FICC Sales and Trading vs. Equity Sales and Trading

I am interested in learning more about FICC S&T vs Equity. I understand there are different products, can someone expand on what the products are (I am assuming corporate and government debt, commodities and currencies). Are they involved in money markets, and mortgages, what am I missing? What kind of tools can I use to get more in tune with these markets as opposed to the equity markets. Are there any different skills necessary to be skilled in FICC vs. Equity.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 
arden:
equities s&t is much less prestigious. bunch of dumbass jocks

Wow. First, that's an ignorant comment and isn't true. Second, all that that anyone cares about is if the idea makes money - regardless of the product.

If you think you like stocks more try to get on an equities desk, if you like bonds more try for a credit desk etc.

 
Best Response

i assure you there is nothing simple about some of the structured trades being done in equity divisions. if the only experience you have with equities is your ameritrade account, i suggest not participating in this thread. i am NOT an equity guy.

so ficc: rates, mortgages, credit, currencies, commodities, structured. has been covered before, so search on wso.

equities can be broken down (remember divisions are bank specific): block trading, options, converts, derivatives/structured, prop

So work that might be done in equities: -Block trading: what you might think. fidelity needs to offload 500k shares, you figure out a way to execute. increasingly a commodity functions especially as algos improve enough to minimize execution impact. sales people on this side are focused on idea generation and pitching clients stock trades.

-options: can be broken down into more subgroups. often times you have MMs based on sectors (so a TMT guy etc). Job is to make market in listed options. However, you could also have a dedicated volatility desk as well as a dedicated dispersion trading desk (altho nowadays this is rarity)

-convertibles: don't know if this is the usual, but equity umbrella can house the converts desks.

-derivatives/structured: swaps, structured products. client comes in, wants X, Y, Z. You figure out a way to give him X, Y, Z plus your fee. You manage your risks.

-prop: can be long/short, lots of banks are doing hfts in this division (altho some have/are moving it into the execution side), pretty cool place

For an example of how JPM does it, see here: http://www.jpmorgan.com/pages/jpmorgan/investbk/solutions/equities

Click on the cash equities, and derivatives tabs. See the products listed. Nearly all banks have similar websites.

 

Why would you divide bw equity vs ficc? Thats hardly half and half.

The better question would be equities v rates v credit v fx v commodities.

I wouldn't do cash equities or flow IG credit from a learning/skillset point of view. Prospects for all the other stuff are roughly the same with a high standard deviation.

Wouldnt say FICC products are more complex in general.. options, synthetics etc can get quite complex.

 

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