The Financial Times has published an interesting article about Gary Stevenson, a former Citibank trader who boldly claims to have been the best trader in the world. The article, titled “Gary Stevenson claims he was the best trader in the world. His old colleagues disagree,” is available to read in full at no charge – click here here To reach it.
Stevenson claims to have made $35 million in a single year, earning him the title of Citibank’s most profitable trader worldwide. His bold, colorful language, reminiscent of a real-life East Ender, contributed to his best-selling book, The Trading Game. And with his rise-to-riches story of high-stakes drama and trading-floor swagger, a movie adaptation along the lines of Liar Poker or The Wolf of Wall Street doesn’t seem far-fetched.
Stevenson’s story is one of unbridled ambition but also of controversy, especially among his peers at Citibank, making for compelling reading. As the son of an East London postal worker, his journey to commercial stardom is a true tale of courage and determination, as well as daring.
But what made him walk away from all that?
The article provides a glimpse into the life of the self-proclaimed trading legend. The book is likely to delve into the subject in great depth. Both books are definitely worth reading.
The problem with the back story of his book comes from his self-proclaimed title as the best trader in the world?
$35 million is a good amount of money, but it’s not really a lot of money in the trading world. Making $35 million on the trading floor can mean different things depending on the job, and what the “natural flows” are from the normal work. That is, what is achieved once the lights are turned on every day and the flows from the market are flowing into the bank’s huge client base.
The story examines the views of some of Mr. Stevenson’s colleagues who question his title as “the best trader in the world.” According to these colleagues, he was not even one of the best traders at Citibank, let alone one of the best traders in the world.
The article added further interest to me, as I also worked at Citigroup, London, but several decades ago (from 1990 to 1994 to be precise). I was also part of the same Short-Term Interest Rates Trading (STIRT) desk. I may be wrong – just as this article seems to suggest that Mr. Stevenson has had memory lapses of only a few years – but I am quite certain that the STIRT acronym was “born” when I was there.
At the time, the risks seemed a little lower on the STIRT trading desk, especially when it came to working on the spot forex trading desk. However, the size and scope of the bank was also lower. I googled Citigroup’s revenue in 1990 was $5.182 billion. Revenue for fiscal year 2023 is $78.5 billion. .
I remember spending between $3 and $5 million there. I was trading and quoting short-term interest rate derivatives which consisted of forward interest rate agreements (FRAs) and short-term interest rate swaps (less than one year).
Comparing $3-5 to $35 million seems like a big difference, but total revenue was also much lower in 1990 than it is in 2023 as well. And as time goes on, the numbers go up. And up and up.
Anyway, when I was there, the big money was being made on the spot forex desk. They also had “flows”. It was the most interesting place I’ve ever worked and had the best management. It was a well-oiled machine led by Julian Simmonds (shown on the spot forex desk below), Jay Whittaker, Nick Beecroft, and a bunch of top notch traders.
The story brings back fond memories and makes me wonder why I left the company. However, this story will be told another day, and we all know that you can’t undo deals that have already been made.
Anyway, I’m excited to read the book, and if a movie is made, I’d be interested in seeing it too, even if it’s more fictional than realistic.