Hello all,Is there someone who knows firsthand what a typical day at work of a trader is like? I've found two accounts online; one from a derivatives trader at Lehman in NYC, and another from a trader at Goldman Sachs in Asia.I'm more interested in sell-side traders working with exotics. What kind of responsibilities do they have? Generally speaking, when do they get to work? When do they get off? What kind of salaries can they expect in the first 1-3 years at work? What about bonuses? Do they develop and implement their own models, or typically modify existing valuation models? How much more intense and heavy is the work of an exotics trader than a guy trading vanillas. What kind of maths are utilized most on the job? How much room is there to grow in the field, and typically in what direction do young traders go in several years (i.e. within the firm or otherwise)?I know these are a lot of questions, but my due dilligence on the topic has produced insufficient results and so anyone who can provide insight to the aforementioned topics is well deserving of my appreciation and that of many aspiring traders.Regards.

i worked pretty closely with the head of FX exotics prop trading for a few months. he got in around 7 am, left around 5 pm. he had about nine computer screens, four phones, and all kinds of other crap around his desk that he paid attention to at all times, but never really seemed stressed (although he was a very blunt guy). i was developing the application that would suck data from bloomberg, calibrate the model, and do his pricing for him. we (the quants) researched and designed the model to implement. he basically said things like "i want to make sure to capture the movement of the wings of the vol smile" to us and we came up with the models that would do so. so he didn't have to understand how to implement or dig up the cutting edge research, but he had to understand the phenomenology of it, and he had to have opinions. he did a little bit of VBA coding of his own, which is really useful to be able to test your ideas.i can't comment on his pay (he's been with the bank for about 9 years, so i imagine it's a lot). i can say that you can pretty much ignore the heavy-duty computational mathematics--just know the basics of monte carlo, finite differences, trees, etc. the programming load is minimal if it even exists. focus more on the empirical studies of the dynamics of markets and the models that can capture those dynamics. especially with exotics, you will be focusing on the minutiae of the behavior of the market, so you should thoroughly understand how prices behave when certain variables move around in all the major models for your market.keep in mind that this is one experience with one guy, so i don't know how representative it is. also, this guy was a firmly established trader, so perhaps you'll have to do more development work as a young guy. i dunno. but hope that helps.

hammerbacher,To do your job well, what critical skills should a person have? You must know how to price and hedging FX exotic options, right?

QuoteOriginally posted by: rogershammerbacher,To do your job well, what critical skills should a person have? You must know how to price and hedging FX exotic options, right?I think you must be knowing Hull very well! Read it day and night

rogers,to do my job well, or the trading job? i've actually never read hull; i skimmed the first few chapters and it didn't seem particularly useful. the program i wrote for that FX guy required knowledge of pricing the FX exotics, but i didn't need to know how to (in practice) hedge them.

QuoteOriginally posted by: ckarakusQuoteOriginally posted by: rogershammerbacher,To do your job well, what critical skills should a person have? You must know how to price and hedging FX exotic options, right?I think you must be knowing Hull very well! Read it day and nightI've heard this before; Hull's text is the bible of options theory. However, I've also heard that Shreve's Stochastic Calc for Finance II is fundamentally more useful than Hull. Is that true? I bought Shreve's, but should I go through Hull's first?Thanks.

I bought Shreve's, but should I go through Hull's first?Yes!Shreve's stochastic calculus is streets ahead of Hull.In addition to Hull you should start reading Neftci or Baxter & Rennie, continue with Oksendal, and onlythen wrestle with Shreve.

A slight aside. What’s the best way to sharpen assessment centre skills, with regards to trader’s decision-making and commercial flair. Tried fantasy stock/cfd/fx trading games, was wondering if anybody had any other suggestions?

We often see that the book of Hull is considered as the "bible" for derivatives. I agree that it is a very good introduction, but the book hardly touches things like martingales, stochastic calculus or other more advanced mathematics.Personally I started with the book of Hull, but now I am going through a more advanced book I am surprised how much I still did not know after Hull.But I do agree that you should proceed in steps: first a basic book, then go on to the more advanced stuff. Unless you are a geniusBut when I'll take the next step, I'll probably be as surprised of my remaining lack of knowledge as I am today...