This is the story of John Sussex, a highly successful derivatives trader whose career has spanned the radical technological, social and political changes which took place in the City of London during the Eighties and Nineties. A life-changing visit to the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1981 made John determined to realise his destiny as a pit trader and he began his career on the floor when the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) first opened. A tough demeanour and quick-thinking mind soon made him a top-performing trader in the pits. John went on to serve on the Liffe executive board and through the course of his career worked with many important figures in hi-finance, including Clara Furse, the current chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, John Meriwether, the man behind one of the world’s largest hedge fund collapses in the late Nineties and David Kyte, the former floor trader who now operates his own trading arcade having amassed a personal fortune of £60 million. John’s career is peppered with exciting events which provide a fascinating biographical backdrop to the period when derivatives first took off in the city of London. These include rogue trading incidents, the impact of the transition to electronic trading from open outcry (which left some stellar traders working as fish mongers on market stalls) and the rivalry between Liffe and the Frankfurt-based derivatives exchange Eurex. But it is the personal stories of many of the pioneers of open outcry trading in London which will be the primary focus of the biography. Ordinary people , many of whom, like John, came from humble backgrounds to amass personal fortunes and sometimes live lavish lifestyles fuelled by their success as traders. The biography will capture the atmosphere and sometimes brutal reality of the trading pits. The book will be packed full of exclusive – until now not reported – stories on what happened. It will shed new light on what motivated characters such as Nick Leeson and will also reveal how hugely important figures such as John Meriweather operated in the markets.
Book Details:
- Author: John Sussex
- ISBN: 9780470685037
- Year Published: 2009
- Pages: 184
- BISAC: BUS027000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Finance
About the Book and Topic:
This is the story of John Sussex, a highly successful derivatives trader whose career has spanned the radical technological, social and political changes which took place in the City of London during the Eighties and Nineties. A life-changing visit to the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1981 made John determined to realise his destiny as a pit trader and he began his career on the floor when the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) first opened. A tough demeanour and quick-thinking mind soon made him a top-performing trader in the pits. John went on to serve on the Liffe executive board and through the course of his career worked with many important figures in hi-finance, including Clara Furse, the current chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, John Meriwether, the man behind one of the world’s largest hedge fund collapses in the late Nineties and David Kyte, the former floor trader who now operates his own trading arcade having amassed a personal fortune of £60 million. John’s career is peppered with exciting events which provide a fascinating biographical backdrop to the period when derivatives first took off in the city of London. These include rogue trading incidents, the impact of the transition to electronic trading from open outcry (which left some stellar traders working as fish mongers on market stalls) and the rivalry between Liffe and the Frankfurt-based derivatives exchange Eurex. But it is the personal stories of many of the pioneers of open outcry trading in London which will be the primary focus of the biography. Ordinary people , many of whom, like John, came from humble backgrounds to amass personal fortunes and sometimes live lavish lifestyles fuelled by their success as traders. The biography will capture the atmosphere and sometimes brutal reality of the trading pits. The book will be packed full of exclusive – until now not reported – stories on what happened. It will shed new light on what motivated characters such as Nick Leeson and will also reveal how hugely important figures such as John Meriweather operated in the markets.
Less than ten years ago, Liffe’s open outcry floor ruled the markets, and around 500 locals traded for their own account. They were noisy, assertive, confident and extrovert – they had to be. They were sometimes well trained in advanced macro economics, monetary policy and foreign exchange; but more often than not they were sharp-minded market boys who could just as well trade cars, cameras and caviar. The trading pits were not for the faint of heart, the combination of high financial stakes, cramped quarters and cut-throat competitiveness sent more than one young trader-to-be scurrying for the exits in search of a desk job. There was noise, chaos, energy and excitement and then almost overnight this changed to an electronic exchange leaving many of the top performing open outcry traders looking for work.
PRESS COVERAGE: Over his career John has had a lot of media attention (see attached pack) – The Times, FT, Daily Mail, the City, The Telegraph. He also has his own email lists of the Liffe network. AUTHOR REPUTATION: As an ex-member of the Liffe board, John has an excellent reputation throughout the City. He has worked with the biggest names in trading such as John Meriweather, Clara Furse, Mike Marcus and Bruce Kovner (see Market Wizards). UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE AND INSIGHTS: the only autobiography of a senior level trader and Liffe board member which also spans the whole of the Liffe story, from floor based to screen based trading. The book will be packed full of never before reported stories and insights into the great and the good of the exchange and the events of the time such as the collapse of Barings and the Saloman/Phillps merger.
About the Author
John Sussex, London UK John’s career spans the very start of the Liffe’s open outcry exchange right through to a screen based exchange and beyond. John was there on the first day that the London International Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) opened, working with Clara Furse (now Chief Exec of the London Stock Exchange) and teaching David Kyte (now worth $120 million). He traded on Black Monday in 1987, through the explosion of new derivatives products and the boom years of the 90’s. He built his firm – Sussex Futures – into the biggest independent broker on Liffe and was elected to the Liffe Board working with Lord Walker, Sir Michael Jenkins and Sir Brian Williamson amongst others. He was there at the advent of electronic trading and served on the advisory committees for Liffe Connect – Liffe’s state of the art electronic dealing system. He experienced his own firms rogue trading incident and the aftermath which cost him £2.3 million and left him having to give away his business. He then started from scratch again with E-local trading, recruiting youngsters from Essex with no previous experience and turning them into screen traders. When he retired in 2007 the firm was trading 1 million contracts a month and 6% of the entire EURIBOR market. With Joe Morgan, London UK Joe is a journalist currently on sabbatical from Risk Waters. At Risk he interviews senior technologists at investment banks. Prior to this he was a reporter for The Times working on investigative news based features.