Misc Trading Questions

Hi,

Hope you can entertain my noobness for a few questions.

I find myself having a hard time choosing between banking and trading (without going into further detail, just assume I have a handpick selection at groups in both divisions). I am heavily interested in the deal oriented structure and valuation skill set of banking while also very interested in the markets, especially global macro related.

Having exhausted nearly all options at finding some piece of information that might help me choose (and soon), my last resort is looking at the long term outlook of a trader at an investment bank. In banking, there is an ibanking analyst program and analysts typically stick around for 2 - 3 years. How long do entry level traders stick around?

I'm also wondering in what capacity prop activities currently exist at ibanks. I keep hearing that it is still mixed in with market making but I want to know exactly what they mean by this, especially in interest rates and FX. Taking an outlook on the market and acting on it interests me much more than only market making.

 
Best Response

I get the feeling that trading is so different depending on what product it is so maybe it might help if someone could speak more as to what trading FX is like, both spot and derivatives? I'm sure the spreads in spot have to be pretty tight so how do these traders add value beyond that of what some computer program can do?

And what products factor in your ability to actually read the market and trade on it? Like I said, market making and flow doesn't sound all that interesting the way it's been described to me, at least not for someone who is interested in investing.

Sorry for the double post btw. Short timeline, and I've thought so much about this I don't even know what my gut tells me anymore.

 

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