ctkrohn

22 ms·

181.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
Awesome. I always wanted a pilot's license, but I've only logged 30mins in the cockpit alongside an instructor.
182.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
When taking 2nd level honors linear algebra, we were given a takehome exam. I spent ~40 hrs on it and got just under the median grade. I was able to pull out a decent grade in that class, and I graduated with a degree in math, but now I k
183.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
It's often impossible to sell an asset forward, especially an illiquid one. Suppose you are a trading desk that makes markets in corporate bonds. If a client comes to you and wants to sell a given company's bonds, chances are that you wil
184.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
I'm not saying that you should try to predict the future of the market. I would agree with you that in many cases, this is a fool's errand. Mathematical finance is about a lot more than prediction, however. Risk management is even more im
185.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
Taleb makes some valid points but it's a little ridiculous to blithely assume that everyone always underestimates the probability of rare events and thus all mathematical finance is useless. There's a whole field of study -- behavioral fin
186.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
If I'm coding, it's almost always to build a tool that makes my life easier. Nothing dramatic or inspiring here.
187.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
Speaking as a trader at a major Wall Street firm... if you want a job that will allow you to relax, or if you aren't interested in "working to stay ahead," it's best to stay away from trading. Seriously. The hours aren't quite as bad as t
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by ctkrohn 18y ago
Something about this definitely rings true to me. I absolutely can appreciate the sense of pride and self-determination that comes with a startup, but that sense alone isn't enough to motivate me. Without an idea that I could truly get be
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by ctkrohn 18y ago
Fair enough. You're probably right. I don't play online poker (and am a poor casual player) so I don't know what the level of skill is on those websites. I was just making an assumption based on how difficult I imagined it would be for a
190.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
It's interesting, but to be honest, if you're smart enough to make a successful poker bot, you're probably smart enough to write a program to trade stocks or other liquid instruments like government bonds or commodity futures. The potentia
191.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
I wish I could help you. I majored in economics and math, and can't recommend a single one of my economics texts. I kept a good number of my math books, but sold all my econ texts when I graduated. That being said, you will probably get b
192.
by ctkrohn 18y ago
A lot of people on Wall Street seem to be fans of that book, but I found it a rather dull history of probability theory. There wasn't much focus at all on the development of the truly remarkable system of risk transfer and management via d
193.
by ctkrohn 19y ago
This isn't a new idea at all; in fact it's as old as capitalism itself. Adam Smith was one of the first to recognize that capitalism helps align the self-interest of the entrepreneur (selfishness) with the general interest of others (chari
194.
by ctkrohn 19y ago
Oh god, for a structured finance nerd, this website is like heaven. I'm pretty tempted to create my own mini-CDO. Looks like they have pretty good historical data, so you could at least estimate what level of credit enhancement you'd need
195.
by ctkrohn 19y ago
Not quite true. The banks which lent directly to hedge funds -- prime brokers -- were not depository institutions and, until last week, they couldn't borrow from the Fed. These were institutions like Bear Stearns or Morgan Stanley. Besid
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
What's the methodology and data behind that graph? The fact that it refers to "True Money Supply" rather than established measures like M1, M2, M3 has me rather skeptical.
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
The investment bankers are certainly working 80-100hrs/week and mastering BrickBreaker on their Blackberries. It's not so bad in trading... 5 days a week, ~12hrs/day.
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
I don't think you can argue that excessive leverage is the result of low interest rates. LTCM, which was levered around 30 to 1, operated in an environment where the Fed funds rate was around 6%, not 1%. Likewise, Japan has had extremely
199.
by ctkrohn 19y ago
As someone who works on Wall Street, I'm getting a kick out of etc. etc.... I don't think it's quite true. Most of the people I work with are pretty smart, but I haven't come across too many geniuses (I am certainly not one). Wall Street
200.
by ctkrohn 19y ago
I used to feel that way, but not so much anymore. The difference for me is that I think reading good literature or maybe even watching a good film can help make you a better person, depending on how you define "better". Sometimes literatu
201.
by ctkrohn 19y ago
For those of you who are interested in learning what REALLY went on with the subprime mortgage crisis, the NY Fed has provided the best description yet. It's long (82 pages), but not too technical. You don't need to be familiar with secur
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New York Fed research paper: "Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit" [PDF](scribd.com)
3 points by ctkrohn 19y ago|1 comments
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
So how do you want to regulate the "shadow banking system" and the world of derivatives? What kind of reserve requirements should there be for traditionally off-balance-sheet derivatives? What kind of reporting requirements? If I come up
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
I'm tired of reading articles like this. If you're going to blame the current crisis on a lack of regulation, please tell me what SPECIFIC regulations you would implement, and explain how they would have helped us avoid the situation we're
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
Congratulations to the JPMorgan deal team for putting together a great deal in really tough financial situations. I too had no idea that it was a private company. To anyone wondering why their symbol isn't VISA: only NASDAQ companies have
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
"All your basis points are belong to us." Pure genius. I will have to put this in my Bloomberg header.
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
According to co-workers of mine who used to work at Bear, the stock comes with a rule that requires you to hold it for a certain period of time. So most of these guys probably got burned.
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
S&P index futures down 30 pts, US 10yr note up one and a quarter points, Nikkei off 4%. The US market is going to shit itself tomorrow, not because this is a negative event, but because this indicates just how bad things really got.
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by ctkrohn 19y ago
The litigation risk is a huge component. There are going to be massive shareholder lawsuits (against both Bear and JPM) coming out of this. And who knows what kind of shady dealings at Bear might come to light during the acquisition? Dim
210.
by ctkrohn 19y ago
I don't think so -- Citi is unlikely to have a major liquidity problem since they've attracted major investments from overseas and have billions of dollars in assets from their retail and commercial banks. Lehman might be next... their stoc

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