Trader or Sales-Trader
Hi all,
Let me start this off by clarifying that I am NOT asking the difference between an equity trader and a sales-trader. I don't want people to get angry that I was too lazy to search and read through the numerous threads on the exact topic.
Basically, I've been offered a general "analyst" position within the institutional equities division of a mid-tier investment bank. The head of the division is a great guy and is letting me choose where within the division I want to begin work. I've pretty much ruled out straight research sales, and am deciding whether I would like to start on the cash trading desk or as a sales-trader.
Given the declining profitability of cash equity trading, I'm trying to work in the role which would give me the strongest career opportunities (I would've loved to have gone into the FI side of things as it seems more interesting/better career outlook, but given the S&T hiring climate this year I had to take what I could get). Ultimately I would love to work on the buy side. I definitely realize the difficulty in moving straight from cash equities to some sort of equity fund, but I want to put myself in the position to make that more likely to happen.
Any thoughts or recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Unless it's ML or a big name in cash equity, go for sales-trading. You'll get to talk to lots of people, and have exposure to both trading and sales, so it keeps you both doors open. Besides, for some reason, cash traders are looked down upon.
I would generally agree with this statement, unless you'd have the opportunity to get onto another equity desk (ie options, etfs, swaps, special sits, etc). Cash traders have a very high attrition rate, and generally speaking would not be the best place to start a career if you had the opportunity to start elsewhere. I think the sales-traders will generally have more job security than cash traders going forward, as the buyside will ALWAYS want to have people to talk to on the other side
Personally I dont like sales. But I do think in equities, sales-trading is the way to go.
I find the blasts from sales-traders to be pretty helpful.. saves me a lot of time. Can't comment on the career path though. Which mid-tier shop is it? I'll tell you if they are sleazy or not.
Also, plenty of buyside execution traders (at equity long/short funds) come from cash equity desks, if that is something you are interested in. I think either a trader or sales-trader would be equally suited for the role as long as they had a decent amount of experience and a lot of relationships on the street.
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