Traders, Guns and Money: Knowns and unknowns in the dazzling world of derivatives Revised edition
‘ a distinctly timely book ... Traders, Guns & Money tries to reach out to the mathematically challenged to explain how the world of derivatives “really” works.’\ Gillian Tett, Financial Times\ ‘...a scalpel of a book that pulls back the skin on the derivatives and risk management industry to expose the blood, guts and circulatory system underneath ’ \ Nina Mehta, Financial Engineering News\ ‘... a beginner's guide to the often unsavoury and murky world of trading ... a surprisingly...
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‘…a distinctly timely book ... Traders, Guns & Money tries to reach out to the mathematically challenged to explain how the world of derivatives “really” works.’Gillian Tett, Financial Times‘...a scalpel of a book that pulls back the skin on the derivatives and risk management industry to expose the blood, guts and circulatory system underneath…’Nina Mehta, Financial Engineering News‘... a beginner's guide to the often unsavoury and murky world of trading ... a surprisingly gripping account ...’Money Week ‘ ... more rivetting than The Da Vinci Code...in the mould of Liar's Poker...an insider's account of how derivatives markets work...’Goola Warden, The Edge, Singapore‘The sexier side of finance ... at last ... a convincing picture of what life is like in today's modern financial industry.’Corporate Financier‘…a page-turning quality more reminiscent of a John Grisham novel.’JASSA, FinsiaTraders Guns & Money is a wickedly comic exposé of the culture, games and pure deceptions played out every day in trading rooms around the world. And played out with other people’s money.A sensational insider’s view of the business of trading and marketing derivatives, this revised edition explains the frighteningly central role that derivatives and financial products played in the global financial crisis.
List of figures and tables xiiiPreface to the revised edition xvPreface to the first edition xviiPrologue 1Miracles and mirages 2Serial crimes 5Beginning of the end/end of the beginning 9Knowns and unknowns 12Unreliable recollections 13Summary judgment 171 Financial WMDs - derivatives demagoguery 19School days 21It's all Chinese to me 22A derivative idea 23Betting shops 25Secret subtexts 27Leveraged speculations 29Under the radar 32Whole lotta swapping going on 33The golden age/LIBOR minus 50 37Warehouses 40Serial killings 43Forbidden fruit 45Derived logic 502 Beautiful lies - the 'sell' side 53Smile and dial 55Market colour 56Rough trade 59Analyze this 62Class wars 64Ultra vires 66Feudal kingdoms 67Uncivil wars 68Golden rules 70Business models 71The medium is the message 74Bondage 75Tabloid cultures 76Conspicuous currency 77Ethnic cleansing 79Foreign affairs 80FILTH 81Lost in translation 82A day in the life 833 True lies - the 'buy' side 87Turn of the fork 88Risky business 89Magic kingdoms 91Stripping or stacking/hedging perils, again 95Me too 97'Zaiteku' or the bride stripped bare 98The gamble in P & G 101Tobashi, baby 105Gnomes of Zermatt and Belgian dentists 107Death swaps 108Investment fashions 110Alpha, beta, zeta 112Looking after the relatives 115Agents all 116Unique selling propositions 1174 Show me the money - greed lost and regained 121Money uncertainty 122Toll booths 123Take a seat 125Efficient markets 126On the platform 127A day at the races 129Black swans, black sheep 130Trading places 131Secret intelligence 133Overwhelming force 134Oracle of Delphi 135Free money 137The colour of money 138In reserve 140A comedy of errors 141Black holes 143What's the number? 146Nothing like excess 148Nice work if you can get it 149Dukes of Hazard 1515 The perfect storm - risk mismanagement by the numbers 153Shock therapy 154Holy risk! 155Bisk spin 156Risqué matters 158Placebo effects 160Among the unbelievers 162Risk cults 164In the long run… 167Modus operandi 169Secret trader's business 170Let the good times roll 171The perfect storm 172Weather forecasts 173Endgame 175Mean risk 176Extreme sports 1776 Super models - derivative algorithms 181Out of the sheltered workshops 182Rocket science 184Culture wars 185Conveyor belts 187Trivial pursuits 188Grand oprey 189The quest 190Genesis 193Gospels 196Greek tragedies 198Failing the model test 200CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) 1987 - 'Oh LOR-dy!' 202CSI 1992 - ERM (extremely risky, man!) 203CSI 1998 - selling England by the pound 204CSI 1998 - Asian fever 206Model envy 208Omitted variable bias 2097 Games without frontiers - the inverse world of structured products 211Driving over lemons 212The best of times … the worst of times 214Ghostbusters 216It wasn't me, sir 217Heaven and hell 217Split personality 220Golfing holidays 222The flood 224Power to the people 226Recycling junk 230Six packs 232Take no prisoners 234The usual suspects 2368 Share and share alike - derivative inequity 241Billion dollar baby 242Self arbitrage 245Arbitraging others 246Taking it over 248Buying back the farm 249Who's fooling who? 250Strippers 253Pearls of wisdom 254Own goals 257Taxing times 260Fund times 2629 Credit where credit is due - fun with CDS and CDO 265Credit wars 266Credit epiphanies 267First-to-credit derivatives 269Remote credit 271Mistaken identity 274Heard it on the grapevine 276Guaranteed delivery 277Re-re-re-re-restructuring - CDS stutters 279Beyond the push and pull 281Imitation and flattery 282Tranche warfare 285It's super 287A capital idea 289The arbitrage age 290Hangovers 291UFOs 292Geeks with Greeks 293Never believe your own lies 295Russian dolls 297Black holes 298Epilogue 301The Asian century redux 302Vexatious litigation 305The more things change 308Hot tubbing 310Rogue trader 313Bangs and whimpers 316The China Club 317BOAT (Best of all time) 318Knowns and unknowns 319Afterword: Credit crunch - the new known known of financial markets 321Living in the Age of Kali … 321Supersize my debt! 322Would you like debt with that? 323The new liquidity factory 325Lying NINJA mortgagors 325The lines of transmission 327It's different this time! 329The bear comes out of hibernation 330Waiting for the other shoe to fall … 331Financial shell games 333The short and long of it all 336Model shock 336Missing the mark 337Truth in labelling 339Regulatory irregularities 341Reversion to mean 342Credit crunch 343Notes 345Index 349
\ From the PublisherEXTREME MONEY: THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE CULT OF RISK, the new title from bestselling author Satyajit Das, is now available to pre-order on Amazon.\ "Funny, readable and peppered with one-liners from Groucho Marx, "Traders, Guns & Money" offers an ideal primer for anyone tempted to take a walk on the derivative side." \ James Pressley, Bloomberg.com\ ‘ a distinctly timely book ....Traders, Guns and Money, tries to reach out to the mathematically challenged to explain how the world of derivatives “really” works.’\ Gillian Tett, Financial Times\ ‘The sexier side of finance ... at last ... a convincing picture of what life is like in today's modern financial industry.’\ Corporate Financier\ ‘...a fascinating and compelling insight into the world of derivatives... a page turning quality more reminiscent of a John Grisham novel than a dissertation on derivatives.’\ FINASIA\ ‘....more riveting than the Da Vinci Code...in the mould of Liars' Poker...an insider’s account of how derivatives markets work...’\ Goola Warden, The Edge\ ‘this is possibly the best insider account of a career in investments since Michael Lewis's book Liar's Poker .I can't recommend this book strongly enough.'\ www. dna.bloggingstocks.com\ ‘... a beginner's guide to the often unsavoury and murky world of trading...a surprisingly gripping account ....’\ Money Week\ ‘A worthwhile read for anyone with connection to the financial world.’\ WorldFinance.com\ ‘ . must read for all CEOs, CFOs, bankers and anyone who cares about what banks are doing with their money.’\ Lara Wozniak, www.financeasia.com\ ‘ an amusing, down-to-earth look behind the scenes of the derivatives market .There were several times I laughed out loud .’\ www.runningofthebools.typepad.com\ ‘... a scalpel of a book’\ Financial Engineering News\ “Das’ audacity is commendable as he does not hesitate to challenge the greatest intellectuals of quantitative finance like Myron Scholes and Fischer Black .Overall, he does a splendid job of portraying the obsessive mentality of the traders that anything can be traded.”\ Medill Money Mavens, August 2010\ \ \
