CAREER TRANSITION FROM PHYSICAL COMMODITIES TRADE TO FINANCIAL TRADE
Hello guys, i hope to be completing CFA LEVEL 3 exam this june, However i have no relevant experience i assume since i had been working in my uncles business as a physical agricultural commodities trader for rice, sugar, wheat and cotton.
I hope to make a transition to financial careers. what advice would you give me and what firms should i apply to. My interest lies in the financial futures and options commodities markets but i have very little experience in it.
Where are you located?
Who do you currently use for clearing? I’m guessing if you are trading physical you might have a broker for futures hedging or something?
Usually those type of guys talk to lots of firms and it’s their side hustle/part of their job to make introductions between traders and firms.
I am based in Dubai currently but as mentioned earlier most part of the job includes physical trading which involves a lot of traveling at times . However i want to make a switch to career where i can materialise what i have learned studying CFA so far and i want to lean more about investing/hedging/speculating in commodities like sugar, coffee, cotton and crude oil. I am seeking advice on which firms to apply to, given i have no issues to relocate to another country.
Maybe an MFin (or some other quantitative degree of similar sort)? It is a viable option if you don't mind going back to school.
given that i have already studied until CFA level 3. now my desire is more towards learning in practical rather than studying more...
I am not sure where you are located but I will give you some european-centric advice.
Having physical experience is great given that it is very difficult to enter that space. Given your experience in agriculture, I would suggest for you to check out any broker/trading vacancies at the likes of ED & F Man, Marex Spectron, ADM Investor, INTL FCStone and etc. These guys have a strong connection to physical players and therefore would highly regard your experience.
I am based in Dubai currently but as mentioned earlier most part of the job includes physical trading which involves a lot of traveling at times . However i want to make a switch to career where i can materialise what i have learned studying CFA so far and i want to lean more about investing/hedging/speculating in commodities like sugar, coffee, cotton and crude oil. I am seeking advice on which firms to apply to, given i have no issues to relocate to another country.
Do you think working at a brokerage firm will help me gain some experaince regarding options and derivates in these commodities.
If you already have a relationship with these guys then go that route. The answer to your question is yes. They will either have a list of firms trading the things you want to introduce you to or be a place to learn another part of the business before trading.
Very common for guys to bounce between brokerage to trading. Brokerage might even be better. Pay is safer. I know guys earning 7 figures doing brokerage with out the risks of trading.
Which is a more risky job financial commodities or physical commodities trading and why?
Being based in Dubai and covering a solid range of ag commodities, I'm assuming you would be involved, to a degree, in the financing/credit portion of trade execution? My best idea would be to network through that group to the banks that provide the financing and see if there are roles in the merchant banking department there. Just a thought... I'd be interested to see if anyone else thinks there's a different way of going about making the switch. A lot of comments I see are regarding the hedging side of trade execution which is just a small part (relatively speaking, of course!) of making a physical trade.
Either path works. But somehow I get the feeling he doesn’t have these connections. Either way or both is the obvious method to move.
Seems like there's more of a lean towards the brokerage side based on OP's post as well. There are so many different ways to branch out from physical trading and the opportunities are only limited by OP's effort in networking and imagination.
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