know much about banking but obviously if you are part of anything that generates pnl for your bank you will be paid. Your pay purely works on how close you are to the pnl.
There are many paths on the buy-side though. There are also market makers/traders at prop shops who can make a good amount of money. There are the big asset managers and pension funds like blackrock, vanguard, norges,calpers,otpp, pimco which are good routes to becoming PM but obviously much tougher but much more relaxed life. Basically the path to these jobs is usually post sell-side trader.
So what is the difference between a quant trader and a quant analyst. You basically have to get to VP/Director level to be really considered a proper trader or run a book. Taking on risk is not a simple thing. The path to Trader is usually streamlined. You come in as part of the trading rotation program and you are trained to be a trader over the course of years if you are good enough to last that long. You can be a quant with 10 years of experience or a developer with 20 on the street and you will still need to start of at entry level on a trading desk to become a trader.
I am not saying that these jobs are better. They are just some choices. I have been in risk management before and I thought it was a great job.
Hope this helps....even though it's a bit jumbled up.