What does a trading assistant do?
A trading assistant is primarily in charge of performing support tasks for traders and participate in securing sales for a company. Their responsibilities typically revolve around liaising with clients through calls and correspondence to offer products and services, discussing specifications, negotiating billing plans, and processing payments. They must also assist traders by performing market research and analysis, preparing and processing documentation, arranging meetings and appointments, running errands, and resolving issues and concerns in adherence to the company's policies and regulations.
Trading assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real trading assistant resumes:
- Manage the cross-book with various brokers, trying to get the best rates for ADR trades.
- Ensure accurate communication between traders and stock markets and manage all derivative portfolios for internationally known trading corporation.
- Maintain the day-to-day operations of multiple internal trade capture applications, including creating new securities and managing the various classifications.
- Ensure reporting accuracy by preparing daily profit/loss spreadsheet for entire manage portfolio, including accrual of market positions initiate and liquidate.
- Cash management and various reconciliations of the hedge fund's feeder and master funds.
- Calculate daily P/L for hedge fund consisting of futures, equities, and foreign currencies.
- Support the monthly NASD reporting process with back-office.
- Ensure accuracy of DTCC credit event reporting to custody transaction reports.
- Learned new skill sets for HVAC, electrical, carpentry and plumbing.
- Assist steamfitters, plumbers, HVAC, electricians, carpenters, locksmiths.
- Support on-going process, and develop excel and VBA tools for processes improvement.
- Produce risk reports for weekly trader and analyst reviews and reconcile daily PNL.
- Run daily risk report to monitor trades that will hit PNL for CDX.
- Work with firm's compliance officer to ensure adherence to all FINRA regulations.
- Implement interface with badge swipes and payroll reducing the amount of time working on payroll.
Trading assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Trading Assistants are proficient in Trade Shows, P/L, and Securities. They’re also known for soft skills such as Writing skills, Customer-service skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Trading Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Trade Shows, 12%
Coordinated over one hundred ancillary meetings for citywide conventions, coordinating and implementing hundreds of exhibitors at citywide trade shows.
- P/L, 7%
Assisted finance dept with the daily P/L check and investigated all issues.
- Securities, 7%
Exploited market anomalies for arbitrage opportunities and initiated a written proposal to execute duration matched arbitrage in mortgage-backed securities market.
- Portfolio, 6%
Ensured reporting accuracy by preparing daily profit/loss spreadsheet for entire managed portfolio, including accrual of market positions initiated and liquidated.
- Bloomberg, 6%
Analyze declared dividends as reported in Bloomberg to follow client specifications and notify traders about possible income opportunities.
- Fixed Income, 5%
Educated Investment Executives on a range of fixed income products; analyzed and evaluated products for appropriate investor suitability standards.
"trade shows," "p/l," and "securities" are among the most common skills that trading assistants use at work. You can find even more trading assistant responsibilities below, including:
Writing skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a trading assistant to have is writing skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." Trading assistants often use writing skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provided writing on international trade and regulatory issues involving trade negotiations. "
The three companies that hire the most trading assistants are:
- Wells Fargo23 trading assistants jobs
- Huntington Ingalls Industries8 trading assistants jobs
- Bank of America2 trading assistants jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable trading assistant resume templates
Build a professional trading assistant 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 trading assistant resume.Compare different trading assistants
Trading assistant vs. Sales administrator/administrative assistant
A sales administrator/administrative assistant is responsible for assisting the sales department on its overall operations and strategies to sell goods and services that would increase the company's revenues and profitability. Sales administrator/administrative assistants perform administrative and clerical duties as needed, such as creating and evaluating sales reports, writing business proposals, scheduling meetings, booking events, and researching current market trends to identify business opportunities. They must have excellent customer service and communication skills, managing customers' inquiries and concerns, processing orders and payments, and ensuring customer satisfaction.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, trading assistant responsibilities require skills like "p/l," "securities," "portfolio," and "bloomberg." Meanwhile a typical sales administrator/administrative assistant has skills in areas such as "reservations," "word processing," "data entry," and "phone calls." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Sales administrator/administrative assistants earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $38,086. On the other hand, trading assistants are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $110,070.The education levels that sales administrator/administrative assistants earn slightly differ from trading assistants. In particular, sales administrator/administrative assistants are 4.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a trading assistant. Additionally, they're 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Trading assistant vs. Front desk administrative assistant
A front desk administrative assistant is responsible for performing administrative duties to support daily business functions and operations. Front desk administrative assistants assist guests, respond to their inquiries and concerns, and direct them to the appropriate personnel for their needs. They also monitor office inventories, write purchase requests, and distribute mails across the departments. A front desk administrative assistants review business and financial transactions to generate reports, update information on the company's database, and sort documents for reference.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, trading assistant responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "trade shows," "p/l," "securities," and "portfolio." Meanwhile, a front desk administrative assistant has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "patients," "data entry," and "phone calls." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Front desk administrative assistants earn a lower average salary than trading assistants. But front desk administrative assistants earn the highest pay in the professional industry, with an average salary of $34,812. Additionally, trading assistants earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $110,070 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Front desk administrative assistants tend to reach lower levels of education than trading assistants. In fact, they're 5.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Trading assistant vs. Administrative assistant/technical
An administrative assistant/technical is primarily responsible for performing clerical and support tasks in a company, ensuring efficiency and timeliness. They must produce progress reports, process documentation, receive communication letters, manage schedules, and even greet visitors. There are also instances when an administrative assistant/technical has to answer calls and correspondence, respond to inquiries, address issues and concerns, and resolve them promptly and professionally. Furthermore, it is essential to maintain records of all transactions, coordinate with different departments, and adhere to the company's policies and regulations.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, trading assistants are more likely to have skills like "trade shows," "p/l," "securities," and "portfolio." But a administrative assistant/technical is more likely to have skills like "patients," "data entry," "access database," and "purchase orders."
Administrative assistant/technicals earn the highest salary when working in the manufacturing industry, where they receive an average salary of $42,925. Comparatively, trading assistants have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $110,070.When it comes to education, administrative assistant/technicals tend to earn similar degree levels compared to trading assistants. In fact, they're 3.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Trading assistant vs. Administrative assistant/scheduler
Administrative assistants/schedulers schedule company appointments and meetings, answer phone calls, and forward them to relevant staff members. They take meeting minutes and notes, order and take office supplies stock, and prepare documents for business trips and meetings. Besides finding methods to enhance administrative processes, administrative assistants/schedulers also help senior staff or other teams to write and issue emails to team members and company departments. Moreover, these professionals research and book the staff's travel arrangements.
Updated January 8, 2025











