Preparation for summer internship at FX E Trading desk

In terms of programming skills, I wouldnt worry a whole lot as long as you have some base. When i was interning the quant algo equities desk had 6 interns in total and none of them had any programming experience. It was more about whether they had the thought process and aptitude. The actualy programming part can be taught, the thinking usually can't.

First of all, if theres one thing you should never do as an intern or any junior employee, is to try and "act like a master" at anything. The goal is to be knowledgable and humble. And even if you think you know a lot, you probably don't, you are just not aware of what you dont know. THe idea is to express your opinion, but make sure to always phrase everything in a way where you dont give the impression you think you know everything. Instead of saying "Actually, this is because of XYZ", say "I would have imagined it would be XYZ because of ABC".

In terms of your conundrum. You should do everything you can to be the best possible Etrading FX intern you can. But make sure that you make it known where your interests lie, and use networking to get to know the other desks. Interns make this mistake ALL the time, they disregard their desk because they would rather be somewhere else, but the best way to get hired on any desk is to have a strong reputation for your work. So even if you dont like the desk, make sure to put in a 100% so that when you are looking to get another desk, because your reputation carries around the floor, and its mostly based on the work you do.

In terms of preparing, id suggest being comfortable iwth hte fundamental aspect of currency trading, and some of the more complex products. That way you can be versatile in terms of opportunities. Read something like the dailyfx.com leading up to the internship, and know whats going on in terms of macro. It might not be directly relevant to eTrading, but it will help. For example you can ask your manager if you can go sit with the derivs FX guys to learn a bit more about how that market works, and if you know stuff coming in its looked upon very favourably.