4 ms·

I don't really understand how Buy Side can be all that good still. AQR is in trouble, Bridgewater had their first loss in decades, Millennium was good, 2 Sigma

by rb808 7y ago

I don't really understand how Buy Side can be all that good still. AQR is in trouble, Bridgewater had their first loss in decades, Millennium was good, 2 Sigma is OK if unspectacular, Citadel is good, Point72 is still struggling, Rentec is presumably still great but no one ever knows. The HFT funds like Tower/Virtu are all finding their well dry, over all more hedge funds shut down than started. Which hedge funds are actually doing well in this environment? (OK I listed 3) but I don't see the future as very promising.

throwawaymath 7y ago
Some funds share bonuses across the entire firm, while others operate as internally competing pods/teams. I know people at Jump Trading doing spectacularly well because they're on a high performing team. Not everyone does as well. Millennium and Citadel have a similar model. RenTech and TGS had a spectacular year as always. But even if you don't work at a firm like that, being on the right team at a strong second tier firm can be extremely lucrative.
Galanwe 7y ago
You cannot mix companies like that. Each of the companies you listed have a lot of funds with very different strategies and PnL. Long short are having a hard time since 2018 for instance, doesn’t mean directional funds have too. Also, we are in a high deleveraging in L/S environment, so the last 2 years should not be taken as benchmark IMHO.
RookyNumbas 7y ago
You've listed a handful of funds that have good PR, which are the only ones software guys have heard of. They are a fraction of the total buy side. This would be like saying Yahoo, Uber, Google and Cisco represent the entire tech industry. When the S&P500 is up 25+%, there is a staggeringly large amount of money paid out in bonuses.
JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
The ironic thing is, anybody who bought and hold diversified index funds since 2018, has done excellently. And it required 0 human intervention of any kind of get that return.

by rb808 7y ago

throwawaymath 7y ago

Some funds share bonuses across the entire firm, while others operate as internally competing pods/teams. I know people at Jump Trading doing spectacularly well because they're on a high performing team. Not everyone does as well. Millennium and Citadel have a similar model. RenTech and TGS had a spectacular year as always. But even if you don't work at a firm like that, being on the right team at a strong second tier firm can be extremely lucrative.

Galanwe 7y ago

You cannot mix companies like that. Each of the companies you listed have a lot of funds with very different strategies and PnL. Long short are having a hard time since 2018 for instance, doesn’t mean directional funds have too. Also, we are in a high deleveraging in L/S environment, so the last 2 years should not be taken as benchmark IMHO.

RookyNumbas 7y ago

You've listed a handful of funds that have good PR, which are the only ones software guys have heard of. They are a fraction of the total buy side. This would be like saying Yahoo, Uber, Google and Cisco represent the entire tech industry. When the S&P500 is up 25+%, there is a staggeringly large amount of money paid out in bonuses.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago

The ironic thing is, anybody who bought and hold diversified index funds since 2018, has done excellently. And it required 0 human intervention of any kind of get that return.