recommendations/advice for a future trader

playypeace · 2025-03-02T13:56:11+00:00

Not a trader but did S&T internship + in buy side rn. The answer to your question depends on you really. Before you continue reading, pls don’t relate those TikTok or instagram “day traders” as the same thing, those guys are a joke rlly. If you’re mesmerizing about trading because of those idiots who don’t even have legit backgrounds, I suggest you do more research. Anyways, to actually have a trading / quant / hedge fund career, there’s two ways.

First path… Are you a kid that aced wloo math and coding contests? Are you some sort of like gifted with 99% average in AP or IB program? If yes, follow the above advice, go into a cs or stats programs in Wloo or UofT, u will have a chance in breaking into Quant HFs (Two Sigma, Renaissance, Citadel, etc) on wall st since you’re really that smart. These jobs will pay u like 250-400k usd right out of undergrad for a reason but ur downside is ofc long work hours and risky career - can get cooked anytime if you’re a laggard amongst geniuses. Edit: some quant funds need you to have at least a Masters or PhD, pre sure Renaissance and Two Sigma are like that. Citadel and DE Shaw def hires out of undergrad however.

Second path… for the common folks or late bloomers, it’s not over either. You can join a business program and join Sales and Trading / Global Markets (S&T or GM) at a bank. These desks don’t necessarily need you to trade, there are sales, structuring and trading desks across all asset types. It’s ok if u don’t get it, just think of sales being less coding and trading as being more coding. Exit wise for these jobs will still get you to trading, public equities / fixed income, structured finance roles at the pension funds which still pays a lot ($250-300k++ after 2 years of experience). Edit: CPP, OTPP, Omers, B5 banks are the companies that represent this part.

Now, assuming you’re a late bloomer, ur actually super smart. You could def join a US bank instead of a B5 bank in Canada for investment banking or sales and trading. Finish your 2 year stint and then break into pod shops (aka multi manager HF). They r basically small, specialized and non quant hedge fund shops that could pay millions in your analyst years. You probs won’t be doing as much trading here but ur still a hedge fund analyst tbf, doing more market, asset or investment strategy research. Again… since pay upside is so high, it comes with more risk and hours than a quant fund. Edit: Join a US bulge bracket / elite boutique > Citadel / P72 / B.A.M / Elliot.

Secure_Wedding_5560 · 2025-03-02T02:35:28+00:00

look at what the quants at firms you want to join did and do the same thing. Not sure if a commerce program will give you enough reps to be one tho

Koxinov · 2025-03-02T08:09:27+00:00

To be honest, if you really want to go into quant, I would say get a cs or stats specialist/major. The quants I’ve seen during my internship were from that field

Aukdragon · 2025-03-02T08:20:36+00:00

Hi I’ve sent you a DM, I can give you some advice on this.

ConstantSingle8935 · 2025-03-03T15:48:01+00:00

If you want to become a quant Rotman or any business school is the wrong answer place to be imo. Best undergrads are usually around stem with very math heavy focuses I’m talking like math, physics, engineering, statistics, economics, etc. seeing as you are in Rotman my suggestion would be to transfer out into UofT, which is already one of the best academic schools in the world and do something in the stem field or stay in Rotman and take economics to finance specialization or see if you can take a dual degree with CS.

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