MET Traders

[RichieE]

How can they only pay for 6 months and then take commission??

From my understanding the "pay for 6 months" is a few hundred pounds to tide you over whilst you are in training. After that, you're on your own to earn your own comission on a 50/50 split.

Surely you are not fully trained/qualified to even trade anything after only 6 months if you have zero experience in the financial markets and trading???

Some companies have 3 month or even 1 month training before they let you loose on the trading floor... I don't find that so unusual in that context...

 

[mikmo]

Don't think there is a desk fee after the 6 months. I'm considering them but currently totally blind as to what you will **typically** earn once you start trading? How high risk is this trading business! Hand to mouth life?!

 

[RichieE]

Don't think there is a desk fee after the 6 months. I'm considering them but currently totally blind as to what you will **typically** earn once you start trading? How high risk is this trading business! Hand to mouth life?!

Are you sure about the desk fee. I don't know many places that would let you trade for free. Maybe you should ask how much round trip costs are. Maybe they are recouping their money that way. (Just a thought, there is no basis in fact on that assumption).

 

[dannyd]

hey, i have an interview with Met tomorrow, still unsure about the setup. am i right in thinking once one embarks on such a role they are stuck as IBs won't consider you?

 

[intercreate]

hey, i have an interview with Met tomorrow, still unsure about the setup. am i right in thinking once one embarks on such a role they are stuck as IBs won't consider you?

Well IBs will only NOT consider you if you tell them...there is nothing stopping you from not disclosing your employment or self-employment at a prop firm! However the difficulty may come in explaining a gap in your CV if you assume to be at a prop firm for a length of 1-2 years!

 

[RichieE]

hey, i have an interview with Met tomorrow, still unsure about the setup. am i right in thinking once one embarks on such a role they are stuck as IBs won't consider you?

Correct in most cases... however there are always exceptions. If you don't have too much of a gap in your CV (e.g. you only last 2 months) it shouldn't be an issue since you won't tell them :whistling

 

[crude_lover]

out of interest why would a ib not want to employ you just because you had been at a prop shop ?

 

[Directional]

snobbery. IB trading is very different from prop trading, and they generally consider prop traders beneath them.

 

[ck_great]

hi did you find a prop shop?

hi mate, prop trade from sydney australia here. Looking for a prop shop in london from 1st of may. Any recommnedations? nyone here that are prop traders? send me in the right direction if you can...i'm pretty keen on a somehwere like shniders,m marex, saxons, and elite.

 

[RichieE]

hi mate, prop trade from sydney australia here. Looking for a prop shop in london from 1st of may. Any recommnedations? nyone here that are prop traders? send me in the right direction if you can...i'm pretty keen on a somehwere like shniders,m marex, saxons, and elite.

I've traded at Schneiders, they are a good outfit. Great bunch of guys. However there is a large list of prop shops here Trading Arcade Index - Traderpedia Hope this is useful...

 

[arimageddon]

snobbery. IB trading is very different from prop trading, and they generally consider prop traders beneath them.

Would this snobbery be mitigated by having ivy league and/or oxbridge degrees?

 

[arabianights]

Nope. Vast majority of investment bank grad trainees have an Oxbridge degree... Heck, even I have one...

 

[arimageddon]

And you've found it not to help mitigate the stigma of prop shop experience?

 

[Directional]

IB want wage slaves who work 12hrs a day, support the status quo and take no risks. The guys who trade prop have to take big risks to win big, they tend to be their own bosses to a large extent, work the hours they want, make their own decisions etc etc. Completely opposite mindset. Completely different style of trading.

If you want an IB style job, you wouldnt go prop in the first place, and vice versa. They are generally two completely different and fairly incompatible directions.

 

[arabianights]

IB want wage slaves who work 12hrs a day, support the status quo and take no risks. The guys who trade prop have to take big risks to win big, they tend to be their own bosses to a large extent, work the hours they want, make their own decisions etc etc. Completely opposite mindset. Completely different style of trading.

If you want an IB style job, you wouldnt go prop in the first place, and vice versa. They are generally two completely different and fairly incompatible directions.

Exactly.

Arim, I haven't experienced any stigma from IB recruiters... but then that's because I haven't been applying for any IBs as I like trading prop and make more money than I would on a grad scheme and do far less work. If I did apply then it would be definitely be held against me... as would the fact I would turn up looking like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards (I can't dress, never been able to) and wouldn't be able to "give an example of a time when I demonstrated leadership", not because I haven't ever "demonstrated leadership" (and what a load of crap that is anyway) but because my memory isn't indexed that way.

End result of this is IBs recruit a very specific type of person... and they reap what they sow (or they would if central banks weren't so scared of systemic risk).

Got to remember an Oxbridge degree doesn't mean what it used to... The universities are a lot larger than they were even 50 years ago and at least half the students really aren't anything special intelligence-wise.

 

[RichieE]

Nope. Vast majority of investment bank grad trainees have an Oxbridge degree... Heck, even I have one...

I would disagree with the suggestion that the 'vast majority of investment bank grad trainees have an Oxford degree. I used to train the grad intake for a few major banks. Yes - there were a large number of them, but I would say that it was probably a reasonable cross section of the Russell Group (ie. The Red Brick Universities, aka the UK's version of Ivy League).

This is my take on the subject...

Having met many traders at 'bulge bracket' IBs and having traded at a prop shop I would say that the biggest difference is the type of trading and the size of the positions.

For example, most prop-shop will have traders focused on scalping Schatz verses Euribor or playing with TED spreads. I haven't seen or heard of any prop shop teaching people to trade options.

For the IBs, with the exception of plain vanilla trades on equities, the highest earning desks will be dealing with exotic FX or Interest Rate options (where the margins are fattest).

An additional issue is that most traders at bank are not prop traders. Therefore they normally work closely with their salesmen to book trades on behalf of their clients.

 

[grantx]

Arabian,

What did you study at Oxford? Regardless of change, still impresses me(or was it Oxford Poly - would that be regarded as "Oxbridge"?). And at least Oxford are putting more emphasis on alternative selection methods. It seems that an A level has as much value as a spirit level these days thanks to Labour.

Grant.

 

[arabianights]

Compsci... Cambridge though.

Actually I got a B in my Compsci A level because I couldn't be bothered to do the coursework... So they at least had some standards then.

 

[grantx]

Arabian,

Impressive. Thanks, mate. Out of curiosity, do you apply any that to trading (DDE's to Excel are not counted)? You must be pretty good on the API's.

Grant.

 

[arabianights]

Not in the slightest, don't know anything about any useful (for trading) APIs...