Asset Management v Sales Trading

Thanks,

This is good information.

asset management seems to be more in line with research. sales and trading seems to be more like pricing stocks/bonds correctly. is this correct naturallight?

To me, the big difference is the scope and focus of their operations. People in S&T are responsible for one segment of the market, or one type of stocks. Their job is to keep track of all stocks in the energy sector, or the tech sector, or options. They trade in order to "make markets", and essentially they make money for their firms by making markets and facilitating trading. There are some exceptions (like the prop desks that Naturalight talked about) but generally speaking people in S&T do not necessarily make money by taking positions on stocks. Certainly, they will try to stay ahead of the news, etc., but their role is really to make the market and facilitate trades.

Asset managers tend to look at a variety of stocks. Certainly, some are focused on certain sectors or certain investing styles, but their goal is to make money based on where the money is invested. They might take long or short positions, but their role is to make money based on how the money is invested.

A really really over-simplified way to look at it is that S&T people care less about stock prices and more about trading volume, they only care about prices to the extent that they hold stocks while making markets; most traders a limited by the positions they can take. On the other hand asset managers care only about stock price and which way it is moving.