Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
In short: today's best AI models could do about 69% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 73% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 27% of the time, stays with people.
Buy and sell securities or commodities in investment and trading firms, or provide financial services to businesses and individuals. May advise customers about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, and market conditions.
489,570 people do this job in the US. $78,660 a year.
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work27 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet2 h
- Stays with people11 h
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 27 hours become checking its work, 2 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 11 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Devise trading and hedging strategies (about 4 h, a person checks); Develop financial plans for clients (about 3 h, a person checks); Analyze what moves prices (about 3 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 57%
- 15%
- 27%
- 0%
- 0%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 69% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 41%. Today's estimate: 69%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.17% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 116th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 6 of its 30 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.33% to 0.26% (released February and March 2025); 0.24% to 0.43% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.16% to 0.17% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.33% | 65 of 708 | 19 of 30 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.26% | 76 of 703 | 16 of 30 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.24% | 73 of 655 | 12 of 30 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.28% | 62 of 672 | 14 of 30 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.43% | 52 of 677 | 15 of 30 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.16% | 119 of 434 | 6 of 30 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.17% | 116 of 447 | 6 of 30 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates almost none of this job's working time as physical work, so robots do not reach it.
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
27% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Find trading opportunities and channels, the conversation, 5%
- Assess client needs and write proposals, the conversation, 5%
- Agree prices for clients, the conversation, 4%
- Supervise support staff on contracts, the conversation, 2%
- Tell traders and customers about the market, the conversation, 2%
- Discuss financial options with clients, the conversation, 2%
What becomes checking the machine
71% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Develop financial plans for clients, a licensed person signs, 11%
- Devise trading and hedging strategies, severe if wrong, 11%
- Analyze what moves prices, costly if wrong, 8%
- Find trading opportunities and channels, costly if wrong, 8%
- Assess client needs and write proposals, costly if wrong, 7%
- Monitor markets and positions, severe if wrong, 7%
What to learn
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check or sign: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 57% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- The conversations. About 27% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Signing off under your license. Some tasks need a licensed, certified or sworn person to do or sign them. The license, and the judgment it stands for, stays with the person.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 30 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify opportunities or develop channels for purchase or sale of securities or commodities.Research, and calls to develop contacts.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 13% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Documents 60%, conversation 40% | 56%Desk part half by now |
| Determine customers' financial services needs and prepare proposals to sell services that address these needs.A conversation to learn the need, then the proposal.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 12% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Documents 60%, conversation 40% | 57%Desk part half by now |
| Develop financial plans, based on analysis of clients' financial status.Analysis of the client's finances and a written plan.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 11% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | Documents 100% | 73%Half by now |
| Devise trading, option, or hedge strategies.Analysis and design on paper.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 11% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | Documents 100% | 100%Half by now |
| Track and analyze factors that affect price movement, such as trade policies, weather conditions, political developments, or supply and demand changes.Research and analysis.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Documents 100% | 99%Half by now |
| Monitor markets or positions.Watching screens and positions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 7% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Systems 80%, documents 20% | 100%Half by now |
| Agree on buying or selling prices at optimal levels for clients.Negotiating a price live, then entering it.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Conversation 80%, systems 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Supervise support staff and ensure proper execution of contracts.Conversation with a desk team, and checking their work.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Conversation 60%, documents 40% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Report all positions or trading results.Reports drawn from the trading system.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Documents 50%, systems 50% | 100%Half by now |
| Prepare financial reports to monitor client or corporate finances.Reports built from account data.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 2% | 1.7 h50 min to 5 h | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 100%Half by now |
| Interview clients to determine clients' assets, liabilities, cash flow, insurance coverage, tax status, or financial objectives.A conversation about assets and goals, written up.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 2% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Conversation 70%, documents 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Inform other traders, managers, or customers of market conditions, including volume, price, competition, or dynamics.Calls and messages on market conditions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 2% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | Conversation 80%, documents 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (5221 and 5223 only)257,110 people
- Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities173,040 people
- Nondepository Credit Intermediation24,160 people
- Management of Companies and Enterprises12,610 people
- Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities4,360 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 69% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 73% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Devise trading and hedging strategies (100% of the task's time now); Develop financial plans for clients (73% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Analyze what moves prices (99% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Discuss financial options with clients; Contact prospective customers; and Explain market terms to clients. Together such tasks are about 4% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are reviewing work you did not do yourself; briefing a model and checking its drafts; and judgment where errors are severe. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 27% of the working time stays with people, 71% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.17% went to this job's tasks, the 116th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 6 of its 30 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 44%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds almost none of the working time is physical work, so robots do not reach it.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 30 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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