Institutional Equity Trader Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Overview & Placement

Morgan Stanley's Institutional Equity Division (IED) is a world leader in the origination, distribution and trading of equity, equity-linked and equity-derivative securities. The Division services a global Institutional client base, providing clients with innovative product solutions that help to generate alpha within their portfolios.

Please apply to this program if you are interested in our more quantitative, trading or structuring/content roles within Equities. Please note, you should apply for the 2027 Institutional Equity Co-Op Program (United States) if you are interested in Sales, Prime Brokerage or Sales-Trading roles within Equities.

Co-Ops will spend approximately 6 months fully immersed on a desk within IED. Desks include:

Certain roles within the Institutional Equity Division require a more technical skillset. Derivatives and Trading is responsible for the generation and facilitation of liquidity, as well as innovative product and trading solutions across a variety of Derivative products, including Equity Options (both exchange- listed and over the counter), Securitized Derivatives, and Convertible Bonds. Products and services are delivered across a full range of distribution channels, including our corporate, retail, and institutional clients.

Derivative Sales - Trading & Thematic & Quantitative Strategy:

The Sales-Trading team covers Hedge Funds (Equity long/short, Macro, Volatility focused funds) & Asset Managers (Mutual Funds, Pensions, Endowments).

Responsible for the distribution of derivative ideas and research, as well as pricing and execution of a suite of products including: listed and OTC options, futures, customized equity basket swaps, exotic options, dispersion, variance swaps, and ETFs.

Away from flow oriented roles, select roles are focused on creating content via positioning models, custom baskets, and option structures which is then distributed to clients.

Flow Trading (Single Name Option/Index): The index desk is part of the Equity Derivatives Trading and focuses primarily on trading volatility of major U.S. equity indices (e.g., SPX, NDX, RUT), as well as emerging markets (e.g., EEM, EWZ, etc.) and macro ETFs (HYG, TLT, etc.). Major products include listed and OTC options, variance swaps and volatility swaps, and VIX-related products. The SNO (Single Name Option) desk trades vanilla options, both listed and OTC, on single name equities (AAPL, AMZN, TSLA) and sector ETFs.

Flow Trading (Exotics /Quant Investment Strategies): The Exotics desk is part of Equity Derivatives Trading and focuses on the trading, hedging, and pricing of exotic equity-linked derivatives. In the world of derivatives, exotic options are those which have non-standard features when compared to traditional "vanilla" options. Some examples include volatility target options, knock-out options, and conditional variance swaps. We serve a wide range of clients, including large institutional investors looking for bespoke hedging solutions and opportunities for leverage, and retail investors looking for equity-linked yield products in the form of structured notes. For each exotic derivative traded, the Exotics desk is responsible for warehousing and efficiently hedging the complex risk using tradable instruments (including vanilla options and a large variety of other market instruments). The Exotics desk is further broken down into sub-teams (pods) based on the underlier of the derivative traded (stocks, indices, and custom baskets/QIS indices). Interns on our desk will spend time with members on each pod.

ETF Trading: The ETF team focuses on market-making across both domestic and international ETFs. There is a focus on generating alpha producing strategies across pricing models for domestic and international ETFs, futures, leveraged ETF and ETP dynamics, index carry arbitrage strategies and more opportunistic thematic trading.

Qualifications/Skills/Requirements

• Availability to work full-time, in-person from January - June 2027 from role location
• Pursuing an undergraduate degree with a technical proficiency in areas such as Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science, and Engineering, with a graduation date after December 2027
• Minimum 3.0 GPA
• Comfortable applying statistical analysis and deriving value from data
• Enjoy solving complex problems that require deep analytical reasoning and quantitative analysis
• Familiar with coding languages such as Python, Q, R, SQL, or VB
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Candidate is collaborative, a quick learner, adaptable, versatile, a multi-tasker and possesses a strong work ethic
• While no prior knowledge of finance or trading is required, candidate must have a keen interest in finance and markets

Application Process

Deadline to apply: September 20, 2026 by 11:55pm ET

As part of the application, applicants will be asked to rank the above desks in order of preference. If selected to progress, candidates will undergo desk-specific interviews. Note: applicants may be selected to interview for more than one desk.

Candidates must apply with their resume through the Morgan Stanley website. Resumes will be reviewed on a rolling basis and students are highly encouraged to apply as soon as they are ready.

Expected base pay rate(s) for the role will be $52.89 per hour at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

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