Sales & Trading

Sales 

Salespeople consist of the classic retail broker, the institutional salesperson, or the private client service representative.  Retail brokers have a number of titles including financial advisor, retirement specialist, and wealth advisor.  They typically build relationships with the retail investor and help build risk averse portfolios.  Institutional salespeople develop business relationships with large institutional investors such pension funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, universities, and other large holders of assets.  Private Client Service representatives provide brokerage and money management services for high net wealth individuals.  Salespeople make money by commissions or by a percentage of their assets under management. 

Trading

Traders facilitate the buying and selling of stocks, bonds, and other securities such as currencies and futures, either by carrying an inventory of securities for sale or by executing a given trade for a client.  Traders make a market and provide liquidity to their firm's clients.  In addition to providing liquidity and executing trades for customers, they also may have their own trading positions on behalf of the firm.  This is known as proprietary trading.  They use the firms capital as the source for proprietary trading.