What is trade?
Trade is the process of buying and selling any financial instrument.

Just like any other product even trade has its life cycle involving several steps, as those with a career in Capital Markets know.

What are the Steps Involved in a Trade Life Cycle?

Overview of the Process

1. Sale -

• This is a process of client acquisition in which HNIs or Institutional clients are introduced to various investment products or vehicles.
• These vehicles or products are available with an Investment Manager or Bank by whom the client’s investments are managed.
• The investments are collectively called Mutual or Hedge funds.

2. Trade Initiation and Execution –

• This is the process of placing an order in the market.
• Trade Initiation and Execution can be done both in Order and Quote-driven markets.
• This depends on the choice of a marketplace and on the external platform.
• Once the order is placed and it gets matched, the trade is said to be executed.

3. Trade Capture -

• Trades are then booked internally in an FO system for it to flow down to the operating systems.
• It is booked in a Risk Management System (RMS)

4. Trade Validation and Enrichment - The reference data team set up the static and dynamic details which help middle office teams to validate the trade, before releasing instructions into the market.

Repository for data management

 
5. Trade Confirmation -

• This is an extremely critical step for the trade settlement.
• Trade details and SSIs are agreed with the counterparty at least a day prior to the settlement date.

Confirmation via depositories like Euro clear/DTCC

6. Trade Settlement – This is the process of simultaneous exchange of cash versus securities for a security trade or cash versus cash for a Derivatives trade.

7. Reconciliation – Reconciliation involves matching ledgers against statements to ensure correct accounting of all trade book.

A pictorial representation of the steps.

 
If you are looking for a Capital Market course, or want to explore more about an Investment Banking Career, get to know more about the trade lifecycle through focused training and this blog could be a good starting point.

To know more about this, you can also visit - Imarticus Learning  Also can contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centers based in - Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Ahmedabad.

To know more about a Trade Life Cycle process, feel free to visit for more blogs:

Ways Trade Execution Can Improve Your Capital Market Business!

Everything You Need to Know About Trade Validation and Enrichment in Trade Life Cycle

What Is The Difference Between Trade Confirmation And Affirmation?