Working for a company as a trader

[silviaic]

Hello everybody,

I'm trying to figure out how it is to work for a company. May be those of you who are can help me...

1. How are your working ours?
2. How is it about holidays?
3. How much do you earn when starting, and how much increase do you expect in your salary and at what rate?
4. How much capital are you expected to trade? How much losses can you have and how does the company control you?

Thanks a lot,

Silvia.

 

[CityTrader]

In equities, I used to get to my desk about 6.45am, and would normally be out of the door by 5pm.
Holidays? 30 days a year after a year or so is the norm. Most firms turn a blind eye to liitle extra days off like "kids sports day" or " xmas shopping day" so in reality if you play the system you'd be able to take 35 days a year.

salary? iI'll leave that one blank.

Capital? depends on the bopok, the market etc etc. Obviously an AIM trader is going to require a lot less capital than a FTSE100 trader.

Hello everybody,

I'm trying to figure out how it is to work for a company. May be those of you who are can help me...

1. How are your working ours?
2. How is it about holidays?
3. How much do you earn when starting, and how much increase do you expect in your salary and at what rate?
4. How much capital are you expected to trade? How much losses can you have and how does the company control you?

Thanks a lot,

Silvia.

 

[dsmodi]

awwwww
come on guys - spill the beans - we don't know you from adam - how much do ya earn, hey? go on....

 

[CityTrader]

Dont work for an investment bank anymore but...Salaries? safe to assume that an accomplished trader will have a base salary of approx 75k -100k , with bonuses ranging from 50K ( maybe less in a lousy year) to 2-300k Obviously a true "Star" will earn vastly more ( trust me, not too many stars out there) Head traders probably getting a total package of 500k in a decent year. Hedge fund partners earning vastly more in a good yeaR ( viz a vis Jeremy Hermann of Ferrox capital, or Alan Howard of Brevin Howard(?) )

 

[silviaic]

Thanks!

That's even more than I expected to learn! I'm considering the possibility of working as a trader, and I wanted to have an idea about how it would be like. Your post is very informative, and I found it very useful, thanks a lot. Regarding the salary, you don't need to tell me how much you earn, I just wanted to have an idea of what a career as a trader has at the bottom of the ladder and at the top, and how is the ride like. (Anyway, I've just got a reply about that).
Thanks again!


Silvia.

 

[silviaic]

Thanks!

Thank you!
From your post it seems that there is not much limitation as to how far you can go, which is nice. I think now I can have a rough idea of what to expect if working as a trader...It sounds interesting.
Thanks again


Silvia.

 

[silviaic]

Thanks GM. Yes, lots of people (who are not traders) say it can be a rubbish job. I like to form my own opinions

I was interested in the salary and knowing about how such a career would be like, to be able to compare to the other alternative, ie, becoming a quant. A quant may be the easier for me, but I really enjoy trading, and I may give it a try if the prospects are nice. Respect to the balance favouring the banks...I doubt it's going to be as tilteld as it is in academia!!! In particular with physics The thing is, I read few things in quantitative finance, and I do find it very interesting. But at the same time I like trading a lot! I'm trying to learn more about both prospects to figure out how would it be like working in both cases.

Now you talk about stress: what do you mean? There is the stress related to your positions, managing losses, managing gains, etc; and there is the stress related to try and deal with people around, I mean peer pressure and competitiveness that seem to be more extreme in the finance sector, at least to the eyes of an outsider. I'm concerned about the second.

Thanks a lot for your time,

Silvia.
Something else: what about ages? When are you considered too old to start? Could the fact of having another career help to make you younger?

 

[Robertral]

Getting a job as a tarder is very competetive, and without 500% commitment then there is no way.......U have to know more than everyone else......When I was interviewing there would be ab out 100-200 people at the first stage tests!!!!!!!

I'm a derivatives trader and my working hours are 7-6 London time, 25-30 hols....any Q'd regarding derivatives trading?

 

[Effkay]

Hi guys,

I suppose I'm in a similar situation to Silvia. Can anyone tell me what qualities employers are looking for in potential traders (i.e. what will make you stand out from the other 499 candidates)?

Thanks

 

[silviaic]

1Million questions!

Thanks Robertral

Yes, lots of qs

I'm just starting to find out how it is working in finance, so my questions are quite basic. I'm trying to make a picture of it all. So far, this is the rough idea I made: It seems to be two big groups, traders and analysts (quants belong here). Traders: there is two types, execution and proprietary traders. The execution traders trade what they are told, and they are concentrating in getting a good execution. The proprietary traders decide what to trade.
The analyst's team: They seem to be also more than one kind. One subdivision creates systems and strategies. Then they put them into practice and try to make money with them. There is another subdivision, and these are the analysts that check those trades which were made without previous measure of risk and other stuff, just because intuitively looks good. The first group do the analysis and system before getting into the trade, the other group check trades after they are made.

Is this picture right? Is it too incomplete? I would also like to know how the interaction between these groups is. Do the execution traders work for the analysts? Do they also work for the proprietary traders? How independent is a proprietary trader? Does the second team of analysts check the trades that a proprietary trader does? A proprietary trader seems a mixture of analyst/trader, as he uses his own system. Is this right?

There seem to be another kind of job that a quant can have, and I'm not sure if this is included in the first group, and it is exotic derivatives, ie, they invent derivatives. How do this people work? Is it kind of theoretical work? My vision until now is limited to investment banks. I suppose there is out there smaller firms which only work as one of these divisions. Is this right?

And some questions about your work: What do you do as a derivatives trader? How is your work environment structured?
I stop here, too many questions! I don't expect answers for all of them, I'll be more than happy with the answer to just one

Thanks a lot,

Silvia.

 

[Verno]

Silvaic, My experiences tie in with the others who have posted, but I would add there is a middle ground trader. A market maker who is given trading limits to express a view. In most banks the vast majority of traders have a market making role but are given a limit to trade a variety of instruments. For instance an FX trader might trade fixed income futures as well.

Finally I think there are now structured traders who's background is more quant based. These people have to have a view on rates etc but generally need to know the complex financial models and Excel inside out to be able to price everything, so they tend to have pHd's or something

 

[Verno]

GJ I was actually thinking of the FX forward traders I knew who traded fixed income and fx but agree with you on the whole.

 

[bmittal]

Hi people,

I wonder what tricks one could employ in order to distinguish yourself from the pool of applicants for every place. How do you get an edge in the recruitment process? Something you do or say or demonstrate that diverges from all the clichéd gibberish that everyone else talks about. For example, team palyer, communication skills, leadership qualities, etc etc..... yeh we all hear that always. There has to be something more than this that successful applicants demonstrate in the recruitment process.....

Kind regards...........

 

[Anonymous]

How about figuring out how to answer what the recruitment personnel is going to ask the applicant, most probably:

1. Why should this company employ you?
2. What can you contribute to this company?
3. What do you know about this company and its business?

And, you may have to deal with a cheeky recruitment personnel who may ask a silly question like: since you are the best among the applicants why do you still need a job?

 

[bmittal]

Well, for 1 and 2, I presume you talk about all your skills - enthusiastic, entrepreneurial spirit, hardworking, team player, leadership, honest, good communicator....etc etc.....

And for 3, well you just have to do some background research.... well I wouldn't mention the bond trades if I were an applicant to Citigroup!

However, as I said earlier, all this is rubbish interview talk that every applicant does.... i was looking for any suggestions about anything else you can mention that will give you an edge over others. Something about trading.... i dunno.... you know what I mean!!

Kind reagards....

 

[Anonymous]

Something about trading

How about some actual proof that you have, say, doubled your trading account in a year or a month, consistently? And perhaps explain what technique you used to achieve that figure?

But if you do that, the recruitment personnel may either ask you a silly question like: since you are the best among the applicants why do you still need a job? or steal your trade secrets away.

 

[bmittal]

Yeah thats one....! thanks..... Also, if I get a qualification from the Society of Technical Analysts from the UK, would that help.... or would it look too pushy and wannabe? Also, would some courses from the Bloomberg Cretification Program improve my chances? as every big bank uses Bberg..... I have time.... as I finish university in 2 years....!

Thanks again...

 

[Effkay]

Bmittal,

I am in the same situation as you i guess, I have done the STA diploma and am pending results. I did this more for my own trading rather than for CV padding. The impression I get from the big banks is that they dont really care as long as you've got a first class degree.

Just my opinion.

 

[bmittal]

Yeah..... thats the course I was talking about!. I am thinking about it for both the CV stuff and my own trading as well..... Thanks for your opinion. Are you at uni? At mine, I hear the same thing about first class degrees.... but I can't stop thinking that so many people have first class degrees.... I think we increasingly need something more to give us that edge.

Anyway, about the STA diploma, did you go to the classes in the LSE as well..... and how did you find it? Good luck with the results!

Thanks again...........!

 

[ForexMelody]

Dear Traders

Most company require a good track record,
how long is enough ?
what profit rate is Ok? 15% per month or 30 per month ?

Many Thanks
Melody