Execution Trader and Sales Trader Roles Explained

Execution and Sales Trader

Execution traders carry out portfolio decisions at the best cost; sales traders serve clients and route their orders. Learn the work and the skills.

Intermediate3 min readUpdated 3 Oct 2026

Lesson 30 of 44

Not every trader decides what to buy or sell. Execution traders and sales traders specialise in how orders reach the market. A buy side execution trader takes a portfolio manager's decision, such as buying 2 million shares, and executes it at the lowest total cost. A sell side sales trader looks after institutional clients, takes their orders, gives market colour and works with the bank's traders and algorithms to execute them. Both roles require deep knowledge of market structure and calm judgement under pressure.

The two roles#

	Buy side execution trader	Sell side sales trader
Employer	Asset manager, hedge fund, pension fund	Bank or broker
Serves	Internal portfolio managers	External institutional clients
Main goal	Minimise trading costs and information leakage	Win and keep client business, deliver good execution
Daily tools	Execution management systems, algorithms, broker relationships	Order management systems, client chats and calls, internal trading desks
Success measures	Transaction cost analysis	Client revenue, rankings and feedback

What an execution trader does#

Receives orders from portfolio managers, with urgency and limits.
Chooses a strategy: algorithm, block trade, dark pool or risk trade with a broker. See Execution Algorithms vs Alpha Algorithms and Dark Pools.
Selects brokers and venues. See Order Routing and Smart Order Routing.
Monitors execution, adjusting to news, volume and price moves.
Reviews results with transaction cost analysis. See Implementation Shortfall.

What a sales trader does#

Client coverage: daily calls and chats with buy side traders.
Market colour: sharing what is moving and why, flows and themes.
Order handling: taking orders, suggesting algorithms or risk prices.
Liaison: connecting clients with the bank's market makers, program trading and electronic desks.
Problem solving: handling errors and difficult executions.

Key skills#

Skill	Why
Market structure knowledge	Venues, order types, auctions. See Market Structure Basics
Understanding of algorithms	Choosing and tuning execution strategies
Communication	Fast, clear and precise, often under pressure
Judgement	When to be patient and when to trade quickly
Accuracy	Errors in size, side or price are costly. See Operational and Model Risk

Measuring execution quality#

Benchmark	Use
Arrival price	Cost versus the price when the order started
VWAP	Comparison with the day's volume weighted average price. See VWAP
Close	For orders targeting the closing price
Implementation shortfall	Full cost including unfilled portions

Regulators require firms to take steps to achieve best execution and to document how they do it. See Best Execution and Execution Quality.

The changing role#

Electronic trading and algorithms have automated much routine execution. Execution and sales traders now focus more on large, difficult or illiquid trades, algorithm selection, data analysis and client advice. Familiarity with data and coding is increasingly valued. See Python for Trading.

Frequently asked questions#

What does an execution trader do?#

Carries out portfolio managers' orders in the market while minimising costs, market impact and information leakage.

What is a sales trader?#

A sell side professional who manages relationships with institutional clients, takes their orders and coordinates execution with the bank's trading desks.

Is execution trading a good path to portfolio management?#

It can be, since it builds deep market knowledge, though portfolio management usually also requires investment research experience.

Next, learn about market making and options trading careers in Market Maker and Options Trader.

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Next lessonMarket Maker and Options TraderMarket makers quote prices on both sides and manage the risk they take on. Learn what market making and options trading roles involve, key skills and interviews.