What exactly do you do as a 1st/2nd year S&T analyst?

So lets say you get the job as an S&T analyst in whichever desk you choose. I know that for sales, you aren't given real clients until after 1 year on the job and for traders, you aren't given a book until after 2 years (or are these #s dependent on the desk? correct me if I'm wrong).

So for the first 2 years, what exactly do you do? Is it basically like an internship all over again, bringing coffee/lunch to everyone on the desk or do you actually get other responsibilities? For 1st/2nd year traders, do they just sit by other traders' desks and observe what is going on? When do you actually get your own book and start trading?

I just find it hard to believe that 1st/2nd year S&T analysts are earning $100k+ a year by basically being a food/coffee delivery boy. Can anyone who's worked in S&T comment on this? Thanks.

 

This is highly variable. I'll describe it from the trading side. There are traders who got a book within 3 months of starting. There are also guys who went through the 2 year analyst program, switched desks but never really clicked anywhere and bailed for bschool.

It depends on three variables:

  1. Your skills. If you are ready and capable, your boss might let you start taking some risk a few months out. One person I know started trading 3 months out because he was incredibly diligent, had interned with the desk before, and understood the product enough to start taking small amounts of risk.

  2. Your boss. There are managers who let the juniors fiddle around with their own small positions to train them. There are others who are hard set on timeframes for promotion. You can't really do much here other than choosing your desk/manager wisely.

  3. Luck. One trader I know jumped on a seat when the existing trader was sick. It also happened to be an incredibly volatile day. Because he did a good job trading that day, his manager set him up with his own book.

So ya, like everything else in S&T its dependent on your skills and luck.

 

thanks baddebt88, definitely clears things up.

Just wondering, how long on average before 1st/2nd year traders are given responsibility? I mean I know there are definitely extreme cases (such as the 3 months/2 years example you mentioned) but is there usually an average time frame before actually trading? Is this time frame different for sales?

Also I was wondering if there is a general pattern among divisions in terms of the time period before receiving responsibility. For example do traders in fixed income generally allowed to take on risk faster than those in equities or in derivatives?

 

Side question: What do you think is the best strategy to get one's own book if he is recruited as a general "analyst" out of an undergraduate to a BB trading team, rather than the "junior trader" or "assistant trader", etc?

Say if the team is running based on a few seasoned traders' decisions, and the rest of them are doing the analytics, research, order execution and so on - one would obviously have to take one of those analytics/research/other roles to start off, but what other things should he do to get his own PnL one day? Or should he give up having the book in this team altogether?

 

Learn the product, send out reports, conduct research, make spreadsheets for the desk, answer phones, send out early morning offer sheets are all things you will be doing for the first year or so.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

i assume you're talking about derivatives, correct me if i'm wrong.

i am in my last year of undergrad but i interned on an equity derivs desk last summer so i see where you're coming from.

flow is a step below prop, its easier. therefore the analyst is going to be weened up to prop by doing flow at first. it gets the analyst comforatble with trading in general and then you would move up when ready. this is an educated guess on my part since i'm in a similar position as i assume you're in.

as far as the PnL goes, if you're doing derivatives flow, then you're trying to maximizae flow in order to collect as many risk premiums as possible. you're the insurance company.

don't hesitate to correct me if i'm wrong, not 100% sure on these subjects myself

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

You interned on an equity derivs desk? I find that hard to believe because you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Entry-level analysts don't generally trade much of anything, they need to earn the trust of the higher-ups before they can have their own book.

As for flow vs. prop - they are completely different desks. you aren't "weaned" on flow only to "graduate" to prop, that doesn't make any sense. associates trade flow, vps trade flow. a good flow trader is not necessarily a good prop trader and vice-versa.

You make money on bid-ask spreads and on the performance of your book's position. I don't get what's hard to understand about this. When someone buys from you, you usually don't have a seller on the other end (esp. in derivs). If you can't clear it out, you have a residual position which can either make or lose you money. This is where risk management comes into play.

Say someone offers to sell to you a huge quantity at your bid side. Great, you'll make an immediate mark-to-market gain (assuming your mkt is comparable to the rest of the street), but you are taking on the risk that you won't be able to unload that stuff. What if goes down in value (which is likely if it is getting dumped to you). What do you do? That's risk management and what seperates a good trader from bad trader in flow.

 

ok so i understand flow in terms of profiting from the spread of any security but now i am somewhat confused in terms of derivatives.

for an equity derivatives desk (sorry for being so specific but this is particularly important to me) isn't flow also considered selling as many options as you can from the perspective that most won't end in the money and therefore the marketmaker will generally be profitable? i.e. the idea of an insurance company being profitable since it collects a lot more premiums than it dishes out in settlements?

as i mentioned in my first post, these are mostly educated guesses. just trying to further my knowledge in the area...

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

"Can someone clarify this for me? Because entry-level analysts trade flow and not prop, they don't take any positions."

false.

"They generate profit from bid-ask spreads?"

true

" So their job basically consists of market-making and providing liquidity. So where does P&L come from?"

from the bid-ask and the residual positions they get stuffed with.

"Forgive me for being naive or uninformed, but where does hedging and risk management come in. Essentially, where is the "trading" element, or how is one assessed on performance?"

well flow is every bit as skilled as prop....it's just a different beast. the performance question is a better one than you probably realize, b/c it's tough to sort out individual contributions on a jointly managed book.

 

could you elaborate on it being "a different beast", Jimbo?

i would think its easier (not that its easy) since you don't have to take as much into account if you're trading off the spread vs. taking prop bets on individual companies (if you're doing equities). i say that because you're staying in your positions for less time on average if you're doing flow vs. prop, right?

thanks.

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

"Say someone offers to sell to you a huge quantity at your bid side. Great, you'll make an immediate mark-to-market gain (assuming your mkt is comparable to the rest of the street), but you are taking on the risk that you won't be able to unload that stuff. What if goes down in value (which is likely if it is getting dumped to you). What do you do? That's risk management and what seperates a good trader from bad trader in flow."

Dead on...and this is VERY pronounced in any product with limited/non existent liquidity.

 

"could you elaborate on it being "a different beast", Jimbo?

i would think its easier (not that its easy) since you don't have to take as much into account if you're trading off the spread vs. taking prop bets on individual companies (if you're doing equities). i say that because you're staying in your positions for less time on average if you're doing flow vs. prop, right?

thanks. "

yeah but you're getting hit or lifted in large size that you might not want. with prop you get to sit, research, and take only the positions you want. flow desks do not have that luxury.

I have no idea what trading flow equities is like day in and day out... but yeah not in the positions for very long. market makers in illiquid products can be stuck with this crap forever.

 

"ok so i understand flow in terms of profiting from the spread of any security but now i am somewhat confused in terms of derivatives.

for an equity derivatives desk (sorry for being so specific but this is particularly important to me) isn't flow also considered selling as many options as you can from the perspective that most won't end in the money and therefore the marketmaker will generally be profitable? i.e. the idea of an insurance company being profitable since it collects a lot more premiums than it dishes out in settlements?

as i mentioned in my first post, these are mostly educated guesses. just trying to further my knowledge in the area... "

No...i don't think equity option desks are net option sellers. if you just sell options all day and hope they expire worthless you will be gone and fast. that's how desks blow up.

after doing a customer trade, they buy and sell the underlying, or other options (or hopefully some combination of the two) and do the best job of balancing their portfolio's risk and taking smart bets that they can.

and insurance co's pay out more than they take it, by the way.

 

if i wasn't starting there full time this spring, i'd be more than happy to tell you, sorry.

the reason i ask these questions is the desk that i was on is at a tier 2 BB and they did more prop than flow, but still did both. so when i heard them throwing around industry terminology, i inferred, hence my confusion.

my desk did not net sell options, they traded volatility. this is mainly why i am not as familiar with flow trading as i should be.

"after doing a customer trade, they buy and sell the underlying, or other options (or hopefully some combination of the two) and do the best job of balancing their portfolio's risk and taking smart bets that they can.

and insurance co's pay out more than they take it, by the way."

i thought that if flow is about trading the spread, then how are they making bets at all? do you mean they are betting that they will quickly be able to unload the position they just took on to earn a quick spread profit?

and i'd love to learn more about the insurance co. topic, but thats for another thread.

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

You post a bid-ask spread. Someone in the market likes your bid price and decides to sell you the share. Now you have 2 options: 1) You unwind your position instantly and as such hedge yourself from any movement in the underlying share price. Result, you earn a premium. 2) You currently hold a long position. You are convinced that the share price will go up. You make a bet by not unwinding your position. Result (if things go as planned), you earn the premium + the capital gain on the share.

My wording may be a bit off, but I think this illustrates the general concept. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

"1) You unwind your position instantly and as such hedge yourself from any movement in the underlying share price. Result, you earn a premium."

well thats assuming someone hits you on your offer, no? if the counterparty just saw your trade on the screen, why would they bid higher than you just did? or do you mean that i would get into my long position and wait long enough hoping that the market moves up a little so that someone actually hits my offer?

"2) You currently hold a long position. You are convinced that the share price will go up. You make a bet by not unwinding your position. Result (if things go as planned), you earn the premium + the capital gain on the share."

this isn't flow trading anymore though is it?

thanks.

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

"1) You unwind your position instantly and as such hedge yourself from any movement in the underlying share price. Result, you earn a premium."

actually not, if you're hitting another dealer's bid and the market is tight.

 

"i thought that if flow is about trading the spread, then how are they making bets at all? do you mean they are betting that they will quickly be able to unload the position they just took on to earn a quick spread profit?"

someone hits you with 3mm shares of Caterpillar, have fast do you think you could sell that?

Jimbo

 

"someone hits you with 3mm shares of Caterpillar, have fast do you think you could sell that?

Jimbo "

so you mean they're making bets on being able to quickly offload the position and not risk losing the spread vs. making bets on movements lasting an extended period of time, right?

edit: forgot to add quote

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

"actually hits my offer?"

first, you get hit on your bid, not on your offer.

secondly, it's not always possible to immediately trade out of a position. so flow desks have residual positions.

what was it like on the desk you worked on?

 

as i said above, my desk was significantly more prop than flow. the guys on my desk took volatility positions in various equity derivatives, mostly options. they'd occasionally run deltas and gammas but they mostly traded volatility.

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

"as i said above, my desk was significantly more prop than flow. the guys on my desk took volatility positions in various equity derivatives, mostly options. they'd occasionally run deltas and gammas but they mostly traded volatility."

uhh, ok. how else do you trade volatility except through options? and how do you trade options without exposure to other greeks?

 

volatility swaps and variance swaps.

of course they had exposure to other greeks, they hedged them out. when they traded vol, they'd hedge out as many of the other greeks as they could. however, on occasion, they'd run deltas, for ex.

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

haven't heard that one, heh. i don't mean to be a douche or anything, but did you mean dVol/dS where S is stock price? i'm just trying to understand the phrase, could you elaborate a bit? hate to sound so dumb...

and yes, loved my time there. i really like equity derivs as an instrument. and its difficult for me to judge how they did since they were teaching me a lot about what they do over the summer, so i'm not educated enough on the profession to critique professionals yet.

if you dont mind me asking, what do you do, Jimbo?

------ "its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
 

I have been lurking on this thread for a while now and i cant take it any more. Every time i think the mystery behind flow trading is about to be explained we somehow deviate from it.

What so lets elaborate, in equities/equity options since those will be the desks i will be working on. What happens if a client comes in and dumps 3mm shares of CAT on you. What if the market is not liquid enough for you to unload that 3mm shares at the offer. You are then long 3mm shares of CAT at the bid.

"2) You currently hold a long position. You are convinced that the share price will go up. You make a bet by not unwinding your position. Result (if things go as planned), you earn the premium + the capital gain on the share."

this isn't flow trading anymore though is it?"

This is where flow trading loses me. Can someone explain the possible scenarios.

"secondly, it's not always possible to immediately trade out of a position. so flow desks have residual positions."

Can you explain what a risidual position is and what descretion a flow trader has at exiting that position?

IMO it appears that the resources out there such as the Vault guide paint a very rosy picture of the market being completely balanced at the bid and offer. Furthermore it paints a picture that a trader can always dump their long position at the offer. Simply put this is just not true.

So to sum it up, when a flow trader is unable to unload his position they are left with a long/short position that they must attemp to make a profit on? In this sense they are being a proprietary trader in how they choose to exit the order.

Could someone please help me sort out how flow trading works. PM is ok.

Thanks.

 

Ok, let's stick with equities. Let's say average daily volume in cat is 10mm shares a day. someone comes in to sell....would you make the same price if they are looking to sell 300 shares or 3mm shares? which would be higher or lower?

so that's part of the skill...generally you will probably have some kind of risk limits for the book and for a particular name.

"So to sum it up, when a flow trader is unable to unload his position they are left with a long/short position that they must attemp to make a profit on? In this sense they are being a proprietary trader in how they choose to exit the order."

yeah, pretty close.

 

"what happens with these residual positions?"

this is where flow trading kills me: it's a crapshoot after this. nothing short of clairvoyance--no manner of fundamental analysis or VIX and VXN monitoring--can tell you how a single stock will preform in the next 24 hours.

how does this system persist? you're telling me a bunch of traders sit around, thinking they can predict the market's future? so when they go long or at risk CAT, can't cross it or sell it, they are stuck praying that the stock trades up?

heaven help me if it's an illiquid security!

what happens is there's a scandal? a rumor? a lawsuit? a million things can happen to CAT intraday and after hours.

and that's why you get this crap like "intuition" and "gut instinct" that marks a "superstar" trader.

am I too cynical, or have I been listening to too many bschool profs?

 
desecrato:
"what happens with these residual positions?"

this is where flow trading kills me: it's a crapshoot after this. nothing short of clairvoyance--no manner of fundamental analysis or VIX and VXN monitoring--can tell you how a single stock will preform in the next 24 hours.

how does this system persist? you're telling me a bunch of traders sit around, thinking they can predict the market's future? so when they go long or at risk CAT, can't cross it or sell it, they are stuck praying that the stock trades up?

heaven help me if it's an illiquid security!

what happens is there's a scandal? a rumor? a lawsuit? a million things can happen to CAT intraday and after hours.

and that's why you get this crap like "intuition" and "gut instinct" that marks a "superstar" trader.

am I too cynical, or have I been listening to too many bschool profs?

If these are issues to you why do you want to get involved with trading in the first place?

Trading (flow trading included) have inherent risks associated with them if your not comfortable with this environment and dont believe that you can atleast somewhat predict the areas where you can unwind a position i dont think you belong in trading to begin with. Being able to handle getting jammed (locked into a position you cant unwind without moving the market) is one of the most important skills involved in trading. Thats why the banks hire smart people, that know how to retain their focus while under extreme pressure not to take a loss.

If flow trading were as simple as crossing book all day they could essentially hire a monkey to do it. Last time i checked there were no monkeys on a trading desk, just young hungry professionals. WELCOME TO TRADING.

 

"this is where flow trading kills me: it's a crapshoot after this. nothing short of clairvoyance--no manner of fundamental analysis or VIX and VXN monitoring--can tell you how a single stock will preform in the next 24 hours."

ahh my friend, the skill is in making the right price in the first place. the skill of a flow trader is in gauging how well/quickly he will be able to unload his risk.

"am I too cynical, or have I been listening to too many bschool profs?"

maybe, what've they been saying? and how many have actual experience?

 
initial_d:
so how is all this any different from what a dealer does?

Not sure I get the question...market makers at banks act as "dealer"...are you just asking a question about the specific use of the word "dealer" in this industry?

 

Good thread...I just find it hard to believe that after interning on a desk for the whole summer one can not differential between flow and prop...also, some flow desks are allowed even encouraged to take prop positions at some BBs....

dealers/brokers match buyers and seller they always have someone on the other end of the trade, their net position at the end of the day is zero...the p/l they generate is based purely on volume - the more trades they make the more money they make doesn't matter what direction the trades going in because at the end of the day they are net zero - does this help?

 
girlytrader:
Good thread...I just find it hard to believe that after interning on a desk for the whole summer one can not differential between flow and prop...also, some flow desks are allowed even encouraged to take prop positions at some BBs....

dealers/brokers match buyers and seller they always have someone on the other end of the trade, their net position at the end of the day is zero...the p/l they generate is based purely on volume - the more trades they make the more money they make doesn't matter what direction the trades going in because at the end of the day they are net zero - does this help?

you dont have to flatten your book nightly...for many books this isn't even possible...but yeah market making desks generally will do better the more flow they see.

 

On an EqDerivs desk you are usually going to have two types of traders - single stock and index options, on the flow side they will make or lose money on the bid/ask and any risk that they cannot hedge out. Single stock can hedge different ways - OTC with another dealer, exchange traded options, or with the actual underlying. Which of these, or the combination thereof, is used will depend on the risk tolerance of the desk and on the ability of the desk to get funding. A large enough book could be hedged as an index book, introducing another risk. Index options which are more broadly indicative of the market have more hedging involved - using Eurodollars to hedge rho.

For an EqDerivs desk, a lot bids are competitive - institutional clients that use them for an ongoing hedging strategy will shop around for the best offer, and the trader's price is not the one that clients see - the sales desk that is communicating with the client tacks on a few bps of their own.

Girly - it is a volume game, but every trade is not going to be perfectly hedged - you might be long at one price and short at another, and again, depending on what you are using to hedge, you might be delta neutral but still have other risks.

 
theHam1:
This is a very interesting topic...

Is there a large difference in the way similar desks at different banks choose to hedge?

i.e. credit derivatives at GS vs. credit derivatives at MS

dude, two traders on the same book might make different hedging choices.

 

"Girly - it is a volume game, but every trade is not going to be perfectly hedged - you might be long at one price and short at another, and again, depending on what you are using to hedge, you might be delta neutral but still have other risks."

yup...and on structured desks, it can be a nightmare...at least in equities you have an approximate hedge even if you run a calendar spread in the underlying. but imagine if your only hedging choice were dramatically different from what you had to trade for customers....

 
dude, two traders on the same book might make different hedging choices.

I imagine a new trader is going to perform in a way similar to his/her mentors and colleagues on the sames desk. Similar, but not exactly the same...Stipulation as I do not work full-time in trading.

My question is then...how different will a firm to firm hedging strategy and hedging choices be (taking into account that there will always be some variability, i.e. between two traders on same book)?

Does these differing strategies account for major differences in profitability between similar desks at different BB's?

 
theHam1:
dude, two traders on the same book might make different hedging choices.

I imagine a new trader is going to perform in a way similar to his/her mentors and colleagues on the sames desk. Similar, but not exactly the same...Stipulation as I do not work full-time in trading.

My question is then...how different will a firm to firm hedging strategy and hedging choices be (taking into account that there will always be some variability, i.e. between two traders on same book)?

Does these differing strategies account for major differences in profitability between similar desks at different BB's?

started a new thread

 
the more trades they make the more money they make doesn't matter what direction the trades going in because at the end of the day they are net zero - does this help?

If they are net zero at the end of the day, doesn't this take away the positional element in market making?

If flow trading were as simple as crossing book all day they could essentially hire a monkey to do it. Last time i checked there were no monkeys on a trading desk, just young hungry professionals. WELCOME TO TRADING.

If all positions are net zero at the end of the day...then flow trading WOULD be as simple as crossing book all day. Even if you were "jammed"... net zero is assuming you are "jammed" with as much positive gain as loss...

I must be seriously missing something here...Is the point that for good market makers, positions are not net zero, but are +EV based on market knowledge?

I need a god damn mentor ASAP...

 

I took the OP's term of 'dealer' as a broker as in a broker from say Tradition NA and from what I've been told by people who work at brokerage firms brokers are net zero at the end of the day, meaning that trades only get done when the broker can match a buyer and a seller so if you were to compare a broker and a trader the jobs are different mainly because traders have the ability and in most cases end the day with an open position (that should be hedged). Traders are also market makers and can take prop positions. Furthermore, brokers get paid on volume where as trader's p/l is determined by multiple factors ... is my understanding of the job of a broker does not correct?

 

Brokers never take ANY position, not even momentarily. they just match buyers and sellers. they are always flat. repeat: brokers are NOT risk takers.

Market making desks at banks are called "dealers" as in, "are you facing a customer or another dealer"?

 

"Brokers never take ANY position" - I wouldn't say never. I've known guys who have gotten stuck and ended up taking the position in an error account, wasn't pretty. But I agree with you, 99.9% of the time brokers don't take positions.

 

we don't purposely take positions. Mistakes can happen where you buy instead of sell and you're obviously stuck with the losses.

I thought equity flow traders fundamental job duty (and obv it depends on a million factors) was to take large positions that a client wants to load/unload at a slightly discounted price from the current market price, and ensure they get rid of that position as fast as they can with as little loss of commish +discount premium as possible.

It is obviously a lot more complicated than that and it varies by desk and product but am I on the right track?

 
Best Response

The confusion in this thread is visceral, and stems from the confusion about what a "dealer" is, and what a "flow trader" is.

First, the technical term is "broker dealer"...and all 3 terms "broker", "dealer", "broker dealer" "market maker" "liquidity provider" are used interchangeably at the investment banks.

Second, Flow Trader...you provide liquidity for your customers in securities, generally for larger size than is available in the electronic execution screens.

So, lets say the market for a security is 11 bid, offered at 12 with 500 units being on the bid, and 600 units on the offer. "Units" can be shares, millions of bonds, futures contracts, option contracts, or whatever. Then a customer asks you to bid on 5000 units. What do you do? If you bid 11 (seems like an aggressive bid giving the current market depth in the screens, but maybe you ave to show tight markets to get the flow in your market), well, you know that you can hit the bid in the screens for 500 units (for a scratch), but then what happens on the next 4500 after that is kindof a mystery. Maybe the Bid refreshes and you can sell more (for a scratch)...or maybe the bid drops and you are "stuck" on the remaining 4500 units printing a loss of unknown size. This is normally a recipe to lose money. What if you join the 12 offer instead of hitting the 11 bid?...then you are hoping that somebody else in the market will lift that 12 offer before the market trades lower. But when you "join the offer" everybody will see that there is a lot of size on the offer. Maybe you don't want to telegraph to the market that there is a large seller right there...so maybe you only offer a small amount of your size...lets say 100-200 units....and you keep the rest hidden for now. At this moment, you need to make a decision...will the next few ticks be up or down? This is what flow traders are thinking about all day..."what do i think the market is about to do...because i might get stuck with a large position at any moment, and i'll need to know what to do if/when that happens."

Kind of sounds like the flow trader has to think like a prop trader all day, right? Because that's EXACTLY what it means to be a flow trader. So lets say that you think the market is about o explode higher, from 11/12 up to 20. You don't "know" but you spend all your time and energy "trying to predict" every move in the market where you are a "dealer". If you are confident that this will happen, then you should fear a customer asking you to offer a block of size...because you'll offer at 12, get lifted, and then watch the market explode higher in your face, and then you'll puke at 20 and print a massive loss. Well, if you are "confident" that the market is about to explode higher, and you know that your customers trade 5000 units...then you would be wise to buy 5000 units (or, whatever you can get) before a customer calls you and ass you to offer a block. So, lets say you buy 2000 units at 12, and now the market is 12 bid, offered at 13. If a customer calls and asks you to offer 5000 units, you can show a 13 offer, make an immediate profit on 2000 units, and then you need to figure a way to get out of the remainder 3000 units. Maybe you'll scratch some and take a loss on some, for a net profit on the whole thing...maybe you'll still print a loss because you didn't pre-buy enough. OR, maybe you were wrong and the market then trades lower and you end up taking a loss on your "pre-hedge" (in which case, you suck and you should not be a flow trader and you deserve to get fired).

Sounds like a market maker/flow trader is really a prop trader PLUS a market maker. Why would anybody want to do this? Because if you are a good flow trader, then you will have lots of customers coming to you for their big flows (because you provide a very tight bid/offer spread for large size), you'll get to cross some of those flows, and you'll get a feel for what the market might do next, because you get to see more volume that is printing in the screens (sometimes this makes you money, sometimes it costs you money).

ok, welcome to flow trading....also called "the big leagues"

 

Gekko21 has pretty much covered it.

Also concerning time frames on getting your own book, it highly depends on you. You will get opportunities to show if you can do it, and if you can step up you will get a chance early. Imagine an NBA rookie, if a start gets injured he might see some playing time, if he has been working on his game and performs in those small windows of opportunity, he will get more playing time. Same thing.

 

sometimes they get coffee...most of the time, listening in on phone calls, answering the phones, logging trades, attending meetings and recapping them to the others on their desk

 

I don't know, there are too many factors to say. Sure how much you impress your desk head matters and you can plot out an average person's course,, but a lot of it must be luck too. I was lucky enough to get my own book after 3 months, I don't think I'm necessarily better or worse than a lot of people, but I was given the opportunity regardless just because they seemed to think I could handle it. It depends on your desk, but mine manages PNL at a desk level so it depends entirely on what your manager thinks you should get.

Jack: They’re all former investment bankers who were laid off from that economic crisis that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have zero real world skills, but God they work hard. -30 Rock
 

First of all you have it all wrong.... You will not be GIVEN anything... S&T is much more of a meritocracy where EVERYTHING IS EARNED. With that being said what others have said here are key to getting into that role.

In risk arb you will start out by learning the basics behind the strategy then learning the various nuances. No two deals are exactly the same. You will support the traders on the desk by acting as an extra set of eyes and ears as the mind can only process so many things at one time. Example of this include monitoring the wires for news, alerting traders when a stock hits a level they have indicated, a ton of spreadsheet work, figuring out how to do misc things for them on bloomberg etc etc.

"Oh the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion" - Frank Slaughtery 25th Hour.
 

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Jack: They’re all former investment bankers who were laid off from that economic crisis that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have zero real world skills, but God they work hard. -30 Rock

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