DailyFX has analyzed the finance and trading skills index, showing which skills can increase your salary, where in the world has the highest number of jobs and what salaries you can expect in the finance and trading sector. 

However, some words of warning: The research and data used in the DailyFX study were taken and analyzed in January, BEFORE the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted global financial markets. This study can be used as a reference and comparison to pre-pandemic areas, such as the health of the financial job market.

“The Top 20 Cities in the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI)” was culled from data on finance and graduate vacancies per location, individual roles with the most availability and the most financially lucrative cities for each of these roles. Focus on the wider financial industry includes specific reports for trading.

Among the findings:

-London and New York lead the way with the most vacancies per trading role

-Having the skill of UCITS can increase your salary by more than $26,000

-San Francisco leads the way in locations for earning the most in finance

OPPORTUNITY FOR A CAREER

New York provides the most opportunities for those in trading roles. Combined with London they make up 42 percent of all trading roles available at the time of research. The U.S. provides the bulk of the locations, 59 percent of the 24,174 trading roles, with only Zurich and Frankfurt providing Europe’s next best locations.

Rank	City	Total No. of trading roles
1.	New York	5,546
2.	London	4,709
3.	Chicago	2,823
4.	Los Angeles	2,268
5.	San Francisco	2,014
6.	Toronto	1,761
7.	Boston	1,636
8.	Sydney	1,322
9.	Vancouver	632
10.	Dubai	520

 

TRADING ROLES: HOW MUCH DO THEY PAY?

Rank	Trading role	Top earning location	Salary
1.	FX Trader	San Francisco	$98,280
2.	Broker	New York	$72,852
3.	Sales broker	New York	$74,255
4.	Commodities trader	San Francisco	$63,667
5.	Equity Broker	San Francisco	$85,774

 

OPPORTUNITY FOR A CAREER

Leading the opportunity index is London, with New York joining it at the top of DailyFX’s findings. Both cities provide significantly more opportunities for current professionals than their nearest rivals and graduates with 5.54 percent and 4.54 percent of all vacancies at graduate level. While other locations performed well, in the majority of cases the percentage of vacancies aimed at graduates was well below 1 percent. DailyFX’s results show that the worst location for graduates to look for a new role is Dubai with only 0.01 percent of all roles destined for graduates.

Rank	Location	Total No. of finance Vacancies	Total No. of finance graduate vacancies	% of graduate positions
1.	London	32,274	7,499	5.79%
2.	New York	17,688	5,881	4.54%
3.	Chicago	8,849	1,503	1.16%
4.	Hong Kong	8,801	1,432	1.11%
5.	Singapore	8,584	971	0.75%

 

FINANCE ROLES: HOW MUCH DO THEY PAY?

Actuaries continue to earn good equivalent salaries at all three of the comparison levels shown. Budget analysts have the highest minimum salary of $53,501, while investor relations can achieve the highest maximum salary at $86,587.

One role with a wide range in potential salary is accountant. The research found that this role, which was most in demand according to vacancy data, has the lowest minimum salary of all roles analyzed at $39,942. Its maximum offered salary peaks at $78,523 but the overall average of $59,763 places it as the third lowest earning average salary.

While much of this data can be used as a guideline, many of the skills underpinning these industry roles are what many vacancies will be looking for. DailyFX undertook further research using the 20 most commonly appearing skills and experience criteria to understand how each particular skill and experience is valued in the industry. This was then used to reveal how the inclusion of each impacts the potential salary offered.

You can view more on the study here: www.dailyfx.com/forex/fundamental/article/special_report/2020/05/13/The-Financial-Trading-Skills-Index.html

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DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.