I have been offered a job as a trainee currency trader. I am going to graduate this summer but don't know what the job entails and whether or not I should take it. Originally I wanted to work in sales but thought this might be a foot in the door. I am reasonably good at maths although have never done it to any great level (Management degree with only a little stats and modeling. So my question is, what does a currency trader do all day, do they sit at their desk doing calculations or do they spend most of their time on the phone?If anyone could give an insight it would be a great help

Congratulations on your job offer!Are you familiar with what traders of other assets do? There are basically two broad categories: market makers (who want to be market neutral and make money on the bid-offer spread), and prop traders (who have views and make money when the markets move as they expect). Most FX traders I know spend more time on FX derivatives than spot, since the former is more profitable.Rich Lyon's book "The Microstructure Approach to Exchange Rates" has a few good examples of the role traders play in order flow, such as the 10-minute half-life of a typical dealer's inventory. Hope this helps...

I like to think there are two types of traders,1. Those who will trade under certain circumstances, and2. Those who will trade whenever their clients want them to trade.The first type is more event-driven, the second type is more client driven. The first type knows what his inventory will be over night under different circumstances. The second type only has an inventory overnight if he has predicted his client order flow wrong.There is always an offer. The first type of traders will wait for a situation when they expect the future bid to rise above the current offer. In the meantime they will sit on their hands.There is always a price at which you could make money. The second type of traders knows at what price they can fill their clients and still expect to make money, in all instruments at all times.The first type of traders are more likely to exit at a later time in the same instrument in which they entered. The second type is more likely to exit sooner, by constructing an offsetting basket of correlated securities.I imagine the second type of trader must be prepared to go long or short anything at any time on a moment's notice. I suspect that is more the type of trader you will be expected to be.MP

I wouldn't say I was particuly familiar with other products, I have just looked into more detail about what the office I will join does, its brokerage of off-balance sheet products and derivatives in the currency markets such as interest rate swaps and options. I hope this makes sense, I know what swaps and options are roughly, but will I be constantly doing calculations or is it more, take a position, talk to clients monitor news. I worked with a dealer of a fund over the summer and he didn't seem to do much more than execute trades when told to by the fund managers.Is this a mainly number crunching role?

It seems strange to ask an online forum what a particular job would entail - how the hell would we know? Why not ask the person/company who's offered it?I believe a very important aspect of curreny trading is being plugged in to 'flow' of both information and liquidity. Since the market is largely driven by governments or macro-economic factors there's not a great deal of analysis. What matters is your ability to develop good relationships within the market and hence be able to execute big orders and avoid being on the wrong side when a big move occurs.Of course currency options are far more analytical.

QuoteOriginally posted by: MattFIt seems strange to ask an online forum what a particular job would entail - how the hell would we know? Why not ask the person/company who's offered it?Hopefully anyone who goes to any online forum trusts it only as much as anything they overhear on the bus. I find it to be an excellent place for second opinions and jogging ideas I might not have otherwise thought about.

So he's been offered a job and he doesn't know what it entails. Conclusion: the guy's an idiot and the people who hired him are even bigger idiots.

Harsh, but probably true.

I can asure you I am not an idiot and your response was hardly supportive of someone seeking advice. The only experience I have of trading roles is that within a Hedge Fund and I believe there to be a substantial difference between that and a currency trader. I know the basic theories of various products but my knowledge of FX and money markets isn't that great. What I wanted to know was what is the life of a currency trader like as I really wanted to work as a salesperson and I want to know how different it will be.

Have you got an offer as a salesman? No...Well then take the offer as a trader as it's fucking awesome expereince. This way you can see if you want to be a trader or a salesman!!!!!!!There are people out there that would kill for even a weeks experience on a floor.

QuoteOriginally posted by: robertralHave you got an offer as a salesman? No...Well then take the offer as a trader as it's fucking awesome expereince. This way you can see if you want to be a trader or a salesman!!!!!!!There are people out there that would kill for even a weeks experience on a floor.well said ...what does it take to get into quants answer =know someone who will recommend you .... PS. i don't think he/she will last long anyway

I don't see anything wrong with asking on these boards, there are a lot of currency traders here. Also, some of the ball busting you see here, is exactly what trading on the floor is like . If you could provide a little bit more info about the type of trading, is it exeuction, market-making, or prop? Do you know what markets and currencies you will be trading? Precision is crucial in trading.

Congratulations; it's an amazing opportunity, and a great start to a career in the financial markets. My instinctive advice is: take the job. It's difficult enough to be offered any job as a trader, and traders are treated qualitatively differently from quants and salespeople (they get more respect, more cash, better transferability, a lot more forgiveness when they screw up, and so on). Once a trader, always a trader, too.I was accepted into a top-3 bank's FX programme. I spent four years as an FX market maker, and learned a vast amount about macroeconomics, the dynamics of markets, order processing, deal execution, spoofing, real-world options pricing and management (I hate to call it 'hedging'), the personal skills you need to function in a dealing room, and so on. And I got paid, for moderate success, more than most City quants. The main thing you should do now is this: any bank you like the look of, phone HR and say, I have been offered a job at X as a trader; I like the look of your IR derivatives / CDS / CB / insert your favourite here desk, and are they looking for graduates? They will all interview you. The best bank / desk combination wins your employment. What you'd do all day, by the way, on an FX desk. FIrst six months, get sandwiches and watch and be incredibly keen and sit in seats when people go to the toilet and ask questions and take notes. Then take some tiny prop posisions and beg to be allowed to cover someone's seat for an afternoon; they'll crucify you if you make an error, so don't. Then with exposure comes confidence and eventually you don't feel or seem like a beginner any more. The job itself involves being immersed in your market, knowing where you can get out of a certain size order, and being ready all day to quote in any size. P&L comes from spread, trading around orders, and little moves that are very predictable when you are involved in the market.Hope this helps.

thanks alphabet that was a great help.

QuoteOriginally posted by: robertralThere are people out there that would kill for even a weeks experience on a floor.If this is true, these people should step back and take a reality check.Obviously, they think there is an opportunity on a trading floor which they have the talent or skills to take advantage of. Obviously, if they cannot get those few weeks on the trading floor, there is a huge gap between the ability they believe themselves to have, and the ability other people guess them to have.They should then ask themselves what evidence they are looking at to get such a high opinion of themselves. What evidence are other people looking at? Why is there such a large difference either in the evidence available to them, or in their analysis of that evidence?My own experience playing poker, is that people overestimate their own money-making potential off of sparse evidence which does not justify it. But it is not so much their overestimation of money-making potential, as a lack of a complete understanding of how talent, experience, and opportunity meet. The sparser their evidence, the poorer their understanding, and the larger their gap in perceived potential.What a 22-year-old would kill for is irrelevant. He'll kill whom he's told, when I tell him.It is because there are so many wrong people, who fight so hard to get in the wrong place, that the people who really belong there have to compete with such a crowd trying to get in.MP