Being a Trader as opposed to IB

C-Revs
Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:30:23 +0000

I’ll humor you a little bit more


Hours are generally 6/7 - 6/8 depending on the product. As a first year analyst you will likely be working towards the longer end since you are generally running all of the behind the scenes things such as PNL, risk, etc.
Depends on the firm, depends on the product, depends on the desk. No way to answer that. In general, as opposed to IBD at least, a lot more fast paced. Stressful.
Entry pay is generally the same as IBD, ~70k salary + bonus. Generally as an entry trader you are getting a bucketed bonus, since you aren’t actually trading (or not trading a lot). I’ve heard some get larger bonuses since there was an opening in the group that they filled and contributed significantly to PNL.
Math/Analytical background should be good, though a knowledge of finance and markets will only be an advantage. I don’t know specifically about Stanford. Perhaps a little harder since its west coast… I haven’t seen many where I was this summer, but it is definitely possible. Take this answer with a grain of salt, I’m honestly not sure.
Very competitive. There is less hiring need than IBD and tons of qualified/smart people applying. There are also less firms now and more unemployed traders with experience. While conditions have improved, I think there is still some hesitancy to hire full time, a lot of the banks are trying to use the summer class for the most part if possible.
Like Nauru said, you are essentially sitting behind people watching what they do for 10 weeks. It’s an odd/awkward position at first, but you get used to it. Your time is spent watching, asking questions, and trying to soak up as much information as you can. If you happen to be able to actually help the desk out with some administrative stuff than that is great. You are not going to be trading though (said with 99% certainty). I’ve had a trader put on my trade idea this summer, but that is a rare event.


Hope this helps.