Forex in the 80's
Stumbled on these videos on Youtube and thought you guys (especially those on FX desks) would get a kick out of it. With all the turmoil in our industry lately I’ve been hearing a few “Man, I sometimes wish we were in the 80s” kinda groans going around so, for all the FX monkeys wishing they were born a few decades earlier, here’s what it was like.
Barclays didn’t pay commission, it was pretty much all tape reading/price action plays, and traders woke up at 6am. Wait, what? 6 A.M.? WTF???
Videos after the jump.
Bet you these guys would've killed for a Bloomberg terminal back then.
Some notes:
That receiver is ridiculous. We now have access to every market at any moment of the day. It is crazy that he carries around a receiver to give him a few updates.
One of the guys in Hong Kong is sick at spinning his pen. Scroll to 8:50.
I wonder how much has really changed. Obviously, in forex, trading on a bloomberg would give timely market updates. But this sort of thing is still done in the bond market, where prices are illusive, even today.
The New Yorker has some hot assistants.
Not much has changed if we're only talking about speculative FX spot trading. Go long or short based on your views.
Only difference is that they weren't using technical analysis back then and there's almost zero price quoting through Reuters dealing now. All through electronic platforms obviously.
I'm interested where these guys are today. They seem like prop traders (so much cooler than S&T).
Fooled by randomness though?
It's not much cooler than S&T. Except the americans, the guys are dealers, and what they do is pretty similar to what the dealers at any IB do nowadays. The americans are running some kind of hedge fund. BTW, I can't understand why they trade through the assistant and tell her what to do instead of picking up the phone and do it themselves.
Pure gambling. I like it.
There seems to be little risk management either.. Great video !
Does anyone have a link to modern video that would show some live trading?
Richard wipes the floor with Wong, maybe Wong should come to work on time
awesome video, thanks for posting
Smoking in the office seems so badass
Video 2, 4:05 mark.... quasi front-running?
My favorite scene is at 10:30 in part 1 when he puts the tape in and it plays "Wall Street Shuffle."
Nice find.
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