Along the way, he led Broadpoint Securities Group Inc., the bond dealer that bought Gleacher & Co. in 2011. Gleacher said in March it would liquidate its business after attempts to find a merger partner or sell the defunct brokerage failed.
Fensterstock didn’t respond to calls and an e-mail seeking comment.
The evidence shows that the business has lost its luster, holding little appeal for newcomers, said Stein, 56. He said that when he started out at Drexel in 1985, Wall Street was “the hottest job outside of Hollywood.”
“When I started, I think you could count on one hand the number of people over 35,” said Stein, who said he isn’t sure he’d advise his teenage son to follow in his footsteps. “Now I don’t think being 50 in this business makes you an outlier anymore. A little gray hair is a good thing - it means you’ve had the opportunity to see good and bad markets.”
Mark Jicka, who’s been in the bond business for more than two decades, now trades bonds at Canada’s CIBC World Markets Corp. in New York and is on his fourth job since leaving Barclays in 2008. Jicka’s resume includes positions at MF Global, Mizuho Securities and Loop Capital Markets. He declined to comment.
Rising Rates
There may be increased demand for experienced traders once interest rates rise, according to Canaccord’s Pibl.
“Liquidity has dried up and when the thing hits the fan, it’s hard to see an orderly exit,” he said. “That’s where the distribution comes in and having a trader who knows the client base” will be crucial, he said.
Some younger traders have gotten out and moved into industries from real estate to public relations and information technology.
Rob Morelli, 37, quit UBS during the 2008 financial crisis and started a business called Sirona Advisors to trade distressed debt through broker-dealer A.K. Capital LLC. He wound it down two years later.