Principles of Quantitative Development

4

Trade Perspectives

All business units that manage some aspects of the life cycle of a trade view it through their own preferred paradigms. Paradigms are metaphors or representations employed to handle data and information efficiently. Due to long usage and the consequent familiarity, paradigms become synonymous with what they represent. The process paradigms, in a financial institution, are not all compatible with one another across various business units.

As quantitative developers, we come across a variety of paradigms because our trading platform services many different business and support units while handling the trade workflow. In order to excel in our job and enhance communication with these business users, we have to be aware of these paradigms, which are filters through which they view trades and trade-related operations.

The last two chapters outlined the static organization of a bank and the dynamics of how trades flow through the static apparatus. In this chapter, we will examine the views and paradigms held dear by various teams at different stages of a trade life cycle. The trade paradigms or perspectives help the bank employees carry out their tasks efficiently.

Once we understand the trade perspective of a particular team, we will be able to formulate their requirements and implement them successfully. In this chapter, we will also look at some of the information and presentation required of the trading platform that the trading and processing teams demand, ...