CHAPTER THREE
True lies – the ‘buy’ side
The ‘buy’ side of the industry is the customers, the corporations and investors who trade derivatives with banks. They do it to hedge risk, to manage exposures and sometimes to speculate. They are the reason the banks – the ‘sell’ side – are there.
In Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, O.J. Berman observes of the central character, Holly Golightly: ‘You’re wrong. She’s a phony. But on the other hand you’re right. She isn’t a phony because she’s a real phony. She believes all this crap she believes.’1 The buy side is like that – a world of true lies. It is the perfect counterpoint to the banks – the world of beautiful lies.
I traded with the buy side when I worked for dealers, then I crossed over ...
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