Well, for IB I can't comment much. I'd say there's a lot of downtime, playing with basic models, etc. In S&T it's quite different and depends if you're on a qu

Well, for IB I can't comment much. I'd say there's a lot of downtime, playing with basic models, etc. In S&T it's quite different and depends if you're on a quant desk; relatively illiquid trading desk, like some kind of structured product where you'll get a few trades a day; or a more normal fixed income or commodities desk where you'll be making markets throughout the day constantly trading, analyzing, and monitoring the markets. On my desk - which falls under FI, although I won't say which area - it's quite liquid, client-focused, and fast-paced. 6am-7am - Making sure all your systems are launched, working, and then analyzing what your colleagues in London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo were up to while you were asleep. Often your book will be managed by those folks and so you'll want to know what/how they executed (assuming they didn't call you through the night to get your opinion, which does happen depending on the product you trade). 7am-5pm - You're constantly trading; analyzing your positions; looking at your risk; calling middle/back office to get things analyzed; on the phone with colleagues in London, Tokyo, etc.; perhaps stepping into the odd meeting, getting someone to watch your monitors; talking to your sales people, giving them ideas, feedback, what clients should like a certain thing at a certain level, etc. 5pm-7pm - Making sure back office completes your risk, analyzing and amalgamating your PnL for the day, chatting with other offices just as you did at the start of the day. 7pm-11pm - Perhaps you'll go home and go to bed early (9pm or so), or, depending on your area, you may go to dinner with clients or have some other social engagement until 10-11pm. --- Trading is incredibly diverse, but I think this largely captures the roll of a sell-side (Goldman) trader in most front-office trading rolls. Quant-traders, like you'd find at certain quant hedge funds, tend to be less common at sell-side shops. You'll usually have traders, who just trade, with maths, comp sci, etc. undergrads who work with the quants (who have PhDs in those fields and don't trade at all) to get the data, systems, etc. they want. As a result traders generally, well, spend their entire day trading. Even on quiet days you'll be glued to your screen waiting, reviewing, thinking about what to do next. Market making doesn't involve letting clients dictate where the market moves necessarily, it involves being a liquidity provider and risk mitigator, which is what I'd say traders on the sell-side largely are.