investment banking - voluntary work over the summer

Hey, am a 16 year old, just finishing my gcses and am really into trading forex/stocks...... been doing it since the age of 15 and have made good returns on a paper trading account, thus my dad let me do it with real money and turned 1k into 10k in the matter of around 5 months ( dont know how that happened ) but yeeaaah.
So i was wondering would it be possible to do work experience at an investment bank - specifically in trading. Even though am kinda young ?

Reply 1

PrincePauper

11

Original post by goldstander212

Hey, am a 16 year old, just finishing my gcses and am really into trading forex/stocks...... been doing it since the age of 15 and have made good returns on a paper trading account, thus my dad let me do it with real money and turned 1k into 10k in the matter of around 5 months ( dont know how that happened ) but yeeaaah.
So i was wondering would it be possible to do work experience at an investment bank - specifically in trading. Even though am kinda young ?

What pairs and stocks do you trade?

Reply 2

goldstander212

OP

Well, when the whole of europe was tumbling down - i chose to trade eur/chf and a bit later i decided to do usd/eur... or was it gbp :L
And in terms of stocks...... around new years eve ; i picked stocks which i thought were going to rocket up ; but in terms of things i see around me in everyday life
For example, i bought AMD as i thought it was becoming the prominant semi-conductor etc. But i obv took charts and fundamentals into account ........ Since then..... ive made a 30% return on my initial investment.
I chose this company called perry ellis international - which owned designer labels such as penguin etc.
I also chose true religion and General motors
On the whole they were all great ; except this **** oil company called new field exploration which put me down alot :L

Reply 3

cognito_08

16

Original post by goldstander212

So i was wondering would it be possible to do work experience at an investment bank - specifically in trading. Even though am kinda young ?

Most IBs have work experience but they're aimed at undergraduates (specifically penultimate year students). They may also have "Insight Days" which can be aimed at school students. In both cases you normally need to apply through their websites.

Otherwise the big IBs do not just take on students/undergraduates outside their proper recruitment systems.

Reply 4

miml

17

Original post by goldstander212

Hey, am a 16 year old, just finishing my gcses and am really into trading forex/stocks...... been doing it since the age of 15 and have made good returns on a paper trading account, thus my dad let me do it with real money and turned 1k into 10k in the matter of around 5 months ( dont know how that happened ) but yeeaaah.
So i was wondering would it be possible to do work experience at an investment bank - specifically in trading. Even though am kinda young ?

This should answer your question.

Reply 5

bahjat93

19

HSBC do an investment banking intern-ship :biggrin:

.
It's based in London, they don't require any previous work experience.
I'm planning on applying to it so you might have some competition :P

Reply 6

goldstander212

OP

and would this intership take students? How do you apply for it ? Link by any chance
+ ive already contacted deusche bank... last year and they said that you have to be above 16, so ill probably try them (Y)
And dont worry, am up for some competition :biggrin:

Reply 7

M1011

19

Original post by goldstander212

and would this intership take students? How do you apply for it ? Link by any chance
+ ive already contacted deusche bank... last year and they said that you have to be above 16, so ill probably try them (Y)
And dont worry, am up for some competition :biggrin:

Quote people so they get a notification that you've spoken to them. Bottom right corner.

Reply 8

Banishingboredom

15

Basically just beg someone/ anyone you know who works in IB to let you shadow them. It gets your foot in the door. It's not what you know but who you know at this stage.

Reply 9

goldstander212

OP

Original post by bahjat93

HSBC do an investment banking intern-ship :biggrin:

.
It's based in London, they don't require any previous work experience.
I'm planning on applying to it so you might have some competition :P

Do yu have a link by any chance ?

Reply 10

goldstander212

OP

Original post by Banishingboredom

Basically just beg someone/ anyone you know who works in IB to let you shadow them. It gets your foot in the door. It's not what you know but who you know at this stage.

Sad thing is i dont really know anyone who works at an IB :L

Reply 11

bahjat93

19

Original post by goldstander212

Do yu have a link by any chance ?

I applied for it 2 months ago. The mail was sent by my school and they have a policy of deleting all your mails which are older then 1 month.
Sorry i don't have the link no more

Reply 12

goldstander212

OP

Aha, its cool :biggrin:

Reply 13

HeyyImRyan

10

Assuming this is the internship bahjat93 is talking about? :s-smilie:

It's in retail banking not IB, and is for undergrads in your first or second year.
For HSBC Global Banking the requirements are 340 UCAS points and working towards 2.1 in your degree, again out of reach of a 16 year-old.
Insight days in year 12 are the closest you'll get, Rothschild gap year if you want a year before uni.

By the way - assuming you bough PERY at its drop just before new years, and sold it at its peak in early April, you'd have gained £373.

for AMD it'd have been £472 assuming it was sold at peak, again using all £1000 of your allotted investment capital.

True religion is trading roughly $10 lower than it was on NYE so you'd be in negative cashflow there.

Highest you'd have got with GM (again assuming you bought at their lowest and sold before it started sloping) is £385, again with all 1,000

With £1,000 split amongst these the highest you'd get would be what... £200-£400?

Original post by goldstander212

my dad let me do it with real money and turned 1k into 10k in the matter of around 5 months ( dont know how that happened ) but yeeaaah.

Me neither, totally impossible with the shares you quoted above.

Reply 14

goldstander212

OP

You should also consider the fact that i was trading forex - specifically gbp/chf :L
And most of the above stocks you mentioned were on a paper trading account which had 100k.

Reply 15

HeyyImRyan

10

Original post by goldstander212

You should also consider the fact that i was trading forex - specifically gbp/chf :L

http://www.x-convert.com/chart/GBP-CHF?period=6m
http://www.x-convert.com/chart/CHF-GBP?period=6m

Congratulations, in 5 months with £1,000 invested in forex, you'd have made about £35. Again nowhere near the speculated £10,000 you mentioned in your original post.

By the way, I did this to show you how easy to break down your achievements it is - I'm not even a trader. If you wrote any of this on your CV or tried to mention any of it in an S&T interview, you'd be absolutely destroyed. It's great you have such an interest in the markets and understand them to an extent, but inflating your achievements is a sure-fire way of annoying everyone on this forum and pretty much making sure you fail every S&T interview you will ever get.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 16

Chicharito14

12

You've been RickTrolled.

Reply 17

TomasK

3

Original post by HeyyImRyan

http://www.x-convert.com/chart/GBP-CHF?period=6m
http://www.x-convert.com/chart/CHF-GBP?period=6m

Congratulations, in 5 months with £1,000 invested in forex, you'd have made about £35. Again nowhere near the speculated £10,000 you mentioned in your original post.

By the way, I did this to show you how easy to break down your achievements it is - I'm not even a trader. If you wrote any of this on your CV or tried to mention any of it in an S&T interview, you'd be absolutely destroyed. It's great you have such an interest in the markets and understand them to an extent, but inflating your achievements is a sure-fire way of annoying everyone on this forum and pretty much making sure you fail every S&T interview you will ever get.

Even though I agree that it's impossible for him to have made a 1000% return, but I think a £35 return on £1000 is a bit on the overexaggerated low-side as well. It could've been short-term trading, trying to catch say 1-5 minute intervals through TA, not to mention it could've been just spread-betting (leveraging) in general vs. sole long-investing. But yeah, £35 seems about right.

Reply 18

HeyyImRyan

10

Original post by TomasK

Even though I agree that it's impossible for him to have made a 1000% return, but I think a £35 return on £1000 is a bit on the overexaggerated low-side as well. It could've been short-term trading, trying to catch say 1-5 minute intervals through TA, not to mention it could've been just spread-betting (leveraging) in general vs. sole long-investing. But yeah, £35 seems about right.