The Scariest 50 Hours

 Zero Hedge

There was a four year stretch where I was responsible for big currency spec positions. I was regularly over a billion dollars long short in either USDJPY or USDDM (this was before the Euro). This happened many years ago. I don’t things are any different today, there are plenty of folks making mega-billion dollar currency bets in April 2013.

The numbers back then were surreal. Daily P/L changes were regularly $5m. It was not unusual to make or lose $25 million in a week. There were a number of us involved in this effort – trading at this level requires a 24/7 effort. We all had a percentage due to us based on the annual results. Of course we tracked what our share of the daily gains and losses were. At one point someone started to measure the personal results in cars, not money. It was either dark comedy, or a way of obfuscating the big numbers we were confronted with on a daily basis. I can understand how some readers will find this repugnant, it’s the way of fast money. 

How’d I do today?…..You lost a 7 series BMW.

What was your weekly nut?…..Three Corvettes.

I did if for four years, it wore me down more than you can imagine. I had to give it up. The FX market doesn’t owe me a thing, but I still have the tire tracks on my back. The money was one thing, the stress was a different story.

The markets were very liquid. To buy or sell $1b was a few phone calls; it took only a minute or two. From 6pm Sunday in NY, to around 4 on Friday there is an active FX market someplace on the globe. If you had to turn-and-run on a position, you could do it. But after 4 PM on Friday, you were dead in the water. For the next 50 hours you were stuck with what you had. And of course, these are the hours when big things happen.

To be “square” on Friday night meant you could sleep through the weekend. But you didn’t make money that way. We were paid to take big risks. I sweated through dozens of those weekends. 

I bring this up as I was reminded of those times with the 4:30 pm Friday release of information by Treasury Secretary Lew (Link):

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