#6 Prop Trading & Market Making

This week’s episode of the AlphaMind Podcast sees co-host Steven Goldstein musing over a webinar he gave to a group of Students from some of China’s Top universities. 

The students are preparing their applications for US graduate programmes and were keen to explore more about the world of Interest Rate Trading, 

Originally, we were aiming to record the webinar and release it directly as a podcast. Unfortunately, the sound quality was not strong enough. Instead in this episode, Steven shares his responses to the questions from the students. These covered a wide range of topics which will be of interest to new as well as seasoned traders.

Questions asked include: 

• What is the difference between a Market-Maker and a Proprietary Trader? 
• Do traders at hedge funds also do Market-Making?
• Do Market-Makers just make Bid-Offer spread, or do they also take risk?
• What is the role of a Salesperson? Why can’t Market-Makers act as Salespeople? 
• What criteria do clients consider, before deciding to trade with a Bank?
• If clients get good prices from traders, does that mean they will find it harder to make money?
• What are the different Trading styles used by traders?
• Is being in an analyst or research role dull?
• Is there too much Maths in investment banks?
• How do traders stay within the rules needed to execute effectively?
• What is the career path like for traders? Do you have any advice to students going for interviews?

Thank you to Jing Liu for arranging the webinar. Jing coaches college students in china through the graduate application process.