High frequency trading firms would dearly love to hire top tech talent
The murky world of high frequency trading (HTF), and its dominating influence on US equity trading volumes, has been thrust to the fore of late. And, considering its proliferation and reliance on technology, it's not entirely surprising that firms are vying for tech talent.
Demand for programmers, strategy builders and quantitative developers to build high-performing trading systems within HFT firms is on the up, suggests Advanced Trading.
"There's a big push in the space to find people with physics, heavy computer science and quantitative finance degrees," John Netto, president of New York proprietary trading firm M3 Capital told the magazine.
The abundance of prop trading firms and hedge funds that use high frequency strategies means that the relatively limited pool of tech talent is highly sought after. As a result, firms are either willing to pay top dollar (between $300-600k for the right person, suggests AT) or are looking to develop raw tech talent straight out of university.
Understandably, the majority of these roles are state-side, but recruiters tell us that demand for high frequency trading talent is also picking up in the City.
You'll need to have expert C++ programming skills, combined with an understanding of Unix or Linux and business areas include equities and FX among others.
But, this isn't just about having the right technical skills. As the recent case involving former Goldman programmer Sergey Aleynikov demonstrates, having intricate knowledge of these super-fast systems also requires a certain degree of discretion. New recruits often come through networking and recommendations, or other industries entirely.
Still, it remains a complex, and therefore often baffling, area and its recent high profile has lead some to call for a more detailed investigation into high-frequency trading practices. The SEC has said it intends to take a "deep dive" into HFT and has already proposed a ban on flash orders. It's therefore debatable how long this battle for technical expertise could last.
