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Traders
Neville Cooper from ABN AMRO Securities explains: "There is a lot of screaming and shouting that goes on. One will shout "De Beers" and someone else will say, "Yes ! I am a seller, what do you want to do? This is my buyer's price up here and this is my sellers price up here and that is where the deal will be stuck." Many traders describe old-style trading as poker. You were wary to show your hand, you bluffed, you took chances. But the buzzword of the nineties is transparency, and change had to creep in through even these hallowed portals.
There is no more competitive environment than the arena of the stock exchange. Small surprise that the technology used by the traders and brokers is the most advanced money can buy. Steven Bacher continues: "This system was bought in Chicago and has been operating for a couple of years before it came here. It has really revolutionised equity trading."
But how does that effect the dealers? Is your old school tie and a membership of the Rand Club no longer enough? Jamie White, a Trader himself, comments: " The younger guys are coming through because they are computer literate, they are quick, they have done all the computer programs and have developed the skills. They have done all that they have needed to do. The older guys were on the floor more and that is where they got their experience. For them to adapt to the JET system would take me back to my original statement about the younger guys and what they have done. They are a lot quicker on the system."
Is the legend of the high flying lifestyle of the trader true? Warren Chapman, another Trader, says: " I think the perception of the past that traders were big drinkers, great party goers, to a certain degree is not true. The new breed of trader is a professional, very often or in most cases does have tertiary education and we in particular are intent to provide a professional service to the clients. I feel that the work ethics are high. Having said that, it does involve getting out playing golf and interacting with market participants in that way."
Within a few months, Internet trading will have become a reality. A client will monitor the market and place orders on the Net. Traders will simply process these orders by using JET.
Contacts
Name: Steven Bacher
Name: Jamie White
Name: Neville Cooper
Name: Warren Chapman |
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Contents and images © 1998 All rights reserved |
After decades of frenzied wheeling and dealing, the traders' room in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in downtown Johannesburg has finally fallen silent. With all the energy and ripe language of a medieval fish market, shares were bought and sold here and friendships and feuds were waged.
Steven Bacher from Greenwich Securities comments: " They were legends, they were guys like Billy Jackson and Dazzel, guys with names that in fact, after eight years of being here I didn't even know what there real names were. A lot of guys with nick names. Guys that brought a lot of atmosphere and flavour to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange."
In 1996, the Johannesburg Equity Trading system was introduced- JET for short. The old trading floor is no more - the JSE has gone electronic.
JET knocks the socks off the old methods. Dealers can now place orders with built-in expiry dates, or ask the system to provide notification if a share hits a certain price. Every broker has a unique ID, so it is possible for a third party to identify and approach individual dealers based on their previous transactions. Wheeling and dealing was never this smooth.
One consequence of greater transparency is that business has more than trebled. No longer do buyers and sellers operate piecemeal, concealing their real intentions. With a free flow of information, huge quantities of stock change hands in seconds. The days of bluff and counter bluff are over. These days, trading has a lot more to do with the wooing of clients than the actual transactions.
Jamie White continues: "Entertaining and forming a relationship is a very big part of our business. Trust is a big thing as you do deal with a lot of money on a day-to-day basis."
JET has transformed the JSE. By all accounts it is a more efficient, more equitable system. Yes, maybe it lacks the adrenaline and glamour of the old days, but the march of progress is inexorable. A new breed of young Turks stalk the virtual floor... and his roar is as loud as his older competitor!.