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Bite the Ass Off a Bear: Getting In and Standing Out On a Hedge Fund Trading Floor
Contrary to Hollywood mythologizing, there are no wolves on Wall Street. Ruthless, greedy, and power-hungry individualists actually make terrible hedge-fund traders. If you’re going to succeed in this business, you need to understand not only how America’s financial markets work, but how being a team player makes you the most valuable asset to your company and clients. In Bite the Ass Off a Bear, investment professional Garth Friesen reveals how hedge-fund traders thrive by developing the interpersonal skills necessary to act and react in a high-stakes field with integrity, reliability, and stress control. For aspiring and experienced traders, having a strong work ethic, persistent attitude, and likeable personality are just as essential as mathematical and computer acumen and will take your career further than fabled lone-wolf tactics. With indispensable information from a Wall Street insider, this book will prepare you for a challenging industry that’s as full of risks as it is of rewards. Garth Friesen, a principal since 1998 at a well-known hedge-fund manager at III Capital Management, has served in multiple capacities at the firm, including Co-Chief Investment Officer. Garth has specific investment expertise in numerous markets, including fixed income, equities, and credit and interest-rate derivatives. He has been featured in various media, including CNBC, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He served as a member for five years on the esteemed New York Fed's Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets. Prior to joining III Capital Management, he was an interest-rate swaps market-maker for two Wall Street banks.
- GenresFinance
270 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2017
44 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 5, 2018
The author provides a practical understanding of trading floors and hedge fund environment, and tells it how it is: Hamlet for financial types- know thyself.
Excellent advice to college students, as well as anyone interested in how they work and how to find your role.
Excellent advice to college students, as well as anyone interested in how they work and how to find your role.
April 17, 2022
Favourite quote:
Where there are diligence and aggressive patience, opportunity will eventually knock. When it does, you need to be ready.
Favourite insight:
Higher-order thinking
"Imagine a scenario where there is an exogenous shock to the markets, like a sudden over-supply of crude oil. The first-order effect is the price of oil falling. A second-order effect could be a widening of credit spreads for oil producers with highly leveraged balance sheets who will have trouble refinancing debt with reduced cash flow. A third-order effect could be a decline in the value of bank shares that have lent a significant amount of money to the energy sector. This would be in anticipation of loan write-downs negatively impacting profits. "
Favourite discovery:
NEO-AC personality test
It is a really lucidly written text, which delivers what it promises and beyond. The main objective of the book is to make the reader familiar with Hedge Funds, how the investment industry works, what kind of roles are there, and what skill sets are relevant. There are a lot of myths dispelled related to markets and its players.
Apart from the finance industry know-hows from the book, I am really happy to discover the gems of professionalism Mr Friesen is able to provide. It is not delivered as boring sermons, but rather examples from his own career, the value of being proactively honest with teammates and superiors. The writing truly encourages us to internalise that the only game we should all be playing is the long and fair one.
It also gives amateur investors, a peephole into the professional investment process, risk management, issues involved, and professional coaching insights that one can incorporate into their own money management.
Where there are diligence and aggressive patience, opportunity will eventually knock. When it does, you need to be ready.
Favourite insight:
Higher-order thinking
"Imagine a scenario where there is an exogenous shock to the markets, like a sudden over-supply of crude oil. The first-order effect is the price of oil falling. A second-order effect could be a widening of credit spreads for oil producers with highly leveraged balance sheets who will have trouble refinancing debt with reduced cash flow. A third-order effect could be a decline in the value of bank shares that have lent a significant amount of money to the energy sector. This would be in anticipation of loan write-downs negatively impacting profits. "
Favourite discovery:
NEO-AC personality test
It is a really lucidly written text, which delivers what it promises and beyond. The main objective of the book is to make the reader familiar with Hedge Funds, how the investment industry works, what kind of roles are there, and what skill sets are relevant. There are a lot of myths dispelled related to markets and its players.
Apart from the finance industry know-hows from the book, I am really happy to discover the gems of professionalism Mr Friesen is able to provide. It is not delivered as boring sermons, but rather examples from his own career, the value of being proactively honest with teammates and superiors. The writing truly encourages us to internalise that the only game we should all be playing is the long and fair one.
It also gives amateur investors, a peephole into the professional investment process, risk management, issues involved, and professional coaching insights that one can incorporate into their own money management.
February 16, 2019
Must read for future Wall Streeters!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews