CHAPTER 9 The war zone. If you’ve ever been to an investment banking trading floor, you’ve witnessed the chaos. It’s usually a lot of swearing, yelling and flashing computer screens: a pressure cooker of stress. Sometimes the floor is a quiet rumble of activity | Institutional Sales and Trading S T CHAPTER 9 The war zone If you ve ever been to an investment banking trading floor you ve witnessed the chaos. It s usually a lot of swearing yelling and flashing computer screens a pressure cooker of stress. Sometimes the floor is a quiet rumble of activity but when the market takes a nosedive panic ensues and the volume kicks up a notch. Traders must rely on their market instincts and salespeople yell for bids when the market tumbles. Deciding what to buy or sell and at what price to buy and sell is difficult when millions of dollars at stake. However salespeople and traders work much more reasonable hours than research analysts or corporate finance bankers. Rarely does a salesperson or trader venture into the office on a Saturday or Sunday the trading floor is completely devoid of life on weekends. Any corporate finance analyst who has crossed a trading floor on a Saturday will tell you that the only noise to be heard on the floor is the clocks ticking every minute and the whir of the air conditioner. Shop Talk Here s a quick example of how a salesperson and a trader interact on an emerging market bond trade. SALESPERSON Receives a call from a buy-side firm say a large mutual fund . The buy-side firm wishes to sell 10 million of a particular Mexican Par government-issued bond denominated in . dollars . The emerging markets bond salesperson seated next to the emerging markets traders stands up in his chair and yells to the relevant trader Give me a bid on 10 million Mex Par six and a quarter nineteens. TRADER I got em at 73 and an eighth. Translation I am willing to buy them at a price of per 100 of face value. s mentioned the 10 million represents amount of par value the client wanted to sell meaning the trader will buy the bonds paying percent of 10 million Visit the Vault Finance Career Channel at finance - with insider firm profiles message boards the Vault Finance Job Board and more. CAREER V
