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July 31, 2026
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ops would
Big believer in doing what job interests you more at the moment given trading is not guaranteed and both are good paths to a trading role. That said, logistics over everything as a path to physical trading job
Gonna go other way, most trade houses hire their front-office staff externally or experienced. There is no typical ops to trader path in most of these places. First chance at front office experience would do you better. If the firm does have an ops to trader past examples than would say ops.
I have actually seen it happen more often from origination/business development than from ops at the supermajor I was in. Typically originators are more senior, commercial roles and there are fewer of them so they make more of a name for themselves. But I would not consider either of them to be a sure shot at trading. I think one thing that is not well understood is that circumstances matter more than “the right path.” If you are a rock star in your role, you get noticed. If you aren’t good, it doesn’t matter what roles you had before- you won’t be picked to be a trader.
At my shop, Originators are allowed to hold positions (not very large, but it's an option). The majority of time, physical traders have a scheduling/logistics background. The fin traders typically come from a traditional banking background or started as an analyst for a fin trader and moved up after several years.
I agree that most traders have a logistics background, but at least where I am they got that background through a 6-12 month rotation as part of a development program. They were not full time logistics operators before becoming a trader. That type of switch is something I have never actually seen yet whereas I’ve seen a few originators switch.
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