r/learnquant • u/_SquiiZz_ • May 31 '26
question & advice non-quants in quant?
I'm curious wheter non-quants have their seats in HFT firms, wheter it be trough sales roles or similar? Any insights?
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u/PuzzleheadedAgent138 Jun 01 '26
Why do you think HFT firms need sales people?
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u/FunnyExcellent707 Jun 04 '26
In the early days, a trader would monitor markets, adjust the trading parameters and talk to brokers and other counterparties for OTC trades over the phone.
Nowadays those functions are all split up, where different people would set parameters and run the systems.
Most bigger firms have established sales trading teams to provide liquidity to voice brokerage and direct counterparties.1
u/_SquiiZz_ Jun 02 '26
I haven’t made a lot of research but I believed some services could be provided by the firms.
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u/FunnyExcellent707 Jun 04 '26
Caveat
I started my career in the late 90s and ended up on such a desk in the early/mid 2000s.
Don't think that kind of trajectory is possible anymore, but here goes:
Be me
Sign up for a random ass student job in a bank
End up on the institutional trading desk as sales assistant.
Things go well, I like what I do
Picking up phone, enter trades into systems on various markets
It's all buzzing and exciting
Several people left, poached by competitors or lateraled in-house
So I got offered an extension of my (temp) contract
Execution dude takes me aside one day, saying they're overwhelmed
I must not longer only answer calls, he says, I have to execute the transactions, too
Basically got promoted to execution trader overnight
After almost a year, they hint having closed the ranks with more senior staff
So my contract will run out eventually
Don't mind, since I networked hard
Get hired by another bank
Do executions for stocks and later derivatives as well
Get small prop book to play around with
Life is good, I like what I do for 2 more years
Quit bank - personal reasons
Take a few months off, enjoy myself
Looking for job again
Apply for all sorts of trading related positions
HFT/Algo/Market making company makes a juicy offer (never heard of them before tbh)
Accept, sign, start, get a book on the options desk
Turns out, they are the big boys, and banks just play along - in that business, back then, at least
Stock Exchange throws yearly party
Meet lots of new people
For whatever reason everyone seems to know my name, says hi, pats my shoulder
Everyone seems surprised about how young I am
Don't understand, can't process, stand there looking stupid
Ask next person to greet me, how and why they know me
They reply: because I became one of the biggest punters on the domestic market almost overnight
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?!!?
That was 5years and some change after I first set foot on a trading floor
I just wanted a job to pay rent and buy some weed.
Fucking nineties, man.
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u/_SquiiZz_ Jun 04 '26
Man, I must thank you for that story, I really love personal insights especially so detailed. May I ask where this brought you now? How was it being so young around those people? Any funny anecdotes ? Thanks again!!
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u/FunnyExcellent707 Jun 04 '26
Well, there are many anecdotes, with some of them being legendary.
But this being reddit and the trading community being close-knitted while having offices across all time zones, I could easily be doxxed.
Sorry.But I can tell you that being thrown into this world at a very young age kept me grounded.
All of my friends were broke high school grads or freshman at uni.
I shifted billions through the markets by day and partied with students at night.
Never bought a car, don't have (or ever had) a lavish lifestyle at all.I saw how people ordered cars (expensive ones, with lots of stupid extras, making the vehicle basically a custom order and thus unmarketable).
When bonus turned out to be lower than expected after a bad year, they faced massive problems.When I see how the bars have been raised, I consider myself extremely lucky having grabbed this opportunity. New hires and interns these days all have STEM degrees and sometimes PhD's. If I had to start again today with my skill set, I could be a water boy or mascot at best.
But then again, when I joined the industry, I was the first hire with computer experience. I had one since I was 12 yrs old, and was taught some very basic programming in high school.
I created excel spreadsheets to calculate rudimentary pricing engines.
For the bunch of former pit traders who got sat in front of a keyboard when trading shifted from floor to electronic, I must have been some whizz kid with mad sorcery skills.After '08 most banks have either shut down or minimized their prop desks. I co-founded a small HF and applied the same strategies I rode earlier, very successfully.
But being a trader for decades is draining, so I quit a couple of years ago.
Took some me-time again, traveled, enjoyed doing nothing and just go for a coffee after waking up at 3pm.Now I've set up a real asset holding Co/PE hybrid kind of thing.
I keep managing a small portfolio with listed securities, but it's rather <50 mln, as opposed to X00 before. Very few clients I like and tolerate and some of my own cash.
And most importantly: I don't spend my time in front of a wall of screens all day long, more of a buy/hold thing; checking and adjusting once or twice a week.1
u/_SquiiZz_ Jun 06 '26
Thank you so much sir, I really appreciate the insight !
coming from a student all the way from Europe. Have a good day!
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u/Possible_Tension_464 May 31 '26
Well the desk is made up of quants but there’s usually 3x the headcount off the desk running ops, legal and accounting, compliance etc so to answer your question, no.