What Sales and Trading Actually Is

Sales and trading sits in the markets division of investment banks and runs the firm's secondary market activity across asset classes. The business connects clients (asset managers, hedge funds, corporate treasurers, pension funds, sovereigns) with the market, prices risk, and either warehouses that risk on the firm's balance sheet or distributes it. The division includes several specific functions.

Sales professionals cover specific client relationships. A credit salesperson covers a specific set of asset managers and hedge funds, understanding what they want to buy and sell, communicating market colour, pricing specific trades, and closing transactions. The role is relationship-driven, information-rich, and heavily reliant on knowing your clients and your products at depth.

Traders make markets or take positions in specific instruments. A rates trader quotes prices to clients, hedges positional risk, and takes directional views within their book. A credit trader does the same in corporate bonds or credit derivatives. An equity derivatives trader prices options and manages volatility risk. The role requires numerical fluency, risk management discipline, and the ability to make specific decisions quickly.

Structurers design bespoke trades or products for clients. A structured credit professional designs CLOs or specific securitisations. A rates structurer designs bespoke interest rate derivatives for corporate treasurers. The role is technical and project-based, closer to investment banking in rhythm than to flow trading.

Research strategists publish views on specific markets, generate trade ideas, and support sales conversations with clients. The role is intellectually heavy and requires both market fluency and clear communication.

The division is organised by asset class (rates, credit, FX, equities, commodities, structured products) and by function (sales, trading, research, structuring). Graduate programmes typically rotate new hires across several desks and functions before placement.

The Specific Differences from Investment Banking

Candidates evaluating sales and trading against investment banking should understand three structural differences.

First, the information flow. Investment banking is a project-based business where analysts work on specific transactions over weeks or months, with information flowing through client management, model building, and presentation preparation. Sales and trading is a continuous business where information flows in real time through trading screens, client calls, market moves, and specific transaction prints. The two environments reward very different information processing styles.

Second, the time horizon. Investment banking rewards sustained execution on specific deliverables with final outputs. Sales and trading rewards specific decisions made in minutes or hours with constant re-evaluation. Candidates who thrive on deliverables tend to prefer banking; candidates who thrive on real-time decisions tend to prefer trading.

Third, the lifestyle rhythm. Investment banking hours are famously long and front-loaded during live deals. Sales and trading hours are shorter in aggregate (typically 60-70 hours per week in the US and UK) but are tightly concentrated during market hours. A trading floor professional is at their desk from pre-market open to post-market close, with little flexibility. An investment banking analyst has more flexibility in location but less flexibility in total hours worked.

The compensation structures are broadly similar at the graduate and junior associate level. Mid-career divergence happens by desk: successful traders at specific desks (certain prop desks, specific flow books) can earn well above their investment banking peers. Successful investment bankers at senior levels can earn well above their trading peers through managing director compensation. Both paths offer top-decile outcomes for high performers; the difference is in rhythm and in path, not in absolute compensation potential.

The Desks That Actually Hire Graduates

Sales and trading graduate programmes are organised by bank but roughly follow a common structure. New hires enter a graduate programme that includes 2-4 weeks of training (products, markets, risk management), then rotate across 2-3 desks before placement. Permanent desk placement typically happens 3-6 months into the role.

The desks hiring the largest graduate numbers are flow equities, flow rates, flow credit, FX, and structured product desks. Harder desks to break into include specialised prop trading pods, commodity desks, and exotic derivatives desks that prefer PhD-level quant backgrounds.

For candidates targeting prop firms (Jane Street, Citadel Securities, Two Sigma Securities, Hudson River Trading, Jump Trading, Virtu, DRW, SIG), the recruiting process differs substantially from bank S&T. These firms hire from maths, physics, computer science, and quantitative finance backgrounds. Interviews are heavily quantitative. Compensation can be substantially higher than at banks.

What Sales and Trading Interviews Actually Test

Sales and trading interviews differ fundamentally from investment banking interviews. The specific tests focus on different capabilities.

Market-making games are common at both banks and prop firms. The interviewer gives you an uncertain variable (number of taxis you can see from the office window, number of McDonald's in the US, a card drawn from a deck) and asks you to make a two-sided market on the number. The interviewer then "lifts" or "hits" your market, and the game continues with you updating your market based on new information. The game tests probabilistic thinking, risk management, and the ability to adjust under pressure.

Mental math is central to most trading interviews. Candidates are expected to do multi-step arithmetic quickly and accurately. Classic tests include two-digit multiplication, percentage calculations, and specific probability problems calculated verbally.

Probability and specific puzzle problems appear in nearly every quant and prop firm interview. These include classic problems like the Monty Hall problem, specific coin-flipping expected value problems, specific card-game expected value problems, and bespoke scenarios designed to test logical reasoning under time pressure.

Behavioural interviews probe for specific traits that fit the trading floor: ability to make decisions under uncertainty, comfort with specific risk, ability to acknowledge and recover from mistakes, ability to disagree productively with colleagues, and ability to maintain focus under sustained pressure.

Sales-focused interviews additionally probe for client relationship skills: ability to communicate complex ideas simply, ability to maintain relationships under tense market conditions, ability to prioritise client requests while managing internal risk conversations.

Technical fundamental questions on products and markets appear in bank S&T interviews. Candidates should be fluent in bond pricing basics, specific derivative structures, the mechanics of specific market instruments relevant to their target desk, and recent market events.

The Specific Preparation That Matters

Four preparation activities materially distinguish successful sales and trading candidates.

Trade a paper portfolio consistently for at least 6-12 months before applications. The specific instrument doesn't matter as much as the discipline. Pick an asset class, develop a specific view, execute paper trades, track your performance, and review your decisions. The record itself, win or lose, is valuable for interview conversations and demonstrates genuine engagement with markets.

Learn mental math and probability puzzles systematically. Resources like "A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews" (the Green Book) and the "Heard on the Street" problem collection are standard. Spend 2-4 hours per week on this material for 6 months before interviews.

Read daily market commentary systematically. The specific publications matter less than consistency. The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, and specific sector-focused publications (if targeting a specific asset class) should be daily reads. Over 6-12 months this builds market fluency that is impossible to fake in interview conversation.

Learn to think out loud under pressure. Record yourself solving problems. Practice making markets with friends. Join trading or finance clubs that run case competitions. The specific skill of articulating your thinking as you make decisions is what interviewers watch for in market-making games and in behavioural scenarios.

Common Mistakes That Sink Strong Candidates

Five patterns recur among candidates who look strong on paper but do not succeed in sales and trading recruiting.

Pitching sales and trading as a backup when banking does not work. Interviewers can spot defaults immediately. Candidates who have thought seriously about S&T and can articulate why it fits them specifically outperform candidates who talk about it generically.

Preparing only on technical products without preparing on the specific interview formats. Market-making games and mental math exercises require specific practice; they are difficult to do well on first attempt in interview.

Over-emphasising formal credentials. Sales and trading cares less about GPA and university prestige than investment banking. Over-leading with credentials wastes airtime that could be spent demonstrating market thinking.

Not understanding the specific desk you are targeting. Candidates who claim equal interest in rates, credit, FX, and equities signal that they have not thought seriously about where they fit. Specific desk interest, backed by specific knowledge, is a significant positioning advantage.

Confusing bank sales and trading with prop firm trading. The two paths require different preparation, test different skills, and lead to different careers. Candidates who treat them identically signal weak understanding.

How to Decide Whether Sales and Trading Fits You

Four questions help candidates evaluate fit. Do you enjoy specific decisions made under uncertainty, or do you prefer sustained execution on well-defined projects? Do you enjoy real-time information processing, or do you prefer sustained analytical deep dives? Do you want to focus on a specific set of instruments over your career, or see the full breadth of a corporate advisory role? Can you handle specific loss and recovery emotionally?

Candidates who answer honestly in favour of trading on all four should pursue S&T aggressively. Those who answer against on multiple questions should pursue banking or asset management. Candidates in the middle should structure summer internships to test the fit before committing to full-time applications.