Commodities Trading Internship Interview

Hey everyone,

I am a new user here so if I screw up etiquette wise please forgive me.

I am a junior at UofM studying economics (econometrics and international economics mainly) and I somehow landed an interview with Morgan Stanley for a commodities trading internship. It is a 2 hour long interview and I honestly am not sure what to expect. I assume they will ask about my resume and background as well as test my knowledge of the markets and probably even a brain teaser. I don't see those taking up 2 hours though...

If anyone has already gone through this in the past, I would appreciate any advice you could give on what to expect and what to study up on!

Thanks everyone!

22 Comments
 

I am actually not interviewing with MS. I just wanted some general info on what commodities divisions look for when they hire summer analysts.

Anything different from regular S&T roles?

 
Best Response

I was on the hiring team on a banks analyst/associate commodities desk - if you have limited exp don't expect it to me much different that any other s/t interview. I would work on a few reasons on why commodities and what products are you most interested in. The short and easy reply i heard 9 out of 10 times is crude oil but have a good reason for why. Hint - its global and you like world policy and economics is not a good reply. I heard that 7 of the 9 times. Most of the banks websites have a little bio on their commodities group so use any and all resources to brush up a bit but don't kill yourself trying to read 10 books to attempt to impress someone. I had a student once read a few articles prior to interview and attempt to school me on a topic- only to find out that was the product i traded for the prior 4 years. He did not get a superday invite. Good luck

happy to answer any direct questions anyone has. Keep on the board and please don't PM me as someone else may have the same question

 
"monty09"

I was on the hiring team on a banks analyst/associate commodities desk - if you have limited exp don't expect it to me much different that any other s/t interview. I would work on a few reasons on why commodities and what products are you most interested in. The short and easy reply i heard 9 out of 10 times is crude oil but have a good reason for why. Hint - its global and you like world policy and economics is not a good reply. I heard that 7 of the 9 times. Most of the banks websites have a little bio on their commodities group so use any and all resources to brush up a bit but don't kill yourself trying to read 10 books to attempt to impress someone. I had a student once read a few articles prior to interview and attempt to school me on a topic- only to find out that was the product i traded for the prior 4 years. He did not get a superday invite. Good luck

happy to answer any direct questions anyone has. Keep on the board and please don't PM me as someone else may have the same question

what would it take for an older candidate to make it into your desk, switching from another product (in my case, interest rates trader for 10 years)? Sortof like a career transition, but since the product is so different, there may not be a large transferable skillset (tho, leveraged trading is similar...but the intricacies of your market are unique). Would be willing to take a step back in pay/title....because am interested in learning the product, and of course, love trading.

 

Thank you for your valuable comments, monty09! A follow-up side question, for PhDs in the field of petroleum engineering with several years of oil industry working experience and a heavy quantitative background, I am thinking to break into the oil/gas trading. Looks to me commodities quants would be a natural fit. Would you mind naming a few names like hedge fund or prop trading firms that have been big on energy commodities paper trading? Are Susquehanna, Citadel big in this field? Thanks

 

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