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I know that this is a quant focused community, so therefore my questions might seem treacherous to most of you. But as far as trading Spot FX for a major bank or fin. instit. are strong quant skills really necessary? Is strong quant a pre-req that recruiters/HR at banks/MD's at FX desks demand of Spot Traders?I can understand how it is an absolute must for derivatives, but Spot? I know that one can be a successful trader (once again Spot, and for their personal account) without knowing virtually anything about quant. And if there are any Spot Traders or successful speculators (I know there's not many true long lasting one's) out there, could you please inform me as to what the top attributes/characteristics recruiters look for?I would think that strong analytical, deductive, and reasoning skills plus a genuine and thorough interest in politics, economics, current events and history would suit one well for Spot. Yes, perhaps a firm quant grasp would be nice, but not manditory??? (emphasis on question marks) Please let me know. Any advise would be much obliged. Thanks,- Charlemagne

I currently work in spot fx (not trading but sales). Observation has shown that they are not very quantitative focused on a sport fx des. The area i work in is market making. for prop desks i can see quant skills being more helpful.

jaiman,Do you like spot fx? Do you find it to be slow at times?

jaiman,Are most of your clients speculators or do theyuse the money to finance operations abroad?Is most of your time spent giving yourclients ideas on what positions to takeor taking requests they already have?

BigBlingin,Our clients on the desk use fx to finance foreign operations. I advise on positions from mostly a hedging perspective.Piranha,I enjoy spot fx, I would like to move to another area eventually, but now I am enjoying learning more about the business.

Jaiman,If you advise corporate clients mainly for risk management purposes do you have a treasury oriented background? Additionally, I could not ascertain from your response whether you actually market make or not? If so, do you desire to trade prop eventually? I know that being a trader at a major bank is quite competitive but how long do they usually give you to "sink or swim" as a junior trader? 6 months? a year? Surely if they believe you are not performing up to par they will oust you by the 2 year mark??? Finally, are you familiar with the Associate Cambiste Internacional (ACI) credentials? If so, how favorable are the credentials to Spot FX recruiters looking for junior traders? If you could give me some insight on inquiries Jaiman, it would be a big help to me.Much Regards,- Charlemagne

jaiman,Thanks for answering myquestions. You're alright!

Sorry for the late response, I have yet to subscribe to this thread.Charlemagne,I have no treasury background, I am mainly in my current role because I am a good (excellent as my boss would say, but i am humble) client focused sales person.As for the competitiveness aspect, I am with a Canadian bank and i think thing are different than with the US banks interms of how long you have to prove yourself. I am not at all familar with the ACI credentials unfortunately.

In early 2005 I am going to join a Canadian FX broker (Custom House) as a FX spot/forward dealer. My role will eventually develop into a FX sales role servicing mid market corporates. My question is to jaiman:Know any good books on corporate treasury management, FX spot/forward advisory etc etcNote I already have a strong theoretical understanding of corporate finance, basic financial accounting and basic derivatives.Thanks.

Didn't the hedge fund go so well?

The hedge fund idea is still strong......Custom House provides a fantastic base upon which to raise capital for the fund....they have an established coporate FX brokerage business....combine this with my strong retail client relationships I should be able to raise in the vicinity of 5MM for a retail hedge fund in about 2-3 years. The fund will invest in currency and commodities as originally planned but will take into account quant based management techniques....i.e. I will not "fuck the correlations"........lesson learnt........cheers....but my first task is to build a corporate FX book of my own....hence the previous post inquiring about books to read on corporate treasury mgt, FX forwards etcYou wouldn't be able to help me would you?Cheers.