Swiss hedge fund firm Jabre Capital has lured a top-performing equities trader to the firm from Goldman Sachs, reports City A.M. The firm hired 27-year-old Mona El Isa, who was reportedly one of Goldman’s top proprietary cash equities traders and one of a group of traders profiled in Trader Monthly’s “Top 30 Under 30” list back in 2008, at the tender young age of 24.
Jabre is beefing up its trading strength with a number of new hires. The firm was founded by Philippe Jabre, a former GLG Partners LP trader, who was fined 750,000 pounds by the UK’s Financial Services Authority in 2006 for alleged insider trading. He left GLC to form his own firm in Geneva shortly afterward.
El Isa’s entry point as a hedge fund trader began with a summer internship at Goldman, while she finished up her double-degree in economics and statistics at University College in London.
She then landed a job as a trainee with Goldman in London in 2004, trading financials. In 2005, she moved into what is arguably one of the hottest sectors, mining and natural resources-linked equities, and further raised her profile within the firm. She was promoted to associate in 2007, making markets on Goldman’s London-based cash equities desk.
El Isa is one of bunch of young traders profiled as the Top 30 Under 30 by the website Trade2Win. It’s worth taking a looking at some of the bios for these rising stars if you are aiming for a hedge fund or trading career, or are in the early stages of your career.
Take Glenn Graham, 23, for example. At the time of his profile, he was trading Crude oil, natural gas securities for Casa Energy in Chicago. Graham studied economics and finance at the University of Illinois, not exactly an Ivy-League background. But just three years into college, he began trading oil and gas at Chicago-based Allston Trading. At just 22 years of age, he was running the firm’s entire energy-trading operation. Graham’s skills caught the eye of Frank Carbonara, owner of Dubai-based Casa Trading. Despite Graham’s youth, Carbonara hired him to be Casa’s new director of energy trading.
You can scan the short bios of other top traders under 30 at Trade2win. Meanwhile, what do you think launches a trader’s career into the stratosphere? An early affinity for trading, even in one’s own account? Or something else? Add your comments below.
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