Assuming you want to work at a hedge fund in the U.S. or U.K. (much bigger HF markets than Canada), your chances would be higher coming from one of the official BB banks. Yes, I realize the Canadian Big 5 are similar to the BB banks in Canada, but outside of Canada, their reputation is not the same (maybe with some exceptions, like RBC M&A… but we’re dealing with sales & trading here).

If you want to stay in Canada, potentially you could do this if you move to some type of macro trading group there (maybe within one of the pension funds). But for HFs / buy-side trading in other markets, experience at a BB will help a lot.

Maybe? I honestly couldn’t say because I would have to do more research on the area. I think it also depends a bit on where you’re working (prop trading firm vs. big oil/gas company vs. large bank). But we hope to cover this topic in the future.

Hopefully this year some cocky commodity traders will be feel the need to share their stories to the public. On another note, do you think the type of people who get into Sales at a BB are more suitable for commodities in terms of personality? Commodity trading emphasizes more on relationships and logistics rather than market making or directional bets.

Thanks!

Thanks. Yes, I hope to cover commodity trading firms in the future. Not sure how to find much information on them, though…