How do bonuses grow at HFTs like HRT, jump, radix and Jane street. Versus hedge funds like citadel (not cit sec), 2S, PDT, Voleon, etc. Got an offer from one of the HFTs that’s like 20% lower than the numbers with hedge funds but seems a lot less red tape and bureaucratic. The reviews do seem to be far better than the companies from the second list. I would want to bridge the gap in compensation eventually but not sure if a 20% haircut is worth the gamble (I personally think it is) Also, I don’t think I’d have any problems with performing at the job despite the higher bar as I think the work there is far less challenging compared to what I work on currently. Thoughts?
Any reason you decided to not share your current TC and new TC?
Yeah, sorry. I’m still actively negotiating offers so don’t want to dox myself and also don’t want any to provide any wrong information to cover my identity. However, i will drop an update once I sign the offer giving the ball park numbers.
Please do. Would be very useful.
JS isn't really an HFT. Also did you get an offer from one of the firms you listed, or a smaller firm? Trading firms in general will lowball you if you are coming from tech and/or have no competing offers from other trading firms.
All the offers are from the listed firms, yes.
If you have multiple offers use that to your advantage then. Why not tell the firm you want to go to that another comparable firm is offering more, can you match? It sounds like you're set on going to the firm thats paying 20% less in any case. Also bonus growth is a complete black box at 99% of places, I doubt anyone here can give a concrete answer. At all firms bonus growth depends on firm performance, team performance, individual performance within the team, etc. If you get on Jump Core Dev you could have meh growth for multiple years, but if you were on a good trading team desk on a good year at Jump you could probably make upper 6/7 figs. Another anecdotal example, but from what my friends tell me HRT in particular is hit or miss as far as bonus growth is concerned.
Are you saying you have two offers, one from the first list and another from the second list, and the first one is 20% lower?
3. 1 from list 1 and 2 from list 2, one from first list is about 20% lower
I think it's fine to take a lower-paying job if you like the company/position more, but I wouldn't rely on your bonus growing faster at one type of place vs another.
Willing to give snap referral?
Sure. Let’s swap
I’m down. Dm me
Your bonus will probably grow more wherever you are motivated to contribute enough to make your bonus grow. Bonuses don't grow by just existing at a company so much as they do from contributing at a level that warrants getting paid more.
I mean… isn’t that obvious? The question reads: “which company would have the ability to pay more bonuses or had paid more bonuses when someone is consistently over performing”
That is only a relevant question for someone who believes they will consistently over perform to the same extent in all domains at all times in all places, which I just don't think is a particularly relevant question to consider. And at that extreme, the profitability of the firm is one of the most important things to consider, which isn't a super easy thing to predict into the future.
HFT and hedge funds are not orthogonal. JS is also not considered a “HFT” You also don’t mention if this for QR or SWE. QR’s TC has a much higher variance. SWE is somewhat more stable but generally less in expectation. In either case you should expect your comp growth to be significantly higher than in tech (barring stocks doubling/tripling etc or if you’re one of those that can go from L3-L7 in 6 years) 2S, PDT, Voleon aren’t really a step up from top tech companies in terms of TC. If you remove citadel and radix, it surprises that your offer is somehow 20% lower in the former group. 20% needs some context. 800k vs 1m or 400 vs 500 or? Pre or post deferral? Pre or post tax?
Are you familiar with how the nature of the work differs between high vs medium frequency trading? If so and you like HFT more, I recommend optimizing for learning as opposed to first year TC. If you’re able to pick up the skills and you’re unhappy with your TC after one/two years, competing HFT firms would love to hire you. Also: you say the work at the HFT firm is “far less challenging”. I think you’ll find that in HFT you’re able to pick your own difficulty level. And generally (but not always), higher difficulty = higher TC.
Thanks! Yeah, the HFT seems to offer the opportunity to find larger (difficult?) problems to work on. But I don’t agree on higher difficulty == higher TC tho
Tc?