It is heavily bonus centric. In theory it is unlimited, based on how much you make the firm, which is why you could theoretically make millions any given year (rare).
My friends in quant finance made more than 200k guaranteed their first years (not including performance bonus), and they did not have graduate degrees. It went up to more than half a million in a few years (including bonus).
Are they in more research oriented roles? A basic good Quant Analyst at Google or Data Scientist, Analytics at Facebook will easily clear 200k but these aren't machine learning research experts.
Are those masters/PhD's? My data points were people with no graduate degrees.
The ramp up and ceiling is much higher in finance. First year salary for someone with a bachelors in a finance company may be comparable to someone with a masters/PhD in a tech company, sure.
My friends in quant finance made more than 200k guaranteed their first years (not including performance bonus), and they did not have graduate degrees. It went up to more than half a million in a few years (including bonus).