In the investment banking industry, securities sales and trading provide traction for the banking industry within the larger financial world. Investment banks rely on sales departments selling bonds and shares of stock in companies it backs. Job Activities
Security sales and trading are a very serious vocation, requiring a person comfortable with high-profile, high-stakes situations throughout the entire work day. Other I-banking careers like public finance, M&A, and corporate finance place emphasis on teamwork over individual success, but salespersons and traders work on their own bringing their contemporaries’ financial products to the market for nothing but commission. No Pressure. In the U.S., securities business focuses on the market’s net trades, known as “exchanges,” like the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, the Chicago Board of Trade, and others. Exchanges provide a place for investors to buy or sell debt, futures, options, stocks, and many other financial instruments. Both salespeople and independent agents work under simple contracts requiring them to build a “book” of clients. Whether amateur or veteran, regardless of the current number of active clients, those working in the securities business make cold calls. In fact, new brokers sometimes make 600 cold calls per day. This seems unreasonable, but most securities sales work happens during these calls. Make the call, solicit the client, or a buyer seeks a specific stock or bond issue. As time goes on, salespeople use analyst research, learning every existing sales pitch and rhetorical sleight of tongue-in-cheek pushing his or her securities to potential investors. Trading securities offers the only way for traders to profit. Generally, tradespeople take positions on a security issue and buy and sell massive amounts of bonds and stocks with an employer’s (or their own) capital.Playing the smart game can create a big win. If not, the losses can burn through everything. Daily Routine Traders’ and brokers’ daily life revolves around trading securities because this pays their own way. On the west coast, a security salesperson starts their day before six a.m., getting to work as soon as the opening bell rings in New York. There is no schedule flexibility, no long coffee break, and absolutely no time for errands. Profitable Virtues Securities sales and trading are extremely high-pressure. In their career, salespeople know they hold the financial future of their clients in their hands, and theirs alone. Imagine making a decision that could make or lose $100,000 with little to no time to think or act, keeping in mind somebody else provided the money. The fluid and dynamic nature of stock prices can launch a salesperson into the 1% richest one day, and then back down to the worst poverty and depravity the next. Keep antacid close for that bad feeling in your stomach. If you chomped through the last one earlier in the day, ask the broker standing next to you. Yeah. That said, the lack of supervision and a scarcity of genuine human or managerial interaction needs thick skin and a good head for numbers. Then throw in a ravenous need to make money - those make up the stock broker’s psychological essentials. Sales require exceedingly superior customer service skills. Traders, on the other hand, need the nerves to manage risk, and cop big losses. The carrot on the rope - potential for income well beyond most people’s six-figure dream income. A salesperson could become a millionaire, and rank among the elites of the elites. How to Join the Race Luckily, there are no educational crash courses or professional prerequisites for selling securities. But keep in mind the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) require brokers get licenses. If you’re in NY, follow the link to begin the application process. Jonah Engler is a financial expert from NYC.
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7/15/2020 02:32:21 am
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AuthorJonah Engler is a New York based entrepreneur with a passion for stockbroking and coffee! Check out his pics on his instagram! Archives
December 2015
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