Investment Banking Traders
Overview
Introduction
Investment banking traders buy and sell equities (stocks and shares), fixed income products, currencies, commodities, corporate credit, government debt, interest rate products, and other types of securities. Flow traders do this for their firm’s clients, while proprietary traders use their employer’s own capital to make the trades. Traders often specialize, becoming experts in particular types of derivatives, stocks, currencies, commodities, and other securities.
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents (a career category that includes traders) earned median annual salaries of $64,120 in May 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings ranged from less than $34,360 to $208,000 or more. Highly-skilled and experienced traders can earn more than $500,000 a year.
PayScale.com reported that, in December 2019, derivativ...
Work Environment
Unlike their analyst and associate colleagues, investment banking traders don’t work 100-hour weeks that include weekends. They typically arrive to work prior to market open (6 a.m. to 7 a.m.), and then are able to leave when their particular market closes in the late afternoon. Less-experienced traders typically work longer hours. The trading room can be hectic, and the work of traders is ofte...
Outlook
Employment of traders, research analysts, investment bankers, and sales workers declined significantly during the 2010s, according to Coalition Ltd., a London-based research firm. Factors that contributed to this decline include:
- the introduction of algorithmic trading (which has reduced the number of traders needed to complete trades)
- the reduction in proprietary trading ...
