Bristol’s premier trading society
The Bristol Trading Society is the fastest-growing finance society at the University of Bristol: over 400 applications for 80 analyst places, and 4,500+ members and followers. Our analysts research markets across FICC, Equities, Macro and Quant, and we put members in front of firms hiring in trading, investment banking and asset management.
How the society works
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Membership
Open to any Bristol student, whatever you study and whatever you know. Members get the speaker events, the workshops, the Bloomberg sessions and the socials. Most people start here and a lot of people stay here — that is a perfectly good way to use the society.
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The analyst programme
Over 400 applications a year, and 80 analysts this year. Analysts join one team and spend the year producing research inside it — building a view, writing it up, and defending it. This is the part of the society that most closely resembles the job, and the reason firms recruit from the cohort.
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Division heads
Each division is run by a head who sets its research agenda, runs its sessions and is accountable for what the division produces across the year. Heads are appointed by application, usually from analysts who have already done a year in the division.
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The committee
Runs the society itself — events, partnerships, finances and everything that keeps it working.
Three things we actually care about
Produce, don’t spectate
Reading about markets is easy and teaches you very little. Everything we run ends in someone having to produce something — a pitch, a position, a written view — and then stand behind it.
Be wrong in public
Our competitions and debates are adversarial on purpose. The point is not to win; it is to have your reasoning taken apart by someone who knows more than you, early enough for it to be useful.
No prior knowledge required
Members arrive from every degree, including ones with no finance in them at all. The entry point is curiosity and the willingness to do the reading — not a CV that already looks the part.