How To Become A Bond Trader: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bond trader and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a bond trader. For example, did you know that they make an average of $52.66 an hour? That's $109,526 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 47,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBond TraderUS Average

Salary

7.9

Avg. Salary $109,526

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.5

Growth Rate 10%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 11.20%

Black or African American 5.64%

Hispanic or Latino 11.81%

Unknown 4.14%

White 67.01%

Gender

female 19.05%

male 80.95%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bond trader

Explore bond trader education requirements

Most common bond trader degrees

Bachelor's

78.5 %

Master's

14.8 %

Associate

4.0 %

Start to develop specific bond trader skills

Skills	Percentages
Bonds	22.32%
Treasury	13.38%
Fixed Income	10.70%
Securities	10.56%
Trade Ideas	5.23%

Research bond trader duties and responsibilities

Manage traders in training and help teach derivatives theory classes.
Manage risk of firm capital in directional, basis and arbitrage trading
Manage business, sales, marketing, international negotiation and communication for a commodities business.
Train junior traders on modeling and relative value analysis of convertible bonds and structure derivative arbitrage trading strategies.

Get bond trader experience

Prepare your bond trader resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your bond trader resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a bond trader resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Bond Trader Resume templates

Build a professional Bond Trader resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Bond Trader resume.

Apply for bond trader jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a bond trader job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do bond traders rate their job?