Trading Up

Offering a revealing, inside glimpse of Wall Street, one of the first woman traders on Wall Street describes her meteoric rise to success and the secret deals, power plays, abuses, and stresses of option trading

YA Although this book contains some technical information about the operation of currency markets, Goldstone's irrepressible sense of humor and breezy style make it a book for general readers. Women will be particularly receptive to her perception of the events and personalities she encountered in the man's world of options trading on Wall Street. The currency options market was comparatively new when she talked her way into a job as a junior trader for a bank. In a few months she became one of a few women senior traders, responsible for trading millions of dollars. The amazing lack of supervision on the part of her (male) bosses is hilariously described, as fortunes were made and lost. Goldstone learned to play the power game in a man's world, but she soon realized that success in this competitive atmosphere was changing her own value systems and placing stress on her personal life. Her experiences should inspire reflection on the meaning of success. Her sharp assessment of character and ear for conversation give readers a host of corporate characters who never knew how funny they were. Rita G. Keeler, St. John's School, Houston
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

At the age of 27, Goldstone was appointed head foreign-exchange options trader at a commercial bank in New York, one of few women to enter this male bastion. It took her just three months to reach that pinnacle, a meteoric rise in a career that began, somewhat quixotically, with her entry-level position as a loan officer. As she details her rise and resignation, we are taken into the competitive, frenetic, encapsulated world of the Wall Street trader, a world where Goldstone's self-admitted brashness and ability to bluff enabled her to control millions of dollars daily. Dismayed by the chicanery of peers and diffusion of responsibility among male traders, and concerned about strains on her marriage, she withdrew from commercial banking convinced that she had "never understood the rules of the game." Goldstone's expose is eye-opening and not likely to inspire confidence in those charged with manipulating capital.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With remarkable candor, Goldstone recalls her time as head currency trader for a large commercial bank. Admitting that she didn't know a "Deutsche mark from a benchmark" when she landed this highly competitive position, she came to learn how to be a successful trader. She recounts the pressures that go with making instantaneous decisions on million-dollar trades when success is measured against turning a monthly profit of at least a quarter of a million. After about a year, she opted for writing rather than trading. This appealing title joins the excellent The Traders by Sonny Kleinfield ( LJ 12/1/83) and The New Gatsbys by Bob Tamarkin ( LJ 6/15/85) for its personal insight into the human drama of the financial world. Joseph Barth, U.S. Military Academy Lib., West Point, N.Y.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.