| Topic Name: |
Series 7, 63, 55 |
| Message Name: |
re: |
| Date Posted: |
11/27/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
I have to give you props aliebs. You made a difficult move in a tough market.
What are the distinctions between your job and TA? Is it more or less the same thing or do you actually have a TA working under you on your desk as well?
Thanks for the informative post. |
| Message: |
i am one of 2 junior traders on the desk. so by default we have to do some of the crap work. that being said the guys are very fair. the crap work never involves getting coffee or lunch for the desk. in my case the crap work is handling a broker that no-one wants to talk to or settling a trade problem with the other side of the trade.
our desk only has 12 people on it, including myself. i like it small however. i have lots of interaction with all aspects of the business. for example we just ran a deal last week which were the underwriter. our bankers come to us, get our opinions on how to structure a deal that will be well received by investors. if i haven't given it away yet its a FI desk. we will then take the bonds along with the other managers we have invited in the deal and distribute them to institutional & retail investors. any balances remaining we will stock and trade them with the street.
so i am the junior guy but i have the benefit of being in all aspects of the process. at a bigger shop every step of the process is so specialized that you only get your hands on your individual part. it makes the whole process much easier to understand when your involved.
finally, my situation was unique. we were bought out march '02. this brought about the combination of our current desk with the desk of the firm that purchased us. prior to our purchase we were a very specialized boutique, we were purchased to help build the product within the new firm that was our specialty. as a result our sales force more than tripled and more bodies were necessary on the desk.
one more point, my boss prior to joining the desk has known the current head of the desk for 20+ yrs. they both started at the boutique firm together. needless to say he put in a good word for me.
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