War stories from the trading desk

Things were finally starting to come together. After joining the Morgan Stanley Equity Derivative desk as a wet-nosed kid in 1991, I did the types of things that earn a young man stripes. I arrived each morning at 5 a.m. to "write up" positions for the head of the desk, Chuck Feldman, and spent the rest of my day clerking, quoting, fetching and running. It was modern day pledging minus the niceties of the college experience or the rewards of young co-eds. I didn't mind as I had my eye on the prize and knew that if I was gonna play, I had to pay.