How the Trading Floor Really Works

Read this and its all true. I work in the industry and was looking for a book for new employees joining my firm to help them acclimate. This book really gets to the point about what all the acronyms mean and what each department is tasked with. Anyone thinking of joining Wall Street or anyone already there but curious about the other areas should read this.

Best book I've read as a primer on what investment bank trading floors really do and how they operate. The other book that was good, but a little less easy to follow, was the "Front-Office Manual" by Sutherland. I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down at times.

This book breaks down all the inner workings of how the financial system works, what banks do, all the different players and how money is made. Anybody looking for a job in finance should get this book just to have a better understanding of how everything works.

Informative book! Must read for IT professional, who wants gain knowledge about trading.

Working on a trade floor fresh out of school provided a very fast change of pace and environment. This book really helped me get up to speed and made it so I actually knew what I was talking about. A must-read for anyone starting out in the industry.

straightforward and comprehensive overview of how the main functions of a bank's trading floor work. Very no-nonsense and the sidebar anecdotes are amusing as well

Very in depth.

worthwhile reading

This is a fantastic book for someone looking to get into the world of investment banking or is new to this world. If you ae not sure if investment banking is for you or, if it is what team you want to even be in (since you have no idea what they really do and where they fit in) then this is the book to read.People from the outside see investment banking as a bunch of men shouting aggressively down phones, wearing over the top clothing earning millions every year whilst probably screwing everyone over for profit. I work in investment banking and can assure you, despite some bad apples (when one goes wrong, it goes very wrong) - on the whole it's nothing like how the movies and media portray it. This book explains in plain English, with example (some are quite funny) what the role or the bank is, what each team does and the process of trading from front to back (since a single trade gets handled by so many people and systems until it can be completed \ settled).From my own experience, I have also found it virtually impossible to understand what's going on - and I'm sitting on the trading floor in an investment bank! No one really knows how each piece of the jigsaw, so to speak works - colleagues give vague answers but beyond that you cannot get any real knowledge. This is where this book steps in. It's honestly like having someone super friendly, nice and very knowledgeable next to you explaining the answers to things like "so...if a trader in team A does their bit and passes it to person B...why doesn't just the trader do it?"The trader is at the very front, making the decisions on behalf of the bank as to whether or not to execute (this putting the bank at risk) to do the deal. The sales people talk to the traders and clients, drumming up orders so the banks can make money. But there are so many other moving parts and teams to get trades done - mergers and acquisitions, special customised trades, foreign exchange and IPOs (basically when a private limited company wants to offer shares and becomes publicly owned). This book explains it all really well.It also goes into how the banking system actually makes the wider economy work and how each person working in an investment bank plays a part in it (although in truth most professionals in this world don't ever see the bigger picture - they just do their job). You'll soon realise that what you see in movies with people wearing fancy clothes, driving fast cars and making tons of cash at the click of a button isn't necessarily true - there is a HUGE amount going on behind the scenes all by thousands of people working collectively.I've recommended everyone in my team at the bank I work for to read it, regardless of their seniority as so many (even experienced people) haven't got a clue how everything works.

Duhon has pitched this book at the perfect level. It goes well beyond those books that explain broadly how the banking system works; in fact, it gets right into the day-to-day running of the different parts of a bank, which is especially educational for outsiders. And yet, despite being detailed and close to comprehensive, there are no lengthy tracts on financial theory. I cannot recommend this book enough if you work in or around the financial markets.

As a student looking to enter the financial world, this book provides a great insight. It is full of information explaining different areas and roles within the trading floor and offers insight I have yet to find in any other book. The explanations are very clear and easy to understand while still going into detail on the area leaving you with a high understanding of what is being explained. This is a must have book for any student interested in a career in finance!

This book is amazing!! The best I have ever read in the topic.

I bought the book after I saw the author's appearance in a PBS Frontline documentary (Money, Power and Wall Street). The book is highly informative, entertaining and gives quite an authentic feel about what a trading floor is and how it operates. It touches the romantic side of the business but in fact is a serious essay on modern investment banking and its internals. Enjoyed thoroughly every page of it!