"Trading Assistant"
I unfortunately missed the boat on S&T FT recruiting and am stuck in AM for the next year or two. I see alot of positions open for "trader assistant" where you work with the S&T desks but seems more of a back-office role. Can someone comment on the progression of starting out as an assistant and working your way up to the trading desk? I've heard this being parroted as a path on here a few times so just curious to hear yall's thoughts -- I'm interested in FX mainly.
I am currently in the TA role at an investment manager. The role is considered front office as you are on the trading floor working with and learning from the traders. Everyone I know who has been in the role became a trader or moved to product teams after a few years in the TA role. I can only speak to my firm but this is a great role if you want to be exposed to investment teams and familiarize yourself with their strategies while also learning about trading. I am constantly talking to various brokers on a day to day basis to get market color and communicate this to portfolio managers/analysts. There are a number of senior traders who started as TA's and stayed with the firm due to the wlb/comp. Timeframe is 2-4 years before you become a trader. Happy to answer any specific questions you have as there is not much info on the role due to the lack of available seats/low turnover.
That's exciting to hear, I guess kind of a general question but any tips pivoting out of AM into a trading seat? I plan on doing a year of my rotation under portfolio management where I work directly with the PMs and research team. I want to eventually spin this to get on an FX desk (I see some desks at my bank for derivatives, structured products, fixed income, and fx), I've heard it's not as quantitative as the others which is a drawback of mine since I don't have a math/cs background.
I do not work at a bank so it might not be the same - the best thing to do would be pick a few desks that you would be interested in and reach out to the current TA's. Ask them if they can give you 10-15 minutes to talk about the role/how they got into it/what attracted them. This gets your name out there as well as demonstrates that you have an interest in the position. You can also reach out to traders and ask them for a few minutes to ask the same questions. If you interview, you need to be able to explain why you want to work in trading - there are a lot of people out there who apply to the job just b/c it looks cool/good salary. You do not need to worry about not having a C/S background.
These desks are usually very thinly staffed so a lot will come down to timing of a TA being promoted or leaving the desk for a new position. When you do see a job - reach out to the hiring manager and let them know you are interested in the role, these are these traders you've spoken to in the past and would she have 5 minutes to talk more about the role to you. Being a people person is also a big help - you are going to be sitting with the person 7-10 hours a day or going out to dinner with brokers so they want social skills as well.
TA varies hugely between firms. Some are junior traders. Others are just middle office with no clear path to a trading seat.
Former mortgage trader here. I started on the bottom rung in the capital markets department then worked to trading assistant then trader. I would say since each trading desk or group can have a different focus, just be great with the tools you'll be using most of your day. Which to begin with would be extremely comfortable with excel and I'd suggest learning a programming language or at least be familiar with a couple, like SQL, R and VBA. For a TA role the hiring manager isn't going to care about generating trade ideas or strategies just that you are competent, can follow direction and are able to learn a lot. I think it would be beneficial to reach out to different desks to state your interest. Don't bs them that all you've ever dreamed about is being a trader or something. A lot of has to do with being on the right place at the right time, so if a job opens up you might already be on their radar from having reached out previously.--Be great with excel, throw in some programming languages---Network and demonstrate that you are an effective communicator----Be willing to learn and be a team player
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