Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
The occupation code you requested, 41-3031.03 (Securities and Commodities Traders), is no longer in use. In the future, please use 41-3031.00 (Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents) instead.
Buy and sell securities or commodities in investment and trading firms, or provide financial services to businesses and individuals. May advise customers about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, and market conditions.
Sample of reported job titles:
Broker, Commodities Broker, Equity Trader, Financial Advisor, Financial Consultant, Investment Representative, Investments Advisor, Investments Specialist, Personal Banker, Trader
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Tasks
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Make bids or offers to buy or sell securities.
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Monitor markets or positions.
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Agree on buying or selling prices at optimal levels for clients.
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Keep accurate records of transactions.
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Buy or sell stocks, bonds, commodity futures, foreign currencies, or other securities on behalf of investment dealers.
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Complete sales order tickets and submit for processing of client-requested transactions.
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Report all positions or trading results.
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Interview clients to determine clients' assets, liabilities, cash flow, insurance coverage, tax status, or financial objectives.
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Discuss financial options with clients and keep them informed about transactions.
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Identify opportunities or develop channels for purchase or sale of securities or commodities.
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Develop financial plans, based on analysis of clients' financial status.
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Review all securities transactions to ensure accuracy of information and conformance to governing agency regulations.
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Devise trading, option, or hedge strategies.
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Determine customers' financial services needs and prepare proposals to sell services that address these needs.
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Track and analyze factors that affect price movement, such as trade policies, weather conditions, political developments, or supply and demand changes.
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Inform other traders, managers, or customers of market conditions, including volume, price, competition, or dynamics.
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Offer advice on the purchase or sale of particular securities.
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Contact prospective customers to present information and explain available services.
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Explain stock market terms or trading practices to clients.
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Calculate costs for billings or commissions.
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Prepare financial reports to monitor client or corporate finances.
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Supply the latest price quotes on any security, as well as information on the activities or financial positions of the corporations issuing these securities.
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Supervise support staff and ensure proper execution of contracts.
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Relay buy or sell orders to securities exchanges or to firm trading departments.
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Evaluate costs and revenue of agreements to determine continued profitability.
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Sell services or equipment, such as trusts, investments, or check processing services.
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Negotiate prices or contracts for securities or commodities sales or purchases.
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Prepare and send requests for price quotations to all companies in a particular market.
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Price securities or commodities based on market conditions.
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Purchase or sell financial derivatives for customers.
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Technology Skills
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Accounting software — Fund accounting software; Sage 50 Accounting
-
Analytical or scientific software — The MathWorks MATLAB
-
Business intelligence and data analysis software — IBM Cognos Impromptu
-
Calendar and scheduling software — Scheduling software
-
Cloud-based data access and sharing software — Microsoft SharePoint
-
Compliance software — Regulatory agency compliance software
-
Customer relationship management CRM software — CSI Complex Systems ClientTrade; Microsoft Dynamics
; Oracle Siebel CRM; Salesforce software
-
Data base user interface and query software — Database management software; FileMaker Pro; Microsoft Access
; Web-based information systems
; 1 more
-
Desktop communications software — ADP/Vantra VOLTS; Imagine Software Imagine Trading System
-
Development environment software — Microsoft Visual Basic
-
Electronic mail software — Email software; IBM Notes; Microsoft Outlook
-
Enterprise resource planning ERP software — Microsoft Dynamics GP; Oracle PeopleSoft
; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
; 1 more
-
Financial analysis software — Bloomberg Professional; Oracle E-Business Suite Financials; Triple Point Commodity XL; Web-based trading systems
; 23 more
-
Graphics or photo imaging software — Graphics software
-
Internet browser software — Web browser software
-
Object or component oriented development software — C++
; Oracle Java
; Python
; R
-
Office suite software — Microsoft Office software
-
Operating system software — Linux
; Microsoft Windows
; UNIX
-
Presentation software — Microsoft PowerPoint
-
Project management software
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Spreadsheet software — Microsoft Excel
-
Transaction server software — Customer information control system CICS
-
Web page creation and editing software — LinkedIn
-
Word processing software — Microsoft Word
Hot Technologies are requirements most frequently included across all employer job postings.
In Demand skills are frequently included in employer job postings for this occupation.
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Work Activities
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Working with Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
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Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
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Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
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Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
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Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
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Communicating with People Outside the Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
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Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
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Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
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Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
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Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
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Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
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Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.
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Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
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Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.
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Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
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Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
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Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
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Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
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Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
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Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
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Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
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Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.
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Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
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Detailed Work Activities
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Negotiate prices or other sales terms.
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Monitor market conditions or trends.
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Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.
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Sell products or services.
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Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.
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Prepare sales or other contracts.
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Process sales or other transactions.
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Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs.
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Explain financial information to customers.
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Identify investment opportunities or strategies.
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Develop professional relationships or networks.
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Customize financial products or services to meet customer needs.
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Review accuracy of sales or other transactions.
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Monitor sales activities.
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Supervise sales or support personnel.
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Analyze market conditions or trends.
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Develop proposals for current or prospective customers.
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Share sales-related or market information with colleagues.
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Coordinate activities with suppliers, contractors, clients, or other departments.
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Contact current or potential customers to promote products or services.
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Explain technical product or service information to customers.
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Calculate costs of goods or services.
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Estimate costs or terms of sales.
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Analyze business or financial data.
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Gather information in order to provide services to clients.
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Negotiate purchases or contracts.
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Purchase products or services.
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Work Context
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Electronic Mail — 97% responded “Every day.”
-
Telephone — 97% responded “Every day.”
-
Face-to-Face Discussions — 82% responded “Every day.”
-
Contact With Others — 78% responded “Constant contact with others.”
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Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 65% responded “Extremely important.”
-
Structured versus Unstructured Work — 55% responded “A lot of freedom.”
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Freedom to Make Decisions — 47% responded “A lot of freedom.”
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Frequency of Decision Making — 58% responded “Every day.”
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Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 46% responded “Very important results.”
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Deal With External Customers — 60% responded “Extremely important.”
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Spend Time Sitting — 46% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
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Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 79% responded “Every day.”
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Work With Work Group or Team — 53% responded “Extremely important.”
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Level of Competition — 50% responded “Highly competitive.”
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Time Pressure — 37% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
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Duration of Typical Work Week — 44% responded “More than 40 hours.”
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Letters and Memos — 38% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
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Consequence of Error — 27% responded “Very serious.”
-
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 23% responded “Important.”
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Coordinate or Lead Others — 27% responded “Very important.”
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Physical Proximity — 40% responded “I work with others but not closely (e.g., private office).”
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Responsibility for Outcomes and Results — 22% responded “No responsibility.”
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Job Zone
- Title
- Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
- Related Experience
- A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
- Job Training
- Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
- Job Zone Examples
- Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include real estate brokers, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, conservation scientists, art directors, and cost estimators.
- SVP Range
- (7.0 to < 8.0)
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Training & Credentials
- State training
-
- Local training
-
- Certifications
-
- State licenses
-
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Apprenticeship Opportunities
Example apprenticeship titles for this occupation:
- Financial Services Representative
Specific title(s) listed above are vetted by industry and approved by the U.S. Department of Labor for use in a Registered Apprenticeship Program.
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Skills
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Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
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Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
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Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
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Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
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Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
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Persuasion — Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
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Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
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Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
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Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
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Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
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Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
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Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people.
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Systems Analysis — Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
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Management of Financial Resources — Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
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Mathematics — Using mathematics to solve problems.
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Systems Evaluation — Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
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Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others.
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Negotiation — Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
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Knowledge
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Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
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Economics and Accounting — Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
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English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
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Mathematics — Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
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Sales and Marketing — Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
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Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
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Administration and Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
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Law and Government — Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
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Administrative — Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
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Education
How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:
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Abilities
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Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
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Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
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Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
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Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
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Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
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Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
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Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
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Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
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Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
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Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
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Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
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Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
-
Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
-
Mathematical Reasoning — The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
-
Number Facility — The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
-
Originality — The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
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Interests
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Enterprising — Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law.
-
Conventional — Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.
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Work Values
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Achievement — Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
-
Working Conditions — Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.
-
Independence — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
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Work Styles
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Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical.
-
Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
-
Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
-
Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
-
Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
-
Persistence — Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
-
Achievement/Effort — Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
-
Adaptability/Flexibility — Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
-
Analytical Thinking — Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
-
Independence — Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
-
Self-Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
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Cooperation — Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
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Leadership — Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
-
Concern for Others — Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
-
Innovation — Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
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Social Orientation — Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
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Wages & Employment Trends
- Median wages (2023)
- $36.97 hourly, $76,900 annual
- State wages
-
- Local wages
-
- Employment (2023)
- 513,800 employees
- Projected growth (2023-2033)
-
Faster than average (6% to 8%)
- Projected job openings (2023-2033)
- 41,000
- State trends
-
- Top industries (2023)
-
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2023 wage data
external site and 2023-2033 employment projections
external site.
“Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2023-2033). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.
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Job Openings on the Web
- State job openings
-
- Local job openings
-
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Professional Associations
Disclaimer:
Sources are listed to provide additional information on related jobs, specialties, and/or industries.
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Actively assisted with the O*NET data collection, helping to identify occupational experts who can be surveyed about their work in the occupation.
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National Associations
Accreditation, Certification, & Unions
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