Prop shop vs investment bank

lbt282 · Post by **lbt282** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:52 am

Hey guys,

I am a college senior right now. I have an offer for the Trader program at one of the best prop shops around (on par with Susquehanna International Group) and an offer to do Sales/Trading at a big investment bank(Goldman/Morgan Stanley). I have no idea which to choose.

Can someone please outline the pros/cons of each choice. I'm interested in short term/long term compensation and opportunities to run money at a large hedge fund one day.

Thanks!

Patrik · Post by **Patrik** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 2:17 pm

Depends a lot on the actual groups involved where you will learn the most, have the most fun etc - but as a general rule I'd say it's easier to go from GS/MS to a prop shop than the other way around. In terms of your long term opportunities it'll mostly depend on how you do and not where you started out, but again I'd say there is some benefit to having a well known brand name on your resume.

filthy · Post by **filthy** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 2:45 pm

not to be too obvious but it sort of depends what you want to do. "sales/trading" is basically a sales job. you hold inventory but it is really just to facillitate client orders. the way to make the big bucks here is by having good clients not by being a good trader.

the prop shop could mean almost anything. i would argue that amongst those who know, susq is as well known as the big banks, and at some things is more highly regarded (yes, including GS). but there are a lot of prop shops and many are crap and many are unknown names.

so without knowing the actual bank or actual shop i couldn't say a lot more.

Babs · Post by **Babs** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:16 pm

Happy to give you some free advice if you want to ping me at beustisromcapitalcom

Jurassic · Post by **Jurassic** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:04 am

> not to be too obvious but it sort of depends what you want to do. "sales/trading" is basically a sales job. you hold inventory but it is really just to facillitate client orders. the way to make the big bucks here is by having good clients not by being a good trader.

@filthy Does you mean being a market maker in a S&T division in a IB is essentially a sales job? Does this depend on product?