I read the first few paragraphs, and I thought the exact same!! It reminded me of Liar's Poker right away. "the derivatives traders were viewed as the elite -

I read the first few paragraphs, and I thought the exact same!! It reminded me of Liar's Poker right away. "the derivatives traders were viewed as the elite - the baddest of the bad-asses." Sounds like a bunch of baloney to me. I never heard of traders being categorized as "derivatives traders" and "non-derivatives traders". There are tons of derivatives contracts out there, and no one knows how to trade all of them proficiently. What I have heard is traders being categorized as "equity derivatives traders", "fixed-income traders", "commodities traders", etc. I once worked at a hedge fund for an equity futures trader. He loved to bash bankers more than anything else... but he also bashed other traders, especially FX and metals traders, who he considered sub-human morons... Last but not least, I have never heard of an English major trading derivatives. Never. English majors do corporate finance, not derivatives...