How the Trading Floor Really Works

Conclusion

The primary role of a bank’s trading floor in the financial markets can be broadly described as providing access to the financial markets for a bank’s clients. When a client needs a financial product either as issuer, investor or risk manager, they go straight to their bank, which generally leads to the bank’s trading floor. Breaking down the trading floor’s role into two broad areas, we identify both intermediating the primary capital markets between issuers and investors as well as providing liquidity and ultimately taking risk in secondary, currency, commodity and derivative markets. Further, for tailored trades, which are generally derivatives trades used for both investment as well as risk management purposes, the trading floors ...