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Is the London Trading Institute 12 month internship worth it?
Main Post: Is the London Trading Institute 12 month internship worth it?
Top Comment:
Also interested in this
Trading away Breece Hall for Drake London?
Main Post: Trading away Breece Hall for Drake London?
Gamers - Where is the best to trade in a console & games - CEX, Game, or other?
Main Post:
Hi guys,
Got an Xbox one + games to trade in and wondered if anyone could shed light on who would give me the most value for my trade in? Is either of the two (Game, CEX) substantially better, or is there a new kid on the block I don't know about.
Thanks!
Top Comment:
Sell them on eBay. You will get loads more.
CEX were offering me £100 for an unboxed Xbox One S. I got an offer for £140 + postage on eBay as soon as I listed it.
Ditto with games.
Honest day-in-the-life of a sell-side trader. Also AMA.
Main Post:
THE SHORT VERSION
7:00am - Arrive to work.
7:00am - 4:30pm - Try to make as much money for the bank as possible.
4:30pm - Leave work
THE LONG VERSION
6:10AM - iPhone alarm rings. I check my work email for an overnight commission report to check my revenue total from yesterday and my YTD commission number. I get out of bed.
6:15AM - Shave, wash my hair, eat cereal, eat a piece of fruit, get dressed.
6:40AM - Leave from home.
7:00AM - Arrive to work and head to our morning meeting. I will typically provide a short re-cap of the developments in my market. There are other speakers as well. New York, Montreal and London are tuned in via video conference. Few people are really engaged or paying attention.
8AM - Drink one small coffee. Start reading market news, commentary; look at US futures markets, overseas markets and what the bond market is doing to try and get a sense of market tone.
8:30Am - Start working on my morning "runs" - a list of various stocks and prices where I am willing to buy and sell/short out of my liability/prop inventory account. Send that list to all my clients via email along with some daily market commentary.
9:00AM - Start chit-chatting with a few clients on phone and IM because this job is all about relationships. Monitor changes in the market pre-open. Make sure all my client orders and algos are set up properly for the open.
9:30AM - Market open. Trades start trickling in to my trade management system - some for client, some for inventory.
10:00AM - I read emails from my backoffice desk telling me certain trades from yesterday are failing to settle with clients. I follow up with the clients to figure out where the discrepancy is (client usually typed in the wrong price, or wrong quantity or forgot to tell their custodian).
10:30 AM - Get asked by the intern what I want to eat for lunch. I pick something and give him $10. I thank him every time because I feel bad for him.
11:00 AM - I scour the market for mis-priced securities. I buy cheap and sell expensive. Call clients. Leverage trust and relationships to obtain information - what are they trying to buy, what are they trying to sell? Do I want to be the counter party to their trade? Does it make sense - Is it cheap or expensive? Trade some stock.
12:00 AM - Lunch arrives. I thank the intern again. Eat lunch at my desk. I can never leave my desk.
12:30 - 4pm - Same thing as @ 11AM. Negotiate prices with clients and trade blocks. Read reddit for a bit. Look at some cars for sale on autotrader. Trade more stock. Plan a lunch meeting or drinks after work with a client next week and make reservations.
4:00PM - Market close. I organize the days trades into various accounts and make sure all my inventory and client trades are pushed to the right accounts. Send out emails and IM to clients advising them on quantity, price, stock symbol and commission and sometimes CC my backoffice. Client tries to pressure me into paying us 3 cents per share instead of the usual 4. I give in.
4:10PM - On my calculator I do some rough calculation to get an idea of the revenue from client commissions that day. On good days I feel neutral, on bad days I feel worhless because I have been conditioned to feel like that by the culture here.
4:15PM - I get a call from my backoffice guy advising me how much my inventory is up or down (daily mark-to-market). I send an email to management so they can see it if they care to.
4:30pm - I leave work
5:00pm - Arrive home. Go to sleep for one hour because I am completely drained mentally.
EDIT1: rephrased a few words for clarity.
Top Comment: The most interesting part of this is that you can wake up at 630 and be in the office at 715 and still eat breakfast.