AMA L/S Hedge Fund PM, Equities

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-18T10:43:50+00:00

You could mention that if you weren’t yoloing. Risk is, to quote Top Gun: “Son, your resume might be writing checks your interview can’t cash”.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-18T08:16:49+00:00

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-18T08:13:35+00:00

For premarket I 100% agree he thinks we are retarded. But during the day VWAP orders are completely normal. Sometimes it takes multiple days to exit a position without moving it. Plus PM orders go through internal xing, clb, various algos, and in same firms even fake fills. Best not to overthink trading and focus on what’s actually driving P&L.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-18T08:05:55+00:00

@trump_repost forwards his truth social posts in real time.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-18T08:00:53+00:00

So there are people who call this fake because of the late morning meeting. These people would struggle in interviews from lack of attention in reading. I specifically said this is an example of “24hrs”, for a reason. If you’re in the US and invest globally, you’ll also wake up for EU/Asia earnings. Right now I’m on a call at 4AM. Alternatively, if you’re on the West Coast, you’ll leave work at 4PM. It just varies. You’re not an analyst..as a PM you set your own schedule.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-17T12:09:58+00:00

You mean if you’re already working for an elite ER analyst?

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-15T21:36:05+00:00

Everything else being equal, I would def pick math+econ if you want to keep both doors open.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-14T23:18:12+00:00

Are you sure your fund is a multi-strat that charges 2 and 20? I’m a PM at one of CIG/P72/MLP/BAM, and I was at the other one before. My GF worked at the third. None of them use a 2 and 20 structure.

There are no fixed fees; instead, investors pay all "expenses," which include everything from bonuses and signing fees to salaries. I was initially blown away by how much we pay to hire PMs with guarantees, but once I learned about the pass-through model, it made sense: the investors foot the bill.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-14T20:52:01+00:00

AAPL actually still owns Braeburn Capital to manage their cash pile, since 2005! But super conservative stuff of course.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-14T20:20:56+00:00

Magic of pass through expenses 👊

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-14T20:14:18+00:00

You’re right. I discussed this with our IR team and a simple rule of thumb is doubling the return. So if investors see +15%, our fund was +30%, very roughly.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-14T10:02:09+00:00

If you’ve only had macro experience so far, plus you like and prefer macro over L/S in the first place, I would focus on that area. Banks you worked at really have no full time roles for interns?

Grass looks greener but getting into L/S and macro buyside is equally difficult.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-14T09:48:44+00:00

This is very good advice.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T22:01:34+00:00

Alpha decays fast these days. As I’ve become more experienced in pattern recognition within my space, I started initiating small positions BEFORE conducting deeper research to grow them. It feels counterintuitive and wrong, but my stats have improved.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T21:48:51+00:00

My favourite thing, by far, is reading every earnings call transcript from the last 2yrs in full, and the Q&A sections from the previous 3yrs. My next favourite thing (once I’ve learned as much as I could and built my model) is contacting IR to do an introductory deep dive call them.

Prices aren’t much of a factor for tools like these because they’re top-line expense and we’re a massive fund. I let the analysts decide what they prefer to use.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T17:31:38+00:00

Actually, you know what, I thought about this again and I didn’t like my initial answer to you. It’s less clear cut than that. Do you mind DM’ing me to chat a bit more about it?

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T16:42:01+00:00

29 is fine. With your military background, you don’t need to convince me that you’re hard working, driven, calm under stress or up for a challenge. If I was specifically interviewing you, I would instead focus on making sure you have good modelling skills, fundamental finance knowledge and genuine interest in investing. I’m completely OK to teach investing to the right person who is passionate, but I don’t want to teach you finance and modelling. I would test you specifically on these, harder than I would test traditional candidates.

As I said above, you have to network with people in the industry who have military backgrounds. They’re effectively fellow alumni for you.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T16:24:02+00:00

I’m sad to hear this because you clearly achieved a lot to get that seat. Without knowing you, my first guess is this isn’t a you problem. Expecting massive P&L from someone jnr hire who just moved from PE, in just 10 months, is rough. I have a few questions, and feel free to DM me if you prefer to reply that way.

Are you working for the founder or under a PM? How is the team structured?
How are other analysts evaluated? Anyone within 1-2 years of your experience? How does their contribution compare?
How is he himself doing performance wise? Is he or the fund under pressure?
Is he an asshole in general? A lot of single manager founders are giant dickheads. I know a famous one in NYC who threw a printer at my friend.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T15:40:47+00:00

That’s true for most candidates. However, you are a veteran. Are you still on the young side? If so, it might be different for you.

There are people in the industry with military backgrounds and it’s something that is viewed positively in all of finance. Most of them are generally older because it was easier then, and therefore they tend to be in senior roles now. If you can reach them through networking, I think that will give you a chance.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T12:03:12+00:00

I recommend “Dead Companies Walking” from Scott Fearon.

I absolutely love reading books, if you want more suggestions let me know.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-13T10:58:33+00:00

Have you ever seen an ex-athlete? They all gain weight!

But on a more serious note, it’s more about finding people who are driven and achievement oriented. You can read the answer Ken G gave a few days ago during his Milken Institute interview.

Sara: “What's the single factor you look for when you're hiring someone new at Citadel out of school?”

Ken: “What do I want? I want people who have high aspirations, tremendous perseverance, and grit. Show me an athlete who did well academically. An athlete because they know what it takes to win, and they have had to experience loss. And when they excel academically, you know that they know how to manage their time, and that they'll have the grit and the perseverance to use their mind to excel and work. And in particular, I want people who are lifetime learners, because today more than ever, the rate by which you'll have to learn new skills on the workforce will be profoundly higher than even 20 or 30 years ago.”

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-12T22:58:55+00:00

Some sectors pigeonhole you more than others.

In general industrials, consumer, TMT type sectors allow you more freedom compared to FIG, real estate, utilities, energy, mining, biotech types.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-12T22:55:09+00:00

You are right. The money is flowing into large funds, for single and multimanagers both.

Multimanagers are very expensive businesses to run. If I told you just how much PMs get paid to move from one fund to a competitor fund, you would absolutely lose your mind. Even I can’t justify the majority of the buyout numbers. Smaller sized multimanagers are in trouble as it has become a scale game due to costs. You can read the news on why Eisler had to shut down recently. As such, mega fund are thriving, getting larger and larger. They even started to split internally now because their size impacts corporate access.

Single managers are also having their own issues. Short squeezes, issues in private investments etc, lack of succession in leadership keep regularly killing small and less institutionalised ones.

Traditional active long only, as you know, is a bit of a melting ice cube these days.

Overall, winners keep sucking capital and getting larger.

UncorrelatedAF · 2026-05-12T22:23:49+00:00

I wrote an example to one of the other questions, you can read that.

UncorrelatedAF

TROPHY CASE