Is this normal in S&T?
I’ve been on a trade desk for a little over 1 year, fully licensed, everything seemed fine to start. But now it’s literally just cold calling accounts. Is that really how you start in this field? To expand, our desk trades corporate bonds. We will do everything but that’s our bread and butter. We have different groups managing their own books, but I’m left in limbo and not part of them. So I don’t get any money from the pool they use. I just have a far below market rate salary. And now that I’m fully licensed, they basically just said “now go open accounts”. I have no call list, no database except google, Bloomberg terminal, and LinkedIn. If anyone else getting started in this industry, are you just left to cold call anyone and everyone to try and get something going? I’m trying to understand this right because I don’t know how I trade anything when I have no autonomy in trading decisions and even if theirs profit, I’m not getting a share. Or even where do I find accounts to do business with correctly? Any ones that actually trade bonds, that I’ve reach out to, say they don’t want new coverage and send me on my way. So I just sit at my desk 10 hours per day feeling dejected because I’ve reached out to hundreds of people all to be rejected and get no feedback. All the while everyone else is just cleaning up. (And I should ask mention that all the biggest insurance and investment firms are already covered by our senior guys and off limits). Just feeling lost here
This sounds... Odd
Do you mind me asking what sort of firm it is you work for? I don't need specific names, just an idea of whether it's a bank, fund, brokerage, etc. and what their approximate size is?
If you feel more comfortable, you're welcome to DM me
Regional BD. Around 25-30mm balance sheet. Nothing massive and by no means a large desk. Happy to elaborate more if needed
To be honest, this doesn't sound like the ideal place to start your career in financial markets, especially if you have aspirations of becoming a genuinely accomplished trader / broker down the line
I don't know what your background is like, but I'd suggest having a look around to see whether there are any entry positions at more established and reputable firms
You don't necessarily need to quit immediately, but I think it'd give you a better starting point to develop your career
The main red flag that stands out to me is the fact that the so-called "main" accounts are already spoken for and - as you said - are subsequently off limits
I'm sure there are some attractive forces potentially keeping you where you are - people saying the senior guys there make however much, and that you just need to put the time in, etc.
The likelihood is that their apparent success stems from the accounts they manage - if you have little to no opportunity of managing comparable accounts, you need to re-evaluate your prospects in my honest opinion
They seem to be stretching what "S&T" is if that's what your job consists of
lol definitely. The desk definitely does well. But feeling like I’m in a limbo of just constant cold calls, emails, and IBs without trading or being part of a book makes it extremely challenging and confusing. I feel like there isn’t really any guidance on it.
If that’s how it is everywhere, then I’ll accept it. I just really wanted to see if this is how everyone gets their footing in the industry.
Sounds like a bucket shop. First year you might be doing coffee runs and booking trades but you’ll be learning actually valuable skills. No ones gonna hold ur hand, but a reputable dealer will have a real slope that isn’t just “cold call clients.”
That's what I figured. Absolutely expected grabbing coffee and lunch etc... But really thought that after year 1, they would've had some development for juniors into actual traders. Not just telling me to "go open accounts" without any direction or guidance. Makes it harder as well that I'm not part of a book so I don't even get to see any income off the trades that do go through me.
This set up is so abnormal in S&T I'm not even sure where to start but you need to get out of here ASAP. You will never make any money doing this, I don't care how much the senior guys are making.
It's definitely an abnormal set up. The group working it has had a more unconventional approach to things their entire career but have been uber successful doing it. However, they have since moved to a new place with no support structure for juniors and that's where I think the issue lies.
I'm looking for more opportunities at the moment. But like I said, I didn't want to jump ship if this was more to be expected and I was just being impatient about finding success on the desk.
You should bail, this method of starting out in sales is pretty much dead in S&T. Even at the regionals (where you will make cold calls) most junior people will spend some time in research/trading so they can learn the basics of the business, how the firm makes money, the role it plays in the ecosystem, how different account types work, etc before getting sent out to cover clients directly. Also you will generally be given a list with client names, contact info (not always accurate) and some background on the client so at least you have somewhat qualified leads, and usually there will be some producing accounts in there so you can cover your draw/replace some of you existing salary at least while you figure things out. Even that set up is not easy, but your current set is pretty close to impossible. I commend you for wanting to stick this out but you are setting yourself up for failure.
I work at an identical shop lol. 1 year in too. Theres only a few shops like this that also have a balance sheet. It's tough out here.
It’s brutal. Not sure how they expect anyone starting fresh to succeed without any form of guidance. I understand not holding their hand. But it’s kind of absurd to throw someone on a desk and tell them to sell securities to institutional accounts that already have coverage from hundreds of brokers. On top of us being a desk without any brand recognition. Feel like I’m just banging my head against the wall every day
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