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Equity derivatives traders have become one of Wall Street's hottest commodities.
Following record trading hauls in 2020 — thanks in part to market shocks from the pandemic that amped up volatility throughout the year — derivatives traders at top investment banks have seen their market value soar, and many have seized the moment to chase new opportunities.
Once big bank bonuses were paid out in January and February, hedge funds began poaching equity volatility traders at a torrid pace, snatching senior talent from Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.
"Usually it's just sell-side musical chairs," one veteran volatility trader previously told Insider. "This is making things more interesting as the buy-side is scooping up so many people."
Facing a potential scarcity of talent, some banks have been playing defense and shoring up vacancies with hires of their own, adding fuel to the burgeoning talent war. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are the latest to see defections, with Bank of America poaching two veteran traders to head up their US index trading and single-stock derivatives trading desks.
Morgan Stanley this week also lost Derek Brannon, an executive director in index volatility, to Capula Investment Management and Thomas Hauch, a VP in single-stock derivatives, to Sculptor Capital Management sources told Insider. Representatives for Morgan Stanley, Capula, and Sculptor declined to comment.
Insider has been tracking the equity volatility trading hires and departures. Here's the the latest:
Have a tip? Reach the author at amorrell@businessinsider.com or via secure chat.
Sell-side derivatives traders on the moveBank of America
- David Kim, head of equity client solutions trading Americas, joined Citadel
- Mitchell Story, managing director in equity derivatives trading, joined Goldman Sachs
Barclays
- Aaron Katzman, MD in equity volatility trading, joined Jane Street
- Michael Hosana, MD in equity derivatives, joined Millennium
Citigroup
- Dan Baranovsky, head of equity derivatives in North America, joined Citadel
- Seok Jeong, managing director in flow volatility trading, joined Brevan Howard
- Benjamin Texier, director in equity derivatives trading, joined Millennium
- Dake Zhang, associate in equity index options flow trading, joined Citadel
Goldman Sachs
- Moran Forman, MD in index derivatives trading, joined Rokos Capital
- Travis Potter, MD in equity derivatives trading, joined Balyasny
- Shawn Tuteja, index equity derivatives trading, joined BlueCrest
- Alina Fiato, associate in equity derivatives trading, joined Jane Street
JPMorgan Chase
- Spencer Cross, an ED in equity index volatility trading, joined Bank of America
Morgan Stanley
- Taso Giannopoulos, MD and head of single-stock options, joined Bank of America
- Derek Brannon, ED in index volatility trading, joined Capula Investment Management
- Thomas Hauch, VP in single-stock options, joined Sculptor Capital
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See Also:
- Bank of America has poached 2 senior derivatives traders from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, adding reinforcements to hard-hit trading desk
- RBC Capital Markets and Guggenheim Securities just announced the latest junior banker raises on Wall Street amid a battle to hang onto young talent
- How to succeed in sell-side equity research according to 19 rising star analysts, from picking the right coverage sector to learning to program in Python
