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How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

wsj.com

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Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#111

Post by lbotos »

zump wrote: post #107
ksec wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he make 5-10M Bonus? Is this a lot in Investment Banks? ( Absolutely no idea about their payscale. )

Question.. if employees at a bank are making these kind of salaries, why doesn't everyone do it?

1) It takes an insane amount of mental fortitude.

2) The day-to-day component isn't very "glamorous/fun" it's time intensive and can feel very "hurry up and wait".

3) You should to be really comfortable with math.

I did some basic forex trading with trades that were on average $400-$1000 of risk and it really opened my eyes to how "trading" works. It's all about risk management. I freaked out when I realized that big bank guys are taking positions in the 100k+ range and even though it was fun, I stepped away.

Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#112

Post by vlodiag »

missbit wrote: post #110
jhulla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Market making is inherently prop trading - the firm's capital is at risk - unless trades are paired or hedged immediately. For thinly traded stuff that may take a while to unload, it is just prop trading. I personally think Banks should be incredibly boring utilities. But that ship sailed a long time ago. Lots of great stuff was thrown out the window in January. My winning bet for the year was to start buying EWC (is…

Could AI be used to simply monitor markets & look for asset bubbles forming? Just to give a warning sign to regulators?

You can program something only if you know what you need to program. You can't program AI to do that because humans themselves don't know when the bubble is forming.

Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#113

Post by kzisme »

PhantomGremlin wrote: post #84
kzisme wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is their $12/12 weeks method ~really~ that effective for news aggregation websites such as HN or Reddit? Unless you've been a subscriber to the physical subscription, and enjoy it I see no reason why someone from one of these sites would subscribe.

I would gladly pay $1/week for the WSJ. Reporters and editors have mortgages to pay and families to feed. The problem is that's a teaser rate. The current rate for 1 year is $277. That's way more than I'm willing to pay for a single newspaper.

Ah yes I would do the same possibly - but Amazon Prime is $99 a year and offers has many more uses. After the 12 weeks I assume it automatically signs you up for a year/monthly subscription and you have to remember to cancel it.

Also someone had already mentioned - they probably run many Ads as well. I just find it hard to justify.

Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#114

Post by kafkaesq »

qaq wrote: post #81
kafkaesq wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A $13b bailout on suspiciously favorable terms had something to do with it, also.

What is suspiciously favorable about it? the terms were uniform. The real kick back to all banks was the unwind of AIG.

What is suspiciously favorable about it?

I trust that you're aware of the basic chronology. If not, it should be fairly easy for you to look into.

Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#115

Post by osullivj »

zump wrote: post #106
osullivj wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MD on a major bank trading floor is very much a hands on job. Probably supervising between 2 & 20 junior traders, ultimately tesponsible for their positions, and setting strategy. An IT MD in a bank would have headcount in the 100s.

What's their bonus like?

I know a trading Director for a rates desk who got GBP2.2M EOY 2007. MD would be more.

Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#116

Post by qaq »

kafkaesq wrote: post #114
qaq wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is suspiciously favorable about it? the terms were uniform. The real kick back to all banks was the unwind of AIG.

What is suspiciously favorable about it? I trust that you're aware of the basic chronology. If not, it should be fairly easy for you to look into.

Yep and? Every IB had to secure a deal GS got money from Berkshire Hathaway, everyone else got acquired Lehman could not secure a deal. Unlike in every other deal government was not providing downside guarantees for Berkshire Hathaway investment in GS. Government did provide huge guarantees to JPM and every other bank that acquired an IB.

Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#117

Post by totalZero »

zump wrote: post #107
ksec wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he make 5-10M Bonus? Is this a lot in Investment Banks? ( Absolutely no idea about their payscale. )

Question.. if employees at a bank are making these kind of salaries, why doesn't everyone do it?

You need access to capital and balance sheet, brokers who help you, salesmen who wine and dine your clients to bring trades in the door, and a lot of other artifacts of the trading floor. It's tough to buy a billion dollars of bond notional below fair value if you can't afford it and there's nobody to sell it to you.

There are huge advantages that the institutions have built for themselves.

Not only that, but these guys are often some of the quickest, toughest, most perceptive people you will ever meet.

Re: How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100M

#120

Post by dizzylight »

totalZero wrote: post #117
zump wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question.. if employees at a bank are making these kind of salaries, why doesn't everyone do it?

You need access to capital and balance sheet, brokers who help you, salesmen who wine and dine your clients to bring trades in the door, and a lot of other artifacts of the trading floor. It's tough to buy a billion dollars of bond notional below fair value if you can't afford it and there's nobody to sell it to you. There are huge advantages that the institutions have built for themselves. Not only that, but these g…

the fund is not big issue,i suppose,because they may borrow from the cheap source to leverage the trade. the insider info should be the key to their successes, and exploited by the big invest firm.
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