Anyone here get a start at a decent sized bank (not some little prop shop) as an Equity or Derivatives trader? I’m just curious as to what that job is really like, from an inside perspective. Obviously if it says Prop Trader I know you’re trading for the firm/your own account that you have to reconcile, but is that what every “trader” job is like? If you work for JPM or DB in Trading are you just picking up the phone from big institutional clients and submitting orders from their accounts into the marketplace? Or are you taking orders and then working them throughout the day? Or do you complete their trade while on the phone by offering them a fill on the spot and then you work the order yourself and take the spread? Or are there all types of traders, some that only enter client instructions, some that work large orders, some that prop?
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Most BB bracket traders are flow (executing orders for their clients). Granted it’s much more complex than that. All depends on the desk and if they’re making a market in the aforementioned security.
Read The Practical Guide to Wall Street: Equities & Derivatives.