Does banks employ people to trade forex?

[monochrome]

Hi, I'm just curious whether banks hire traders. And whether a degree qualification is need. If you can share about the pay too will be the best. Thanks!



Sorry if this is the wrong section.

 

[Hotch]

DO banks employ people to trade forex.

Yes, but some of them don't do prop, and thus it is entirely different to what everyone here does.

Most of their recruiting is from inside the bank though.

Pay varies.

(this is all from my limited experience, so don't take it as gospel)

 

[Jaydee]

Short answer is yes. Most FX traders in banks are market makers.

 

[monochrome]

I'm glad to know that bank does recruit people to do forex, my friend showed me a picture of UBS' trading floor and told me that those people are the ones that help banks trade on the forex market. It looks like a nice job to me, I mean trading forex and getting paid to do so is simply one of the best job in the world (Minus the stress).

 

[GeofT]

Most bank trading is flow, i.e. their traders will take orders from their clients and execute them on the market. Barclays Capital for example claim all their trading is flow.

Yes you will invariably need a good degree from a good university, the better the university the more likely you are to get a job. Your chances are greatly enhanced by getting a summer internship on their sales & trading floor. London interns will be paid £400 - 900 a week easily. Pay will increase if you get taken on as an Analyst. Just apply on their websites as deadlines for 2011 intakes are coming up.

Your other option is proprietary trading houses, I don't know for sure but I think you would need some established trading skills. Take 6 months of trading statements with excellent risk management and maybe you don't need a degree.

 

[monochrome]

Most bank trading is flow, i.e. their traders will take orders from their clients and execute them on the market. Barclays Capital for example claim all their trading is flow.

Yes you will invariably need a good degree from a good university, the better the university the more likely you are to get a job. Your chances are greatly enhanced by getting a summer internship on their sales & trading floor. London interns will be paid £400 - 900 a week easily. Pay will increase if you get taken on as an Analyst. Just apply on their websites as deadlines for 2011 intakes are coming up.

Your other option is proprietary trading houses, I don't know for sure but I think you would need some established trading skills. Take 6 months of trading statements with excellent risk management and maybe you don't need a degree.

Thank you for explaining it in such details! I'm actually still studying for a diploma in banking and financial services here in Singapore (17 this year). So before this I was wondering whether I can apply for such a job with a diploma. Although now it seems like a degree is the minimum. Is it possible for someone with a diploma to start working in a low position and slowing rising through the ranks and be a analyst maybe in like 5 years?

And what are actually proprietary trading houses? You mean brokers like FXCM, Oanda, etc?

By the way thanks a lot for sharing!

 

[GeofT]

Is it possible for someone with a diploma to start working in a low position and slowing rising through the ranks and be a analyst maybe in like 5 years?

Don't take my word for it but that is pretty much unheard of these days. Focus on your diploma and apply to university. Banking is ultra-competitive and even if you have a 1st class degree from a top university you are not guaranteed a job. I am currently applying to banks and I don't know why I'm bothering, it is like banging your head against a brick wall.

This is the best advice I can give you. Open a micro trading account and learn to trade, and practice every day. While you're studying you'll have loads of time to trade the London session. That would coincide with your evenings in Singapore. There is loads of information on the net - no need for textbooks, seminars or out of the box 'systems'. Learn the basics of money management, support & resistance, trend lines, and you will make money one day. Once you can earn a bit of cash from summer jobs and the like, maybe in your later teens & twenties, you might be in a position to open a larger account, and you'll have plenty of screen time behind you. Patience and discipline and you will eventually get there. I say this as someone who is 25 and just got to the stage where I'm trading profitably, after dabbling with plenty of failures in my early twenties at university. Time is on your side.

Not to sure about the world of proprietary trading firms to be honest, do some Googling. The idea is you trade for them with their money and you get a cut of your profits. FXCM and the like are brokers and make their cash from spreads charged to retail traders.

 

[monochrome]

Don't take my word for it but that is pretty much unheard of these days. Focus on your diploma and apply to university. Banking is ultra-competitive and even if you have a 1st class degree from a top university you are not guaranteed a job. I am currently applying to banks and I don't know why I'm bothering, it is like banging your head against a brick wall.

This is the best advice I can give you. Open a micro trading account and learn to trade, and practice every day. While you're studying you'll have loads of time to trade the London session. That would coincide with your evenings in Singapore. There is loads of information on the net - no need for textbooks, seminars or out of the box 'systems'. Learn the basics of money management, support & resistance, trend lines, and you will make money one day. Once you can earn a bit of cash from summer jobs and the like, maybe in your later teens & twenties, you might be in a position to open a larger account, and you'll have plenty of screen time behind you. Patience and discipline and you will eventually get there. I say this as someone who is 25 and just got to the stage where I'm trading profitably, after dabbling with plenty of failures in my early twenties at university. Time is on your side.

Not to sure about the world of proprietary trading firms to be honest, do some Googling. The idea is you trade for them with their money and you get a cut of your profits. FXCM and the like are brokers and make their cash from spreads charged to retail traders.

Thank you for your reply! Haha, I understand that most of these jobs are normally given to Ivy League universities or university like LSE. Actually does the bank actually look at your portfolio (if you have one). Like if you only have a diploma, but you made consistent profit for the last 2 years, will banks make an exception? I'm not saying that I'll make consistent profit, I'm still learning how forex works! But if that is possible then it'll provide more alternative to having a degree.

And once again thanks for your reply. I like coming to forex forums because I can really learn a lot from people who've been through all these and especially in forums like T2W and FF where people from around the world give their perspectives!

 

[mewmetals]

hi monochrome - unfortunately, top banks won't make an exception, in general. In fact the banks in Singapore/HK would look for top grades from a top university( you're right about the ivy league/lse part). Your academic record also matters - were you from a top school (great o and a level results, GEP/IB programme?)? finally, the best way of getting a job as a junior trader in a top bank is via their summer internship programmes. sorry to break it to you but you have a mountain to climb if you're not attending a top US/UK university. What you can do now is to study hard and get great results for your diploma course ( try to get a COM) and attend a top university in the US/UK ( or the three local universities), then take it from there. under no circumstance should you go for a 'private' degree ; it's not pretty to hear, but your chances of getting a trading job in a top bank would go down to 0. thanks

 

[Abstract]

Here's how you break into a BB Investment Bank's FX Trading Desk:
1- Attend one of the following institutions (it is preferred that you major in a rigorous and relevant discipline such as Economics, Mathematics, Finance, Engineering or Computer Science although a major in underwater basket weaving from any of these institutions would suffice):

USA: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wharton, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, UIUC, Duke, Berkley, Chicago etc

Canada: Queen's, McGill, Western (Ivey), UofT (SG), Waterloo, UBC etc

UK: LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, Warwick, Imperial, UCL etc

2- Start paper trading to build a decent track record with low risk. Also, be a proactive member of your school's finance club.

3- Start networking your balls off.

4- Apply for summer analyst stints during the summer prior to your final year.

5- Dominate and secure a FT offer.