Bonfire of the Insanities (please see disclaimer) ([info]uberjeep) wrote,
@ 2008-03-27 04:28:00
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Hi,

Is there anybody still out there? I'm doing another book and I need to talk to a hedge fund manager. I could do it by email or skype and I just need to find out what it's like to work in a hedge fund in a global credit crunch.

If anybody is still reading this and you know a good stockbroker or hedge fund manager, please help me out.

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[info]undyingking
2008-03-26 05:46 pm UTC (link)
Still here, but don't know any such I'm afraid. Good luck finding!

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[info]stouthunter
2008-03-29 04:09 am UTC (link)
Ditto, Alas I'm clueless in the land of finance.

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[info]irrsinn
2008-03-26 05:51 pm UTC (link)
Ditto on what the person above me said.

Has your first book been released yet?

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[info]starwithinstar
2008-03-26 11:42 pm UTC (link)
That's what I was wondering too.

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 02:43 am UTC (link)
Not happening anymore, unfortunately.

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[info]irrsinn
2008-03-27 02:56 am UTC (link)
That is very unfortunate! I'm sorry to hear that. I always enjoyed your stories and was looking forward to a book coming out so I could read more.

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 05:06 am UTC (link)
It's not so bad. I've got another good idea and some great contacts out of it.

But thanks.

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[info]hopefoot
2008-03-26 06:49 pm UTC (link)
I don't even know what a hedge fund is.

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[info]pvck
2008-03-26 11:07 pm UTC (link)
I am still reading this, but have no knowledge of stocks. So, vote of confidence sans useful information!

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[info]uncle_salty
2008-03-27 03:04 am UTC (link)
I did an internship with a hedge firm during my MBA program. What are you looking for?

Alternatively, look at John Mauldin's site for a good overview. http://www.2000wave.com/gateway.asp

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 05:16 am UTC (link)
Thanks! I did look at the site but I'll have a better look in a bit.

I guess I'm looking at what the daily routine of the hedge trader is. What the office looks like, what time you start in the morning. What are the people like? What is the water cooler talk like?
Do you work mainly by yourself or are there other people? Is it loud or is everybody sitting at PCs in cubicles?

That's probably enough to start with :)

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[info]uncle_salty
2008-03-27 08:17 am UTC (link)
I was on hedge fund rown on Park Ave in NYC. Office was well appointed though not lavish. A lot of US hedge funds are in Greenwich and Darien, where the offices are supposedly more idiosyncratic.

I was in at 0700, more senior people working US exchanges came in a little afterwards. If you're working a foreign exchange, you have to keep both the exchange's hours and US hours to deal with your US clients. That can get a little grim, although it generally does not make for total doubleshifting.

People are personable & funny or total quant jocks. Not much middle ground.

Water cooler talk is generally sports-not much lingering.

I was the research guy, so I had a lot of interaction with other folks. Other people tended to stay within themselves, unless it was a volatile day. Then things could get hurried, but it wasn't done to show a lot of emotion one way or the other. Given the number of markets we were in, someone was always having to bear down.

Not terribly loud, most people have either bloomberg terminals or two screen setups so they can track multiple feeds. We had a couple of TV monitors-CNBC and Bloomberg TV. Kept mute with the close caption on unless it was crucial.

Raising the money for a fund is an area with a lot of moving parts. You may also wish to google Victor Niederhoffer.

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 10:10 am UTC (link)
Terrific. Thanks.

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 12:25 pm UTC (link)
So about how many people in the office? & if you were the research guy, what kind of other basic roles were there?

This is really, really good BTW. Thanks.

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[info]uncle_salty
2008-03-28 06:07 am UTC (link)
Hedge funds don't really have a lot of support staff. Couple of admins and maybe an office manager for support staff. Past that, some firms will bring in research people on an ad hoc basis to do something they don't have the time for. For the most part it's just the traders.

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 01:05 pm UTC (link)
And when you say "bear down", do you mean--ahem--Bear Down?

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[info]vulgar_shudder
2008-03-28 09:14 am UTC (link)
bear = markets on a decline
bull = markets going up :)

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[info]pjammer
2008-03-27 06:04 am UTC (link)
Stockbroker =! hedge fund manager. I know a number of people spanning both professions, but without specifics, can't really be of much help.

Exactly what are you looking for?

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 10:09 am UTC (link)
Hey,

Exactly the person I was looking for.
I'm looking for lifelike details. What the room you work in looks like. What it smells like. The biggest highs and lows. How many trades in a day? How do you get to work?

What do you think is the riskiest area of trading? Where is the area with the least supervision? Arbitrage?

I have I guess a layperson's understanding of the difference between hedge fund investment and trading. Mostly from WHEN GENIUS FAILED, Roger Lowenstein's book and some others. ROGUE TRADER. ENRON. Wikipedia. But I'm always interested to learn more. So, hedge funds are only open to a limited number of people, right? Small investment firms, you pay a premium to get in and then your money is tied up for awhile? How can trading and hedging overlap?

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[info]pjammer
2008-03-27 02:33 pm UTC (link)
Your questions are bizarre and all over the place; I still have no idea what your ultimate aim/objective is.

Room? Looks like an office, like any other office. There's nothing mysterious or L33T about the working environment.
Smell? Smells like ... an office. Were you expecting something like "smells like ... MONEY!"
Highs and lows ... dunno. The same good and bad days as any other job, I guess.
I ride the train to work. What sort of answer were you expecting from that particular question?

Trading and hedging are two different things.

It's like asking someone working in Hollywood "How does TV production and independent short films overlap?" "Uhhh .. they both involve cameras?"

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[info]uberjeep
2008-03-27 03:46 pm UTC (link)
My questions are beautiful and they will give me the kind of tactile data I need to write flowery and descriptive passages about the story location.

Does the guy next to you smell like the chicken he ate for lunch?
It's a reasonable question :) Does anybody actually eat chicken anymore? Does the guy have gastrointestinal reflux disease.
Are there piles of paper on the desk? What do those piles look like? Are they neat or messy. Do people just use the internet and not generate much paperwork?

As far as the overlap--you gave me the impression you had friends trading and hedging. Do they do that in the same office? Under the same management? As part of a complete service?

Obviously there are going to be other more important logistical questions. How many traders in the office? How many accountants? How many risk managers? How many research guys? Is there a hierarchy? Do they play sport on the weekend?

Do you have blackberries and fast wireless so you can check your email on your phone? Man, I wish we had that. Australia is a 3rd world nation in some respects.

You may think I'm being facetious and I guess I am, but these are the things I really want to know about.
i.e. What is it like to do this job on a daily basis?

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[info]vulgar_shudder
2008-03-27 06:54 am UTC (link)
I'm a day trader at a prop firm. Exciting work, our office is quite a relaxed atmosphere, unless everyone is loosing then well it's not quite so. :)

I think it depends on the office though.

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[info]richard_geefe
2008-03-28 06:15 pm UTC (link)
I'm still here, but can provide nothing in terms of hedges or funds.

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