Broker vs trader

The differences between brokers and traders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a broker has an average salary of $124,861, which is higher than the $90,179 average annual salary of a trader.

The top three skills for a broker include brokerage, financial services and insurance products. The most important skills for a trader are portfolio, financial markets, and derivative.

Broker vs trader overview

	Broker	Trader
Yearly salary	$124,861	$90,179
Hourly rate	$60.03	$43.36
Growth rate	5%	10%
Number of jobs	2,770	17,351
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Average age	49	43
Years of experience	-	-

What does a broker do?

Brokers can either be a firm or an individual acting as an intermediary between a securities exchange and an investor. They often provide services to individual investors and traders who cannot engage directly with security exchanges, which only accept orders from their members. They provide investors and traders with an investment plan, market intelligence, and research. They may cross-sell some financial services and products offered by their brokerage firms. They are also typically classified as discount or full-service brokers.

What does a trader do?

A trader is responsible for buying and selling financial instruments for a firm or an individual, monitoring stock movements, and analyzing price fluctuations. Traders focus on short-term and long-term trades, depending on their customers' demands and best interests. In some cases, traders also act as financial advisors to their clients, providing financial management support, and handling their account investments. A trader must have excellent knowledge of the financial industry and must be highly-analytical, dealing with consistent changes in the stock market and maintain smart decisions to achieve their clients' financial goals.

Broker vs trader salary

Brokers and traders have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Broker	Trader
Average salary	$124,861	$90,179
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $227,000	Between $56,000 And $144,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	White Plains, NY
Highest paying state	New York	New York
Best paying company	Child Guidance & Family Solutions	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Insurance	Finance

Differences between broker and trader education

There are a few differences between a broker and a trader in terms of educational background:

	Broker	Trader
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Most common major	Business	Finance
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Pennsylvania

Broker vs trader demographics

Here are the differences between brokers' and traders' demographics:

	Broker	Trader
Average age	49	43
Gender ratio	Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%	Male, 82.1% Female, 17.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 6.9% White, 70.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 5.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	13%	6%

Differences between broker and trader duties and responsibilities

Broker example responsibilities.

Manage, lease and sell office condominiums on site.
Retail trader, fix income securities; manage client account activity; properly allocate client funds to appropriate investment options
Manage indexes, options, foreign equities, and short-selling positions that are compatible with clients' long-term investment goals.
Expand and maintain professional relationships with trading accounts including banks, hedge funds and portfolio managers.
Specialize in finding undervalue and/or overbought commodities by using fundamental and technical analysis that exist throughout the markets.
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Trader example responsibilities.

Manage Smithtown branch office ensuring compliance with NASD regulations.
Manage and hedge generation within PJM, MISO, and ERCOT.
Manage options trading to ensure a positive ROI within a volatile market.
Initiate and manage financial, physical and virtual trades resulting in a positive PnL.
Manage products with the supply chain warehouses and interface with both corporate logistics and common carriers.
Coordinate MBS and whole loan delivers to ensure settlements are achieve to minimize extension and pair off fees.

Broker vs trader skills

Common broker skills

Brokerage, 17%
Financial Services, 9%
Insurance Products, 7%
Risk Management, 6%
Client Relationships, 6%
Real Estate Transactions, 5%

Common trader skills

Portfolio, 13%
Financial Markets, 6%
Derivative, 5%
Fixed Income, 5%
Equities, 4%
Securities, 4%