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Traders, Guns and Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives (Financial Times Series) [Paperback]

Mr Satyajit Das
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Traders, Guns and Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives (Financial Times Series) Traders, Guns and Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives (Financial Times Series)
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Book Description

13 Jan 2010 0273731963 978-0273731962 1

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.

A sensational insider’s view of the business of trading and marketing derivatives, this revised edition 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 global financial crisis took almost everyone by surprise and even now new problems keep appearing and solutions continue to be elusive. In the original version of Traders, Guns and Money, Satyajit Das provided a highly prescient insight into the structure and risk of the world financial system exposing the problems that are becoming readily apparent. In a 2006 speech – The Coming Credit Crash – Das argued that: "an informed analysis … shows that risk is not better spread but more leveraged and (arguably) more concentrated…. This does not improve the overall stability and security of the financial system but exposes it to increased risk of a "crash".


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Traders, Guns and Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives (Financial Times Series) + Extreme Money: The Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk (Financial Times Series)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 1 edition (13 Jan 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0273731963
  • ISBN-13: 978-0273731962
  • Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 2.1 x 21.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 41,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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Review

EXTREME MONEY: THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE CULT OF RISK, the new title from bestselling author Satyajit Das, is now available to pre-order on Amazon.

"Funny, readable and peppered with one-liners from Groucho Marx, "Traders, Guns & Money" offers an ideal primer for anyone tempted to take a walk on the derivative side."
James Pressley, Bloomberg.com

 ‘……a distinctly timely book ....Traders, Guns and Money, tries to reach out to the mathematically challenged to explain how the world of derivatives “really” works.’
Gillian Tett, Financial Times

‘The sexier side of finance ... at last ... a convincing picture of what life is like in today's modern financial industry.’
Corporate Financier

‘...a fascinating and compelling insight into the world of derivatives... a page turning quality more reminiscent of a John Grisham novel than a dissertation on derivatives.’
FINASIA

‘....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

this is possibly the best insider account of a career in investments since Michael Lewis's book Liar's Poker….I can't recommend this book strongly enough.'
www. dna.bloggingstocks.com

‘... a beginner's guide to the often unsavoury and murky world of trading...a surprisingly gripping account ....’
Money Week   

‘A worthwhile read for anyone with connection to the financial world.’
WorldFinance.com

…. must read for all CEOs, CFOs, bankers and anyone who cares about what banks are doing with their money.’
Lara Wozniak, www.financeasia.com

‘…an amusing, down-to-earth look behind the scenes of the derivatives market….There were several times I laughed out loud….’
www.runningofthebools.typepad.com

‘... a scalpel of a book’
Financial Engineering News

“Das’ audacity is commendable as he does not hesitate to challenge the greatest intellectuals of quantitative finance like Myron Scholes and Fischer Black….Overall, he does a splendid job of portraying the obsessive mentality of the traders that anything can be traded.”
Medill Money Mavens, August 2010

From the Inside Flap

Warren Buffet once memorably described derivatives as "financial weapons of mass destruction". Read this sensational and controversial account of the often dazzling business of derivatives trading, and see if you agree.
No money is ever really made in financial markets. Markets merely transfer wealth. As to how to make money? Well, it is basically theft, misrepresentation, lies, cheating, deception or force. It is impossible to make the staggering amounts made in derivatives in good years honestly.
Traders, Guns & Money is a wry and wickedly comic exposé of the culture, games, and pure deceptions played out every day in trading rooms around the world, usually with other people’s money. Whether you move in the financial world yourself, know people who do, or have money invested in stocks, shares or derivatives, this is a fascinating read guaranteed to make you think. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An Informative and Entertaining Reading Experience 12 April 2007
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed reading the book Traders, Guns, and Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives by Satyajit Das. It is an interesting book in that it is a fictionalized autobiography of Das. As the book outlines the author's professional life in finance, it describes how he got involved in financial derivatives. The primary purpose of the book is to give a primer on derivatives, how they were created, how they are used, their benefits, and their dangers. The author's use of humor along with the hilarious vignettes of his finance associates (Nero, Clem/Crem, Adewiko, Budi, etc.) and funny anecdotes from his career made the book fun to read.

The book really helped explain what exactly derivatives are (giving me a good review of some of what I was taught in college) and how they are used today. I also appreciated the in-depth analysis of several well-known instances where derivatives were used by investors and companies which really helped to demonstrate their application in the real world as well as the oftentimes hidden dangers of using these financial tools. I found his discussion of the currency swap done by the Walt Disney Company in the 1980's to be of particular interest to me. Despite the fact that I previously read the HBS case study during a Derivatives and Risk Management course which I took as a student at Harvard, Das's explanation of the incident really gave me an even better understanding of how exactly the transaction was structured and how it eventually went wrong. His explanation of why Disney's financial advisors made the deal so complex was also amusing. (You will have to read the book to find out.)

Moreover, Satyajit Das really underscored the complex nature of derivatives and their use in either speculative bets or in hedges. Previously, I had considered these financial tools as an efficient and safe way to hedge. However, the author points out that there are significant risks even when they are only utilized as a hedge.

Hence, I really enjoyed this entertaining and informative book. The author explains complex concepts in a clear, readily understandable, and comical way. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn more about financial derivatives or the world of finance in general and who does not mind being entertained at the same time.

Thank you for your time.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars "Stunning", "Electrifying", "5 Thumbs Up!!" 23 July 2007
Format:Paperback
Das' sardonic description of the derivatives industry provides an extremely entertaining new approach to a genre saturated with glorified good fortune and dire warnings of imminent market apocalypse. The comically acid tone with which he describes every element of the business (from front to back-office) has much more in common with Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" than the academic tomes on credit derivatives and structured products that preceded it.

If you are considering a career in investment banking, this book is required reading. Along with an incredible introduction to derivatives and their impact on financial markets, "Traders, Guns and Money" touches on the frustrations involved in working at every level of the bank, describing the internal friction and disparity between support functions (product control, operations, accounting, risk control... the almost always overlooked segments of the firm that comprise the majority of people at any bank) and the front office traders with a surprising degree of insight.
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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Good fun for all ages. 18 July 2006
By jburron
Format:Paperback
I've read many books on the markets--both anecdotal ones such as Mike Lewis's "Liar's Poker" and Frank Partnoy's "F.I.A.S.C.O." and more academics ones such as Mark Anson's "Handbook of Alternative Investments" and Alexander Ineichen's "Absolute Returns". Never, though, have I read one as well-balanced as Satyajit Das's "Traders, Guns & Money".

Mr. Das has something that other writers lack: range and depth of experience. He's written many academic texts on derivatives and is a 25-year veteran of the industry--and it shows. He's been on the buy-side, sell-side, middle-man and consulting and he doesn't pull any punches as he describes the players' motivations, personalities and inherent weaknesses. He also has a quant's understanding of the various products and permutations out there, but in explaining them he always takes the language back to Earth--which is a boon for all readers.

If you're at all interested in structured products (this includes Principal Protected Notes), derivatives or financial engineering, and whether you're at the start or end of your financial career you'll find this book interesting, enlightening and downright fun.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative book.
Bought on a recommendation. Happy with my purchase. Informative and straightforward to read. Would recommend this book to others also.
Published 2 months ago by Jo McIntosh
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but Not.At.All.Easy
If you're accustomed to Michael Lewis level forays into the financial world like this reader was, you're in for a shock. I suppose I'm not the aimed-for audience. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Aaron Dev
5.0 out of 5 stars I did not know that !!
As a person of average intelect who just likes reading anything interesting, but at the moment anything to do with how finance works, this is a very good read. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Papershuffler
4.0 out of 5 stars Caveat Emptor
I'm giving this a 4 instead of a 3 because there is no 3.5. In general, the low-starring critics are on target. Read more
Published 18 months ago by demola
5.0 out of 5 stars A FIRST YET.....
....to enable non-quants, and non-Nobel winning quantitive scientists to get a rudimentary understanding of the role of derivative trading in today's world of casino banking. Read more
Published 19 months ago by DOPPLEGANGER
2.0 out of 5 stars a hard book to understand...
are you into algebraic formulas? is so you will really like this book. sadly i was expecting a bit more - something more along the lines of liars poker... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Gcrikey
5.0 out of 5 stars good Cook's tour of the subject
Mr. Das knows his stuff and is fully believable when he claims to have been present at most Derivative developments from the 1980s on. Read more
Published on 7 May 2011 by Doyler101
5.0 out of 5 stars A Far Better Book than The Black Swan
Satyajit Das's dry sense of humour might not be to everyone's couple of tea and I guess that explains the diametrically opposing views on this book. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2011 by DP
5.0 out of 5 stars A daunting and very interesting book on market practices
An interesting and scary world of financial creativity, and how decisions are made with other peoples money. Read more
Published on 4 July 2010 by Fantasyreader
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly Funny
The liar's poker for this generation. Mr Das does an excellent and indepth job of explaining not just the instruments, but how these deals are constructed - all whilst making slyly... Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2010 by Isabella Henney
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