Traders, Guns and Money
Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives3rd Edition
Satyajit Das
Jul 2012, Paperback, 440 pagesISBN13: 9780273776765
ISBN10: 0273776762
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A sensational and compelling insider’s view that lifts the lid on the fast-paced and dazzling world of derivatives, now in a smaller, paperback format.
Traders Guns and 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.
This sensational insider’s view of the business of trading and marketing derivatives, explains the frighteningly central role that derivatives and financial products played in the global financial crisis.
This worldwide bestseller reveals the truth about derivatives: those financial tools memorably described by Warren Buffett as ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’. Traders, Guns and Money will introduce you to the players and the practices and reveals how the real money is made and lost.
‘The sexier side of finance ... at last ... a convincing picture of what life is like in today’s modern financial industry.’
Corporate Financier
‘....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
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Table of Contents
- Author
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List of figures and tables
Prologue
Miracles and mirages
Serial crimes
Beginning of the end/end of the beginning
Knowns and unknowns
Unreliable recollections
Summary judgment
1 Financial WMDs – derivatives demagoguery
School days
It’s all Chinese to me
A derivative idea
Betting shops
Secret subtexts
Leveraged speculations
Under the radar
Whole lotta swapping going on
The golden age/LIBOR minus 50
Warehouses
Serial killings
Forbidden fruit
Derived logic
2 Beautiful lies – the ‘sell’ side
Smile and dial
Market colour
Rough trade
Analyze this
Class wars
Ultra vires
Feudal kingdoms
Uncivil wars
Golden rules
Business models
The medium is the message
Bondage
Tabloid cultures
Conspicuous currency
Ethnic cleansing
Foreign affairs
FILTH
Lost in translation
A day in the life
3 True lies – the ‘buy’ side
Turn of the fork
Risky business
Magic kingdoms
Stripping or stacking/hedging perils, again
Me too
‘Zaiteku’ or the bride stripped bare
The gamble in P & G
Tobashi, baby
Gnomes of Zermatt and Belgian dentists
Death swaps
Investment fashions
Alpha, beta, zeta
Looking after the relatives
Agents all
Unique selling propositions
4 Show me the money – greed lost and regained
Money uncertainty
Toll booths
Take a seat
Efficient markets
On the platform
A day at the races
Black swans, black sheep
Trading places
Secret intelligence
Overwhelming force
Oracle of Delphi
Free money
The colour of money
In reserve
A comedy of errors
Black holes
What’s the number?
Nothing like excess
Nice work if you can get it
Dukes of Hazard
5 The perfect storm – risk mismanagement by the numbers
Shock therapy
Holy risk!
Risk spin
Risqué matters
Placebo effects
Among the unbelievers
Risk cults
In the long run . . .
Modus operandi
Secret trader’s business
Let the good times roll
The perfect storm
Weather forecasts
Endgame
Mean risk
Extreme sports
6 Super models – derivative algorithms
Out of the sheltered workshops
Rocket science
Culture wars
Conveyor belts
Trivial pursuits
Grand oprey
The quest
Genesis
Gospels
Greek tragedies
Failing the model test
CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) 1987 – ‘Oh LOR-dy!’
CSI 1992 – ERM (extremely risky, man!)
CSI 1998 – selling England by the pound
CSI 1998 – Asian fever
Model envy
Omitted variable bias
7 Games without frontiers – the inverse world of structured products
Driving over lemons
The best of times . . . the worst of times
Ghostbusters
It wasn’t me, sir
Heaven and hell
Split personality
Golfing holidays
The flood
Power to the people
Recycling junk
Six packs
Take no prisoners
The usual suspects
8 Share and share alike – derivative inequity
Billion dollar baby
Self arbitrage
Arbitraging others
Taking it over
Buying back the farm
Who’s fooling who?
Strippers
Pearls of wisdom
Own goals
Taxing times
Fund times
9 Credit where credit is due – fun with CDS and CDO
Credit wars
Credit epiphanies
First-to-credit derivatives
Remote credit
Mistaken identity
Heard it on the grapevine
Guaranteed delivery
Re-re-re-re-restructuring – CDS stutters
Beyond the push and pull
Imitation and flattery
Tranche warfare
It’s super
A capital idea
The arbitrage age
Hangovers
UFOs
Geeks with Greeks
Never believe your own lies
Russian dolls
Black holes
Epilogue
The Asian century redux
Vexatious litigation
The more things change
Hot tubbing
Rogue trader
Bangs and whimpers
The China Club
BOAT (Best of all time)
Knowns and unknowns
Afterword: Credit crunch – the new known known of financial markets
Living in the Age of Kali …
Supersize my debt!
Would you like debt with that?
The new liquidity factory
Lying NINJA mortgagors
The lines of transmission
It’s different this time!
The bear comes out of hibernation
Waiting for the other shoe to fall …
Financial shell games
The short and long of it all
Model shock
Missing the mark
Truth in labelling
Regulatory irregularities
Reversion to mean
Credit crunch
Notes
Index
- Description
- Table of Contents
Author
- Reviews
Satyajit Das is a globally known and respected consultant in the area of financial derivatives and risk management. He is the author of bestselling Traders,Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives and Extreme Money.
- Description
- Table of Contents
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Reviews
