Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2201 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review

The sexier side of finance ... at last ... a convincing picture of what life is like in today's modern financial industry. Traders Guns and Money by Satyajit Das not only has a catchy title, it actually manages to entertain, educate and inform."  Corporate Financier, July 2006

"A must read for all CEOs, CFOs, Bankers and anyone who cares about what banks are doing with their money." - Finance Asia, May 2006

"... revealing insider's account"  - Director, April 2006

"... true rarity: a derivatives book that keeps your attention all the way through. " FOW April 2006

"... a welcome addition to the literature."  - The Sheet, April 2006

"... a scalpel of a book" - Financial Engineering News, July 2006

"A distincly timely book... This makes fascinating reading.... A good crib sheet for how the whole derivatives game works. " - Financial Times, May 2006

"Forewarned is forearmed." - Money Week, May 2006

"Das is especially good on structured products and on the recently fashionable world of structured credit... a diverting read" - Financial World, July 2006

"a worthwhile read for anyone with connection to the financial world" - World Finance, July 2006

"The murky and complex world of finances and derivatives is scrupulously and frantically told in this brilliant narrative. ... This is a collection and recollection of exquisite financial tales well worth your time.' Convergence, September 2006

"...a fascinating and compelling insight into the world of derivatives... [TGM has] a page turning quality more reminiscent of a John Grisham novel than a dissertation on derivatives." - FINASIA, October 2006

"An absorbing accessible primer... scoots along at a blistering pace" - Wilmott Magazine, December 2006

Author featured as expert in Asia Risk, Bloomberg, Financial Times all in December 2006

"one of the most entertaining investment books I've read in a long time... I can't recommend this book strongly enough" - Blogginstocks Jan 07

"part thriller, part expose… will be useful for anyone with connection to finance…will tell you some of the truth of what really does go on." Society of Business Economists Book Review - Jan 07

Frank Partnoy, author of F.I.A.S.C.O and Infectious Greed
Make room for another must-read on the shelves of any City or Wall Street trader, salesman, or victim.

Director, April 2006
... revealing insider's account

Customer Reviews

Make a difficult subject an attractive reading
For me the world of derivatives are a known unknown and after reading the book, it remains like that. Derivatives are complex indeed if you don't have experience or are involve in it, but this book helps to provide an idea about the mechanics of the financials markets. The author guides you in this book telling real stories, some from his own experience, about how derivatives have evolved since its beginnings, covering the whole range of derivatives from futures, options, swaps and credit.
Reading the newspaper today, it said that some companies had made some good profits from our country currency valuation against the dollar, thanks to swaps and futures operations --- at least now I have an idea on what they are talking about. I liked this book, I laughed in some parts of it, and for sure I am eager to read more about the subject.

Disappointing
I wasn't too impressed by this book. I loved FIASCO and I generally enjoy books such as Liar's Poker, Ugly Americans etc, but this was quite a let down.

A lot of the material feels very familiar; if you have even a passing interest in the world of derivatives, you'll already have read about Orange County, P&G, LTCM etc and you'll find little new information here. I found the later sections on structured products to be much more interesting - the author describes several of these products in detail and his depth of knowledge really starts to become apparent.

There are 3 reasons I rate this book poorly. First, nearly all the personal experiences and anecdotes related in the book are frustratingly lacking in specifics. It's always "A trader at a certain bank was said to have done X", or "a large American bank was discovered to have done Y" - but the exact details are never divulged. I wonder how many of these stories actually happened, and how much is simple gossip and rumour. Sure, he covers the details of high-profile cases in great detail, but I'm left thinking that I could have written this book myself by simply copy-and-pasting factual information from the financial press and padding it out with made-up stories and gossip.

Second, the book is littered with typos. There's talk of accountants "pouring" over balance sheets, TMT as an acronym for "Technology, Media, inTernet" (surely that final T is for "telecoms" ?) and worst of all something called "dvo1" (I assume the author means dv01, with a zero rather than a letter 'o').

Finally, the tone of the book is quite cynical. I was left wondering why the author spent 25 years working in an industry which he seems to be dislike so much. There's a section towards the very end in which the author is describing his experiences as an expert witness in a court case between an (un-named) bank and an aggrieved customer. He comes across as a rather difficult and unprofessional character, dragging his heels and refusing to cooperate in discussions with another expert. It's bewildering that the author seems to take pride in this childish behaviour.

Oh, one more thing - where are the 'guns' that the title refers to ? They're not mentioned anywhere in the book !

Please read this... but now where do you invest your pension?
Entertaining, insightful, skeptical rather than cynical. This book opens the can of worms that is Derivatives and those that peddle them. As someone who has spent the last 12 years selling trading systems in to this group, it was fascinating to gain an insight as to why TARNs, PRDC and the Range Accruals were so important. I was very interested to understand the real thinking underlying the various products, many of which have I have had to workshop/demonstrate as part of the sales process when banks go to market for a new trading system.

This is a good book written by someone who has seen it all, he clearly outlines why the trading floors of the major financial centers are little more than casinos that close at 5pm. The lead-in to the recent Credit crisis is well handled in chapter 9.

My only worry now is where now do I invest my pension fund?