Audio Length: 01:10:30

Jonathann (@HF_Trader) got into trading after a sports-related injury changed his life trajectory. He was fortunate enough to meet and be mentored, early on, by one of the first people to be hired at Steve Cohen’s S.A.C. Capital Advisors—where this person ran a multi-billion dollar statistical arbitrage fund.

After getting a dual degree in economics and quantitative finance, Jonathan landed a job within a hedge fund and was promoted to head trader within the space of about 6-months. Over the course of several years, while Jonathan worked at the fund, their assets under management grew by several billion dollars.

In 2014, Jonathan cashed out and began trading for himself. He loaded $260,000 into an account and has since compounded this amount into more than $2,000,000. Using an intraday system he’s developed, Jonathan trades Crude Oil and E-Mini S&P 500…

Topics of discussion:

• Jonathan shares insight from the trader who mentored him—one of the first hires at SAC Capital, who ran a multi-billion dollar statistical arbitrage fund.
• How it feels to lose $35,000 in student loans, as a result of trading futures (with too much size!) And Jonathan explains how he got into a hedge fund…
• Jonathan reflects on his experience working within a fund; working 16-hour days, witnessing $40-million PnL swings, implementing quantitative models.
• An overview of Jonathan’s system research, the difficulties of teaching a system context, and why Jonathan describes markets as being “transaction based.”