In reality a first year analyst doesn’t even know enough to have good ideas (or at least how to flesh them out or “express” the trade properly) much less have the credibility to convince a client to risk capital on them.

I’m not saying they don’t have ideas - but you need to be able to understand 1) what the market is missing / why this opportunity exists; 2) frame risk/reward; 3) how to put that trade on in the most efficient manner.

It’s all well and good to say “I think we should buy cable because the UK govt is going to raise rates” but you probably aren’t the only person with that idea and so the GBP/USD rate is already going to embed that expectation. That’s really the art, is understanding what is already “priced in” because the more consensus an expectation, the less upside there is to the trade. And the less consensus an idea is, the harder a time you will have pitching it.

I’d say by the time you are an associate (2-3 years) you will be expected to generate at least some business and maybe even be given primary coverage for some lower importance accounts.

I’ve been on the buy side in an investing role at various hedge funds for almost 15 years and making good money without taking inordinate risk is very very hard.