Day One Trader

This is the story of John Sussex, a highly successful derivatives trader whose career has spanned the radical technological, social and political changes which took place in the City of London during the Eighties and Nineties.A life-changing visit to the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1981 made John determined to realise his destiny as a pit trader and he began his career on the floor when the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) first opened. A tough demeanour and quick-thinking mind soon made him a top-performing trader in the pits. John went on to serve on the Liffe executive board and through the course of his career worked with many important figures in hi-finance, including Clara Furse, the current chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, John Meriwether, the man behind one of the world's largest hedge fund collapses in the late Nineties and David Kyte, the former floor trader who now operates his own trading arcade having amassed a personal fortune of £60 million.John's career is peppered with exciting events which provide a fascinating biographical backdrop to the period when derivatives first took off in the city of London. These include rogue trading incidents, the impact of the transition to electronic trading from open outcry (which left some stellar traders working as fish mongers on market stalls) and the rivalry between Liffe and the Frankfurt-based derivatives exchange Eurex.But it is the personal stories of many of the pioneers of open outcry trading in London which will be the primary focus of the biography. Ordinary people , many of whom, like John, came from humble backgrounds to amass personal fortunes and sometimes live lavish lifestyles fuelled by their success as traders. The biography will capture the atmosphere and sometimes brutal reality of the trading pits.The book will be packed full of exclusive - until now not reported - stories on what happened. It will shed new light on what motivated characters such as Nick Leeson and will also reveal how hugely important figures such as John Meriweather operated in the markets.
br>John Sussex retired after a 33-year career in the financial markets. He lives in Basildon, Essex, the place of his birth. After leaving his local comprehensive school with few qualifications he began working as an accounts clerk in the City of London at the age of 16. Sussex went on to become a highly successful trader at the London International Financial Futures Exchange (Liffe) and set up his own brokerage business. He also served on the board of Liffe. He is married and has two children. Joe Morgan is a financial journalist who lives in London. He has served as a correspondent for the Times and has written extensively about the latest developments in trading technology and the financial markets. Morgan was inspired by the idea of revealing to a mass audience the hidden reality of the world of high finance after landing his first job as a capital markets reporter. He has a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism from Cardiff University. This is his first book.