Independent Traders v. Goldman Traders
I was talking the other day with an old pro trader about the comparison of independent minded traders, like the trend followers mentioned in my book, to in-house traders at the likes of a Goldman Sachs. His comment:
“The lack of accountability for the in-house traders [is hard]. Their mess-ups are hidden in the rest of the pile. My track record was there for everyone to see…the institutional guys make a lot of noise when they hit but their mini crashes never make the news. I have always felt on some level the big guys let you know what they are doing or actually have done when it supports their market position. CTA’s [trend followers] are really under the microscope every day performance wise and I am sure in house traders have supervisors that watch them but psychologically I think they are world’s apart.”
