Before the financial crisis, young Wall Street hot shots used to clamor to get named in Trader Monthly’s “Top Traders Under 30.” Trader Monthly has been relegated to the dustbin of failed financial publications, but Wall Street Cheat Sheet decided to spend the last 8 months finding the top 3 traders under 30 and anoint them the new BSDs of finance. Their raw talent is compared to that of pro ball players Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and LeBron James.
Here they are:
#3 Jan Sramek, Goldman Sachs. Age: 23 Sramek makes his fortune as a trader on the Emerging market s desk at Goldman’s London Office. At the tender age of 23, he’s already published the book Racing Towards Excellence, founded and sold a social media website and has the ear of most of London’s major hedge fund managers.
#2 Gilbert Mendez, SMB Capital. Age: 28 After studying mechanical engineering at Columbia University, Gilbert built a black-box trading model for the global Forex currency market. He then sold it before becoming the “head trader” at SMB and now its youngest partner. He presently focuses on trading equities.
#1 Adam Guren, First New York Securities. Age: 28 This Duke graduate and former professional soccer player gets little sleep trading markets all over the world, at all hours of the day. He cut his teeth trading Chinese equities but now looks to profit on any market volatility around the globe. He starts his process by logging on premarket. Then he spends approximately an hour, sometimes thirty minutes, seeing if there’s news out in the basket of stocks he follows. This is how he figures out if there’s any opportunities because he looks for newsworthy events that are going to move his stocks, according to the Wall Street Cheat Sheet.
Know these guys? Feel free to vocally agree/disagree.
Doesn’t the etrade baby deserve some props? Kid’s like 6 months? WTF?
“…he spends approximately an hour, sometimes thirty minutes, seeing if there’s news out in the basket of stocks he follows. This is how he figures out if there’s any opportunities because he looks for newsworthy events that are going to move his stocks…”
why didn’t i think of that?
I didn’t realize Shia was over 30.
LeBron, not LaBron. Come on…
fuck you kouwe, Labron. Labron your fucking mother.
What about me…I’m 25 and have amassed near what these guys have while working at Citadel…
@3 – including the Head Bouf in this comparison would simply unfair.
The Trader Dater of the Month feature was priceless.
speaking of great traders, how’s timmy?
I’m Delonte West. What’s up Lebron, is Gloria around?
they all look like they enjoy taking it up the butt
I’m going to make up a term for trading based on news events and call it “Event Driven Investing.” Now whenever I see it published I demand a royalty. Get a clue, Kouwe.
This list is straight pathetic.
SMB Capital is the joke firm that “Wall Street Warriors” followed.
At least Adam Guren at “prestigious” First New York Securities has yet to pull the blow-up ripcord that is getting an MBA. Glad you trade by “intuition” Adam. Enjoy that singular event that you’ll claim forever was “six sigma” and blew your ass up. It’s coming.
Gil Mendez makes about $500 a day after paying for commissions. Are you serious with this list?
“Here are the Top 3 Traders,” not “Here’s the Top 3 Traders.”
Doesn’t take a lot, Kouwe.
@14 why dont u ask the person who made it?
I read the news. I make money. WTF?
beef jerkie time
i read then trade too..amazing plan
I knew Jan at Cambridge (before he went to London School of Economics). He was a total douche bag, so that’s why he transferred after 1st year…or maybe because he’s a slav…
kobe is over 30
I also knew Jan at university. Half the stuff he comes up with is a total exaggeration, the other half was a heavily disguised lie. Also: ego the size of a Canary Wharf tower block.
On the other hand, I have no doubt his attitude will have helped him manage an aura of perceived success, which in turn have put him where he is.
I’m in my 3rd year at Oxford. Whilst I’m normally the last person to say stuff like this, Jan is not just an outstanding story of success, but a genuinely nice guy who is well respected and liked by the vast majority of people who have met him, even briefly.
I don’t know anyone else with a background even remotely similar to his who would be willing to devote the amount of time and effort to helping others (including me) that he has. The reviews for his book on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk show this quite well.
In the UK, 95% of university students who know him see him as an inspiration and a genuinely nice guy. The other 5%, clearly including the two posters above, have never managed to recover from the day when they discovered there’s someone out there with whom they just can’t compete :)
Ditto@23. I’m only in my 1st year, but the guy is both really respected and liked by everyone – quite rare.
@23, 24: STFU Jan
Jan Sramek actually makes most of his money blowing partners
@23/24
You are in uni, shut the fuck up until you’re in the game…
While that guy Sramke may be good, there is no way he is as good as he protrays himself, otherwise, we woudln’t even know about him. He is as marketed as an Abacus CDO!
“Academic finance is largely nothing more than intellectual masturbation.”
- The Slav
Looks like Fabulo Fab stole his line!
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/12/meet_jan_sramek_the_22-year-ol.html
Top dollar rooms in capitalism’s grand hotel are always occupied, but not by the same occupants.
Also any firm or person featured on that wall street warriors nonsense immediately loses all credibility. If you’re on a show that cuts into a waitress doing “free trading seminar, no money needed” at night, you probably shouldn’t be touching anyone’s money.
I had just sat down for my 25th interview at Goldman Sachs, when the MD across from me informed me that today I was to meet potential trading partners. He was in the midst of explaining the “earn and a team/burn as a team” approach when a young trader I recognized as Jan Sramek walked into the board room. Recognizing that this was a test, I quickley jumped up out of my chair and drove my shoulder up into Jan’s jaw, knocking him senseless. As he began to fall, I was able to take his bill fold from his front left pocket and put it into my own. The MD did not smile or react, other than to say “Can you come in tomorrow at 3PM?”. “Yes” I said.
these guys are major do#che bags, really who cares….
@13 = Taleb
@31
For The close.
Doyle Brunson was once asked who he thought the best poker player was, and Doyle said, ‘I don’t know, come back and ask me again in twenty years.’ Being the best is proving it over the long run
Jan is actually incredible…at self promotion.
Olympic ‘hopeful’..for the Czech Republic…in Handball. Great!
All those ‘companies’…but how many are profitable, Jan?
Amalgamating various self-help books into one. Nice work!
Sure, he is smart, but no smarter than the majority of others on the trading floor. He just promotes himself more than everyone else. Whether it’s through attending campus events or by posting on student forums, it doesn’t really matter. The point is, he hasn’t proved anything as a trader, and really doesn’t deserve to be on the list….yet.
Racing Towards Excellence reads like it was written by the E-trade baby.
Haha, isn’t First New York Securities a daytrading shop? What’s next–Chimera Capital?
I actually interviewed with Adam Guren here at Wharton during the On-Campus-Recruiting phase. He’s a really nice guy and seemed willing to answer all types of questions. I didn’t think he was such a big deal but I’m glad to see he’s doing well
Top Traders Under 30 List > Top CFA Holders under 30 List
What about zach michaelson?
@42 He came in just behind Zach Morris in this years voting
Judging by the look on his face, I can say with a high degree of certainty that Lebron is not wearing any pants in that photo.
@43 What happened to Jessie Spano? She needs to be on this list if she’s ever going to get into the Graduate School of Business at Stansbury. She’s tired of her dancing gig in Vegas.
I was trading POGS when I was 23
@45 Both Morris and Spano may have come out ahead of Michaelson despite being too old, in the wrong profession and fictional (though I suppose it’s a push between the three of them on that last issue).
There we go again, piling it on the guys at GS. He’s either very good, or stupid enough to accept trades senior traders rejected as horse manure.
He’s not even at the noon of his career, only time will tell.
I know a guy that was fired for being on the Top 30 under 30 and had major problems finding a job after. Being on the list is career suicide. Good Luck!
13 == AIG Quant
Pretty sure John Walker Lindh tops this list.
founded and sold a social media website
@23,24: I don’t know the guy, but surely “Academic finance is largely nothing more than intellectual masturbation” is not something a nice guy would say. My money is on @20 on this one.
Having dated Jan, I can tell you he is an amazing lover, brilliant trader, and generous sugar daddy. Too bad he is gay.
Mean…Reversion
mean…reversion
B0/1-B1
why is youth so important in trading stocks it just exemplifies inexperience mixed with luck please explain?
nonsense
nonsense