A Trader's Battle Cry

From leveragedsellout.com :

A Few Good Men - A Trader’s Version

I eat breakfast three hundred yards away from four thousand hedge funds who are trained to pick me off. So don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash a client relationship, and make me nervous.

Son, we live in a world that has risks, and those risks have to be hedged by men like me. Who's gonna do it? You? The Sales Force? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for your client and curse the desk. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that your client's loss, while tragic, probably saved p&l. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves p&l. You don't want the truth - because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me in those screens.

You need me in those screens. We use words like roll-down, carry, gamma.

We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something.

You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very bonus pool that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I'd suggest you pick up a prop book and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!