Commodity broker salary

Recently been interested in commodity brokerage (paper side) as a career. I know there is big variation depending on how good you are but any idea what a decent broker should be pulling? Networked a bit and 300k seems to be an average number. Thanks for any insight into the job

23 Comments
 

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I heared that brokers outearn traders. Any idea what comp progression might look like? 6 figures after like 2/3 years possible if you are good or does it take longer?

 

Always thought the bonus is the most important part of a broker's salary. Is that different for commodity brokers or is the salary a draw and that's why the bonus is only "small" when the base is "modest"?

 
Most Helpful

Being a broker has massive variation, akin to trading. There are guys out there clearing $5mm+ a year, but it's a huge tournament system. There are very few guys making that much, and the median comp is a lot lower.

I don't have hard numbers but I would guess avg comp is like 400k ish but median is like 250k ish.

I don't follow every commodity, but in my space, there are about 20-30 shops with markets but the top 5 guys are like 85+% of the volume.

The big upside is that being a broker doesn't require much in terms of credentials, because it's almost all commission. You can be good by being personable, knowing the market, or understanding where the clearing price for something will be.

The biggest issue is that a lot of junior brokers either get bad clients as their coverage, or aren't patient enough to wait for the 22 year old they befriend to get their own book and run their risk. It can be an extremely lucrative career, but there are way more failures than successes; you just don't really hear about them.

 
PlsFthx

Being a broker has massive variation, akin to trading. There are guys out there clearing $5mm+ a year, but it's a huge tournament system. There are very few guys making that much, and the median comp is a lot lower.

I don't have hard numbers but I would guess avg comp is like 400k ish but median is like 250k ish.

I don't follow every commodity, but in my space, there are about 20-30 shops with markets but the top 5 guys are like 85+% of the volume.

The big upside is that being a broker doesn't require much in terms of credentials, because it's almost all commission. You can be good by being personable, knowing the market, or understanding where the clearing price for something will be.

The biggest issue is that a lot of junior brokers either get bad clients as their coverage, or aren't patient enough to wait for the 22 year old they befriend to get their own book and run their risk. It can be an extremely lucrative career, but there are way more failures than successes; you just don't really hear about them.

what product?

 
monty09
PlsFthx

Being a broker has massive variation, akin to trading. There are guys out there clearing $5mm+ a year, but it's a huge tournament system. There are very few guys making that much, and the median comp is a lot lower.

I don't have hard numbers but I would guess avg comp is like 400k ish but median is like 250k ish.

I don't follow every commodity, but in my space, there are about 20-30 shops with markets but the top 5 guys are like 85+% of the volume.

The big upside is that being a broker doesn't require much in terms of credentials, because it's almost all commission. You can be good by being personable, knowing the market, or understanding where the clearing price for something will be.

The biggest issue is that a lot of junior brokers either get bad clients as their coverage, or aren't patient enough to wait for the 22 year old they befriend to get their own book and run their risk. It can be an extremely lucrative career, but there are way more failures than successes; you just don't really hear about them.

what product?

crude vol

 

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