TRADING ROOM SETUP

In appearance, the trading rooms of many major dealer institutions are similar in many respects.

All have rows of screens, computers, telephones, dedicated lines to customers and to brokers, electronic dealing and brokering systems, news services, analytic and informational sources, and other communications equipment.

All have various traders specializing in individual currencies and cross-currencies, in spot, forwards, swaps, and options; their specialists in offshore deposit markets and various bond markets; and their marketing groups.

There are funds managers and those responsible for proprietary transactions using the dealer’s own funds. All have their affiliated “back offices” not necessarily located nearby where separate staffs confirm transactions consummated by the traders and execute the financial payments and receipts associated with clearance and settlement.

Increasingly, there are “mid-office” personnel, checking on the validity of valuations used by the traders and other matters of risk management.