Couple questions.... 1. I know people think this is a dying business but in my mind, we will always need sales guys. i think they just wont be paid as much in the past. Is this what you see or are they cutting back teams?

  1. I know sales and salestraders start at normal s&t comp, but how does this progresss over time? how much could i be making 5-7 years from now?

  2. What is your take on sales vs salestrading? will salestrading be around 10 years from now?

 
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I've been in listed derivatives S&T for over 12 years. Not plain equities like you asked, but I think my experience and insight is similar.

Trading desks in equities and derivative products have shrank considerably during my tenure. A typical listed options desk used to have 10-15 traders ... now has 3 (and one is a junior guy who is basically the clerk). The days of non stop order flow are long gone, as many buy side clients simply execute themselves rather than going through a dealer network.

The exceptions are:

  1. very large trades .. in which the solicit the street for the best block pricing.
  2. Bespoke derivatives trades... complex strategies with odd ratios, etc .. that cannot be blasted out electronically.

The S&T area of these products has condensed. They don't make the money they used to, and so they are afforded a much sorter leash than they had 10 years ago.

That's not to say the Sales guys can't make a living .. the ones with longstanding, active clients will be fine. But to go out and try to start a book right now from scratch? That would be very difficult.

S&T comp is always going to vary from year to year. If you're in sales .. even if you have great client relationships, they still have to transact.. Which, at the end of the day, is largely out of your control.

Hope this helps

 

It's hard to say .. I've never been in AM .. but inn a way I could see how being a wholesaler in AM has much bigger potential than institution equity sales. I just sort of think the landscape of institutional equity sales (and like what I am in - listed options sales) is a tough one to break into.

If you're wholesaling say GS products .. you've got a name/reputation and your own product to sale to a wide array of parties. It's more specific what you're selling.

In institutional sales .. if you're trading the same listed products ... the only "edge" you have is the strength of your trading desk and the pricing they'll commit. If a sophisticated client wants pricing on a big order, he's going to call every desk on the street. The compression of the market will make each desk carp the market to win the order. Will your desk win it for you ? who knows..

I'm just saying, a lot of it is out of your hands - even when you do have great clients.

 

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