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So then why do they trade at all then? I'm not arguing for trading, I'm just curious. It seems like the existence of 'trader' as a job at all of these financia

So then why do they trade at all then? I'm not arguing for trading, I'm just curious. It seems like the existence of 'trader' as a job at all of these financial institutions kind of disproves EMH if you have enough market data

pembrook 7y ago
They don't. After the Volcker rule the big banks had to close their prop trading groups: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_trading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_trading The idea that investment banks are filled with human "traders" is Hollywood nonsense. Most trading activity (and even filling of retail order flow) is now done by quant-driven funds.
- hash872 7y ago
  According to LinkedIn there are 573 people with the job title 'trader' at Goldman Sachs. I'm scanning through the list now- titles like Fixed Income Trader, Mortgage Trader, Rates Trader, Oil Trader, Equity Sales Trader, FX Trader, Emerging Markets Trader, Base Metals Trader, Interest Rates Trader, Investment Grade Bond Trader, Equity Derivatives Trader, Commodity Trader.... I found all of these on the first page of results (25 people)
  - NovemberWhiskey 7y ago
    There are not a lot of equity cash traders left in Wall Street firms; but it's not like equity cash is the only thing to trade.
  - pembrook 7y ago
    By contrast, about 37,000 people work at Goldman. Those people with the name “trader” in their title are simply executing client trades as a service for fees—-not speculating with the banks own money. I stand by my point, the idea that Goldman is full of traders in the Hollywood sense is nonsense.
- Macross8299 7y ago
  Trump has undone the Volcker rule portion of Dodd-Frank [1], for what it's worth Goldman Sachs, et al, would not lobby the government to get rid of a law that prevents them from doing something unprofitable. [1]: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/20/volcker-rule-joseph-otting-banks-1672620 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/20/volcker-rule-josep...

pembrook 7y ago

They don't. After the Volcker rule the big banks had to close their prop trading groups: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_trading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_trading The idea that investment banks are filled with human "traders" is Hollywood nonsense. Most trading activity (and even filling of retail order flow) is now done by quant-driven funds.

hash872 7y ago
According to LinkedIn there are 573 people with the job title 'trader' at Goldman Sachs. I'm scanning through the list now- titles like Fixed Income Trader, Mortgage Trader, Rates Trader, Oil Trader, Equity Sales Trader, FX Trader, Emerging Markets Trader, Base Metals Trader, Interest Rates Trader, Investment Grade Bond Trader, Equity Derivatives Trader, Commodity Trader.... I found all of these on the first page of results (25 people)
- NovemberWhiskey 7y ago
  There are not a lot of equity cash traders left in Wall Street firms; but it's not like equity cash is the only thing to trade.
- pembrook 7y ago
  By contrast, about 37,000 people work at Goldman. Those people with the name “trader” in their title are simply executing client trades as a service for fees—-not speculating with the banks own money. I stand by my point, the idea that Goldman is full of traders in the Hollywood sense is nonsense.
Macross8299 7y ago
Trump has undone the Volcker rule portion of Dodd-Frank [1], for what it's worth Goldman Sachs, et al, would not lobby the government to get rid of a law that prevents them from doing something unprofitable. [1]: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/20/volcker-rule-joseph-otting-banks-1672620 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/20/volcker-rule-josep...