What is a Sales Trader?
Institutions use Sales Traders to buy and sell shares of stocks, bonds and other financial products distributed through the various markets. Sales traders work in Investment Banks, fund management companies, commercial banks, and insurance companies. You will have access to computer screens that provide continually updated information on market prices and market makers.
Sales Traders assist their firm in rounding up buyers and sellers of blocks of securities, often functioning as a go between the institutions salesmen, market makers and fund managers.
Sales traders initiate phone calls to clients, informing them of changes in the market and provide investment ideas to other market counterparties. They try to present the big picture in pitching investment ideas to clients, and usually have less information about clients than the sales force. When questions arise they refer clients to the research analyst for further consultation and recommendation.
Some sales trader positions are very specialized, requiring more extensive industry expertise or a combination of experience and on-the-job training. Sales traders work on the trading floor of institutions and keep their eyes on four or more computer monitors. You might be dealing in FTSE equities, global equities, commercial paper, government bonds, or corporate bonds.
Other sales traders may specialise in selling more exotic products, on what the city calls “structured finance.” You could also work in more complex instruments such as interest rate swaps, customised to meet unique situations. Sales traders in these departments require more specialist knowledge of securities and markets, and more up-front work prior to executing each trade.
What do sales traders do?
Typical duties performed by sales traders include:
- Relaying buy and sell orders through their firm’s office to market makers.
- Supplying the latest price quotations on equities and other securities.
- Supplying information on the activities and financial positions of institutions to clients
- Suggesting trading ideas to fund managers
- Keeping clients informed of their likelihood to execute an order
- Entertaining key clients of the institution
- Dealing with market makers to get a feel of the market conditions
- Inputting orders onto a Level 2 screen for clients
- They get up early to be at their desks when the markets open at 8am and spend their day in front of computer screens with hundreds of other traders on the ‘trading floor’. The screens are a window onto the financial markets and show movements in the prices of shares, bonds, commodities and other financial products.
- Sales people work the phones, calling clients – rich individuals, pension funds and institutional investors – from the moment the markets open.
- They take orders for financial products which they pass on to sales traders, who buy the products. Midway between the sales people and traders exists a hybrid – the ‘sales trader’. Like sales people, they call clients to recommend securities; like traders, they can also trade the securities.
How do I get a graduate scheme / internship / entry level job or career in Sales Trading?
Obtaining a graduate scheme, internship or entry level role in sales trading can be very challenging and competitive – though very achievable by getting your application, CV, interview and general approach right. You can guarantee that ninety percent of applicants for sales trading roles will not know how to apply, so getting your application in the top ten percent makes things a lot more achievable.
Approaching the company in the right way will make all the difference. Combining the right approach with a strong interview (and in some cases assessment centre) writ a strong focused tailored CV will go a long way. Make sure you have gone through the free videos on this sight by entering your name and email address in the top right of this screen underneath the video. Once you have filled this in you will have instant access to everything you need to secure your career in sales trading.
