A Day in the Life of A Sales and Trading Intern

Every morning at 5:15 am two of my alarms would sound just in case I slept through one. I would wake up, grab some breakfast, and arrive at work anywhere from 6-6:30am depending on the desk I was rotating on.

 

6:00-7:15am: The early mornings were similar across all the desks as the traders all have their own morning routine. I would print out morning literature and research and hand it out to all the traders to make their lives a little easier. Next I would spend some time reading e-mails, catching up on overnight activity, and reading the WSJ, always noting new information or any questions I had.

 

7:15am-8:15am: Listen to the morning call or attend morning meetings. Note overnight trends in the FX market, any new debt offerings coming to market (IG bonds), and any recommendations, opinions, or trade ideas presented around upcoming events or releases.

 

8:15-noon: Sit with the traders. This sounds like a long time but it is the most valuable experience you will gain over the summer. In the morning there were always many economic data releases and sitting with a trader you can watch how the market moves and get great information out of the traders and how they think about and anticipate moves in the market. It is usually a busy time for them in the morning so while I was quiet for a while I noted all the questions I had and asked them once things had calmed down. Another piece of advice is to ask different traders the same question because they all think differently, rotate among them in the morning because being someone’s shadow for more than an hour can be annoying.

 

Noon-1pm: Lunch and lunch run. Do whatever your group does, and always be eager and ready to get lunch. It is very helpful and they will thank you for it no matter how menial a task it seems. And don't screw it up...After I made sure everyone was good with lunch I would eat at my desk and prepare for the afternoon by checking emails and calendars in case we had a speaker or event.

 

1pm-4pm: Ask any questions that were left unanswered. Work on projects given to you, which for me ranged from paper trading, trade pitches, analyzing and updating models in excel, researching and creating a credit analysis of a company traded by the desk, projecting the Federal Funds Rate in 12mos time, etc. If I had some down time I spent more time with people on the desk, but there definitely was not much down time. Most days we had speakers and/or presentations from 2pm-3pm and the days flew by.

 

4pm-5:30pm: Write a daily market summary of what happened on the desk, and asking more questions. By doing this daily you and your desk can see that you have an understanding of what is going in the market and more importantly what is causing those moves in the market. I created both long term and short term trade ideas based on my market summaries and shared them with the desk. It doesn’t matter if they are wrong, just that you are thinking about the market.

 

Most days I was done with work by 5:30pm and on my way to a networking event for work or AlumniAthlete. Do not underestimate the networking events, the more people you meet and find to support you when it comes time to make an offer decision the better. This is especially important in a rotational internship when people only get to see you for three weeks, make sure you go back and talk to those people you worked with at least weekly to say hello. If you make a connection with someone use it to your advantage, ask them for help and advice and use them as informal mentors. Expect to meet people that are not that friendly to interns and be persistent. Though it sucks being shot down people will notice your attempts and you will be noticed for it. If you don’t get answers at least you tried, and they cannot say you were the intern who sat in the corner alone. Other than that enjoy it – especially if you are in NY, there are hundreds of things to do and see.