A reminder for some of us older folks, and some eye-opening for some of the younger ones.
The following links are to a documentary about FX Trading from 1986.
The top video clip is a the short 5 minute version.
For those who wish to see the full 30 minute documentary, click below:
Some of the highlights:
- 10 point spreads.
- Phoning your overseas office before leaving home to tell them you plan to bash the currency lower when you get in.
- Overt price manipulation as part of normal activities.
- Phoning on a handheld phone.
- Smoking in the office.
- No bonus (Commission) for trading.
- Barclays known as a sleepy high street bank.
- Surprise that a trader is earning more than a high street bank manager.
- The use of the term City Gent.
- A bank even allowing the cameras in to see its activities and allowing its name to be used.
- Chemical Bank (For those younger viewers, a giant of its day, and eventually merged to become a significant part of JP Morgan Chase)
- Some of the names on the Reuters terminal. E.g. 'Coco Cop' and of course the BFT Moscow.
- Using a pager.
- Cassettes in cars - and the Wall Street Shuffle.
- Overt price manipulation.
- NO CHARTS
- NO INTERNET or EMAIL ANYWHERE, People spoke to each-other.
But what is also clear, is that cutting through the Social, Technical, Cultural and Fashion Changes, is how little has really changed and how much is still the same.