I'm a new member of this forum, that's really a real tresor cave of informationI'm intending to concentrate in the field but actually I have a problem:WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRADER AND A QUANT?Excuse this stupid question but I got a bit confused while reading threads in this forum, your answers would enlight my vision in my careerthank you everyone

I would also like to add a question relevant to this one:What sort of jobs are done in : Front Office, Middle Office, Back Office positionsWhat's the main difference between each of them, required qualifications...

QuoteOriginally posted by: JMRI'm a new member of this forum, that's really a real tresor cave of informationI'm intending to concentrate in the field but actually I have a problem:WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRADER AND A QUANT?Excuse this stupid question but I got a bit confused while reading threads in this forum, your answers would enlight my vision in my careerthank you everyoneTraders are much sexier

QuoteOriginally posted by: JMRI'm a new member of this forum, that's really a real tresor cave of informationI'm intending to concentrate in the field but actually I have a problem:WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRADER AND A QUANT?Excuse this stupid question but I got a bit confused while reading threads in this forum, your answers would enlight my vision in my careerthank you everyoneTraders are those who trade the product and quants make the models etc that are used.

QuoteOriginally posted by: levaI would also like to add a question relevant to this one:What sort of jobs are done in : Front Office, Middle Office, Back Office positionsWhat's the main difference between each of them, required qualifications...Front Office: Traders, Investment ManagersMiddle Office: Trade SupportBack Office: OperationsDifference Tradrs trade the products, operations make sure they are put through, middle office do support work for the traders. There are various other roles associated with these positions. Read career related books or companies careers websites to get an idea.

Hi JMR,I will not give any details on pure quantitative analysts, but I can try to comment on traders.IMHO I would say that there are three types of traders : (i) flow based traders (aka market makers) : french engineerig school / dea / mba ... needs speed and a disire to get agressed whole day long, (ii) experienced based prop traders : years of flow trading on different products ... trading based on mental data-mining, (iii) quant prop traders : phd + experience + c++.

That's quite a good breakdown - Traders/sales guys etc and Investment Managers all are front office based tend to have say BA/BSc in maths/economics/finance/engineering and possibly masters or CFA - requires lots of energy and quick thinking.Quant guys tend to have their toes dipped in the markets but not to the extent of having the stress of the markets on them constantly - backgrounds - 1st class / high GPA in maths/stats/engineering and coupled with PhD in applied maths/financial maths/engineering and massive C++/VBA skills