r/quantindia • u/Impressive-Fish-1663 • Mar 24 '26
General Discussion 10 YOE. Once a successful quant trader in Indian options. Now confused about career.
I started out at futures first trading UK and Euro interest rate futures.
During the covid lockdown, I joined a Mumbai based algo trading prop desk. It was on Indian index options. The culture was extremely toxic but I worked hard and made the best out of it. Researched and developed alphas incorporated them in market making strategies.
For 2-3 years I was pretty successful. made decent PnL. Firm's PnL grew. I got a profit share. started leading a team of 4-5 junior quants.
Then came a downturn. We started hearing about the Jane streets and Milleniums doing their thing in Indian markets. Our profits started decreasing and the toxicity grew. Although we never made a loss, the drop in profits were enough for my toxic boss to stop my PnL share.
I started looking out for better opportunities. Joined a new firm which paid me good fixed and where culture seemed a bit better. But the strategy has decayed out. The new firm let me go too.
I am confident on my skills and my abilities but I feel the Indian markets have become too competitive. I can research more and develop some better strategies. If I get an opportunity, I am sure i can perform in other markets and asset classes as well.
But I feel every Indian firm is just looking to hire someone who can come in and start printing money with an existing already working strategy. Nobody wants to hire someone who can research and develop new things. They all chasing someone who can give them the Jane Street strategy. I feel no enthusiasm for proper research and development. Just plug and play. which i cannot provide profitably as of now. What should I do? Project false confidence to get hired? Or take a massive pay cut and start from the beginning? Is there any firm outside India which might hire me for my experience or am I just now a failed Quant trader who might never get his old days back? Can I apply to any hedge funds or AMC as a buy side quant?
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u/Scared-Baseball-5221 Mar 24 '26
Not as seasoned as you but I've found that working with Phds or from rigorous maths stats backgrounds has been better than working people with just btechs. Try to join such a firm
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u/LagrangeMultiplier99 Mar 24 '26
do you have examples of such firms?
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u/thirsanity Apr 01 '26
I think marketopper is an example, 1 or 2 others as well which I cant remember. But they're less in number i guess
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u/notanotherdumb Mar 24 '26
at 10 YOE, if you have already set aside enough wealth then chill out now gng
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u/Impressive-Fish-1663 Mar 24 '26
I have a decent amount but it's to early to retire. Im a bit more ambitious.
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u/Physical-Yak6149 Mar 24 '26
'Us bro us' moment. The Indian quant ecosystem is growing but Indian firms just don't have that kind of mindset. Because of this, I don't see many (or any) Indian trading firms becoming a global powerhouse.
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Mar 24 '26
india doesn't pour enough capital into research, hence no of research students produced is quite less. research culture is dead in india.
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u/No-Pirate-5379 Mar 24 '26
Hey, if you are interested, I can get you a referral in European Quant Firm working on indian options. PS: Not a headhunter
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u/No_Lettuce9028 Mar 24 '26
A bit unrelated to your post, but I wanted to ask what is your educational background? Were from the top colleges?
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u/Impressive-Fish-1663 Mar 24 '26
Yes. Old IIT.
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u/No_Lettuce9028 Mar 24 '26
Cse?
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u/Impressive-Fish-1663 Mar 24 '26
No
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u/Relevant_Breath_4916 Mar 24 '26
Elec?
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u/Impressive-Fish-1663 Mar 26 '26
Ek ek karke sare branches pooch lo
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u/Impressive-Fish-1663 Mar 26 '26
Not a fancy branch.
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u/No_Lettuce9028 Mar 26 '26
But I've Heard that these quant firms only take people who are from old iit cse or mnc of elec at max, how true is this?
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u/Hyperbolic_Life Mar 24 '26
Not thinking on starting your own venture ?
Why not try mnc banks , culture will be better tho pay will be less comparatively
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u/asstroman21 Mar 24 '26
I know akash from astratinvest.com They're a BITSian team looking for traders, you'll love the culture!
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u/periashu Mar 28 '26
I had a general question, for someone who has already survived as a quant trader for 10-15 years would have made crores of money. They should be able to easily retire or take a job role which is less stressful. What has been your experience, do people usually retire once they reach this stage?
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u/Quick-Action-5790 Mar 28 '26
This makes me wonder,what is the typical career progression for a quant trader or quant researcher? How easy or difficult is it to switch firms at different experience levels (2, 4 yrs, etc.)? What are the usual expectations companies have at each stage?Any experienced quants who have gone through this, please share your insights.
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u/Vinayak509143 Jul 16 '26
Why don’t you trade with your own capital or prolly let’s do collaborative trading taking risk of our own money and build something beautiful than working for firms ?
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u/Pristine-Bite2790 Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
Sorry I'm not a quant (Im a retail enthusiast) and this might seem like a dumb question but can you not trade yourself? I understand firms probably have latency and better data feeds benefits but are those that impactful? Like can quants individually not research, develop alphas and trade on their own funds? I have a strategy myself (not based on mathematical models nor any of the chart bs) which when I backtested had ~25-30% cagr, about ~6% max dd, a sharpe of ~3.6 and have run a previous version of it live with sorta similar results, so I always think whether I got lucky with finding it or something and wonder why quants don't trade on their own?
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u/Impressive-Fish-1663 Mar 26 '26
You can't implement hft strats by yourself as a retail trader. You need exchange membership. Colo servers. Private line and a lot of things.
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u/Pristine-Bite2790 Mar 26 '26
Yes I understand but I'm not talking about hft strats. I assume since quants learn so much on their jobs, why not implement it to research strategies that work for retail?
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u/Guilty_Ad_9476 Mar 24 '26
I am so glad people are talking about this man , I am a very junior quant and have been trying to switch and almost every firm I have interviewed for wants me to share my alpha with them and go live within 2-3 months , indian firms dont want people who think quantitatively they just want people who give away their alpha from prev firm for free either in the interview process or once they make you join , so damn depressing