It's not a good time to be a trader at a major global investment bank.

Falling revenue in the trading operations of these banks will lead to job losses that may well number in the thousands by year-end, officials at the banks and financial-services recruiters tell The Wall Street Journal.

The problem is that trading revenue has fallen faster than head counts.

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Trading revenue for fixed-income, currencies and commodities (FICC) at the 10 largest global investment banks plummeted 15.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Coalition research firm.

At the same time, the headcount of FICC traders, researchers and salespeople declined only 4.8 percent.

"There are too many people on these trading floors," Richard Stein, senior partner at executive-search firm Caldwell Partners, tells The Journal. "All the large U.S. banks will be looking in a draconian way to get rid of head count."

Trading conditions have worsened amid stringent new rules on risk and capital, combined with quiescent volatility, the paper reports.

Goldman Sachs, which depends on FICC trading for about 30 percent of its revenue, is particularly suffering. Its shares have slumped 8.4 percent so far this year.

But Morningstar analyst Michael Wong hasn't given up on the company.

"We believe that most of the impact from limits on proprietary trading is already reflected in the company's earnings, and that [hedge and private-equity] fund stakes will be liquidated at value-neutral market prices," he writes on Morningstar.com.

"Though the net effect of regulatory reforms will take years to become clear, Goldman Sachs has a record of adapting to industry change."

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