IDB life advice pls before I get thrown into the pit
I've just recently landed an Interdealer Broker (IDB) internship in Singapore, might turn into a junior broker role if things go well.
The plan is for me to rotate across desks before they decide where I'd be the best fit.
I've done a fair bit of reading and understand the basics. It's mostly guys yelling prices down a phone. I know that it's all really relationship driven, trust is everything, and success is mostly just having a bunch of big players on speed dial, rather than skill or how good you are at market view.
But because IDB is such a niche corner of finance, I'm struggling to find much information on what the job is actually like. Feels like a secret society job.
Any veterans here who can give me a slice of what a junior typically spends their time doing, or how you can fuck up the least?
Posted Jun 11, 2026, 9:19 PM UTC