What does a sales trader do?
A sales trader is responsible for evaluating and monitoring the stock market performance to advise the clients on which financial instruments are best to buy or sell. Sales traders review the clients' account portfolios and determine their risk appetite to choose the best investment options for their financial goals and objectives. They also research stock prediction and conduct statistical analysis to maintain consistent cash flow for the accounts. A sales trader must have excellent communication and analytical skills, especially in generating financial and investment reports for clients' discussion and reference.
Sales trader responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales trader resumes:
- Price, trade and risk manage equity derivatives including OTC single stock options and list options.
- Manage business, sales, marketing, international negotiation and communication for a commodities business.
- Administer institutional equity accounts and expedite customer order flow for the NYSE, NASDAQ and OTC marketplace.
- Trade exchange list and OTC stocks, fixed-income securities and equity derivatives, prior to company sell to UBS.
- Develop relationships with institutional clients in equities primary and secondary markets.
- Transact institutional equity and derivative trades on behalf of alternative investment funds.
- Close its operations on NYMEX and go OTC).
- Serve as teacher and mentor for CME floor brokerage new members.
- Execute listed, OTC, foreign security, mutual fund and option orders.
- Identify numerous new business prospects via publications, networking, Bloomberg, and sell-side contacts.
- Apply knowledge gain from the NYSE to provide clients with relevant market flow and information.
- Execute buy and sell orders on behalf of retail brokerage firm on the AMEX trading floor.
- Average of 4000 trades per day, on a two-man trading team market making 40 NASDAQ stocks.
- Market and promote various bonds and securities to increase the firms brand awareness and image in the industry.
- Work with Bloomberg sales team to participate in initial client demos and increase trading flow from existing client base.
Sales trader skills and personality traits
We calculated that 8% of Sales Traders are proficient in Equities, Derivative, and Institutional Clients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Customer-service skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Sales Traders that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Equities, 8%
Developed relationships with institutional clients in equities primary and secondary markets.
- Derivative, 7%
Designed derivative strategies which helped institutional client's hedge FX exposure risk of external commercial borrowing of approximately $700million.
- Institutional Clients, 6%
Provided competitive market intelligence and insights to institutional clients, developed relationships, and grew trading revenues.
- Trade Execution, 6%
Forged long standing relationships with buy-side traders through optimal trade execution and facilitation of information flow that maximized commission revenue.
- Client Relationships, 5%
Developed new and existing client relationships to produce incremental business.
- Equity Trades, 5%
Executed equity trades though various broker/dealers, market makers, floor brokers, and ECN's.
Most sales traders use their skills in "equities," "derivative," and "institutional clients" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential sales trader responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a sales trader to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what sales traders do because "to judge the profitability of potential deals, securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must have strong analytical skills." Additionally, a sales trader resume shows how sales traders use analytical skills: "assisted clients with fundamental and technical analysis of industrial commodity markets. "
Customer-service skills. Another essential skill to perform sales trader duties is customer-service skills. Sales traders responsibilities require that "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must be persuasive and make clients feel comfortable with the agent’s recommendations." Sales traders also use customer-service skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "facilitated trading flow and trade ideas to customers. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for sales traders to perform their duties. For an example of how sales trader responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "investment bankers must pay close attention to the details of initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions because small changes can have large consequences." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a sales trader: "perform detailed market, industry and economic analysis, with a focus on effective risk management. ".
Initiative. A big part of what sales traders do relies on "initiative." You can see how essential it is to sales trader responsibilities because "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must create their own client base by making “cold” sales calls to people to whom they have not been referred and to people not expecting the call." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sales trader tasks: "structured products liaison in cross-selling initiative with the ms derivatives department. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in sales trader job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what sales traders do. Sales trader responsibilities rely on this skill because "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents need to be familiar with mathematical tools, including investment formulas." You can also see how sales trader duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "performed quantitative, fundamental and technical analysis to predict equity markets. "
The three companies that hire the most sales traders are:
- Citi2 sales traders jobs
- Deutsche Bank2 sales traders jobs
- STX2 sales traders jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable sales trader resume templates
Build a professional sales trader resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sales trader resume.
Compare different sales traders
Sales trader vs. Bonding agent
A registered representative's job involves researching market conditions, liaising with potential clients, implementing advertising campaigns, cultivating personal contacts, and creating investment plans. Their duties and responsibilities include soliciting business from potential clients and selling financial products and services to clients for investment purposes.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a sales trader are more likely to require skills like "equities," "derivative," "institutional clients," and "trade execution." On the other hand, a job as a bonding agent requires skills like "bonds," "data entry," "customer service," and "court dates." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Bonding agents tend to reach lower levels of education than sales traders. In fact, bonding agents are 10.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Sales trader vs. Registered representative
Investment representatives, also known as financial advisers, usually work in a bank, investment company, credit institution, or other financial firm. They handle the marketing and promotion of financial services and give clients investment advice. They do this is the phone or through face-to-face transactions. This position requires someone to be customer-oriented, communicate effectively, and know how to handle a crisis.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, sales trader responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "derivative," "institutional clients," "trade execution," and "equity trades." Meanwhile, a registered representative has duties that require skills in areas such as "financial services," "financial products," "annuities," and "long-term care." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Registered representatives may earn a lower salary than sales traders, but registered representatives earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $57,066. On the other hand, sales traders receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $119,567.registered representatives earn similar levels of education than sales traders in general. They're 1.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sales trader vs. Literary agent
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a sales trader is likely to be skilled in "equities," "derivative," "institutional clients," and "trade execution," while a typical literary agent is skilled in "fiction," "non-fiction," "administrative tasks," and "press releases."
When it comes to education, literary agents tend to earn similar degree levels compared to sales traders. In fact, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 4.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Sales trader vs. Investment representative
Types of sales trader
Updated January 8, 2025
