Trading stocks as a summer IB analyst?

I realized that it might not be the best idea, but my bank hasn't made me sign an NDA or any other document. I am also starting on June 1, and from my conversation with HR, it doesn't seem likely that they will send me something to sign. Should I still avoid it?

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Compliance isn’t exactly on a contractual basis so not signing anything doesn’t mean very much. I’ve gotten online tutorials and attendance sheets at compliance meetings at most. My summer we were told we were forbidden to trade altogether. I would avoid if possible, and at the very least be very very careful and/or stick to ETFs. There’s watch list and approval policies they usually won’t detail to interns, and it could get very messy very fast.

 

You got a summer IB internship, which, assuming a FT offer, essentially implies an income of around 150k your first year and up to 180k your second year, and you're willing to risk that by trading stocks and making MAYBE a couple thousand dollars?

If you're smart enough to get an IB internship, you're smart enough to know the answer to this without asking it.

 
Most Helpful

This ^^^^^ can’t echo this enough

Nothing like fucking up months, or realistically years, of hard work, luck, etc. for a couple sick trades. If you’re making enough money trading to make it worthwhile to blow up your offer, then just skip the internship and trade away...

Even if you’re not on a live deal, there are trades that can fuck stuff up for other parts of the bank bc of restricted lists and the like. If you really want to trade, get your bank’s rules from compliance and get your trades pre-approved

 

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