
Oil futures drunk-trading incident - niklasbuschmann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_futures_drunk-trading_incident
======
kstrauser
There's an important lesson there for all of us: the guy screwed up majorly,
but the systems in place let him. If our own systems don't protect our company
from a drunk senior dev at 2AM pushing code to the master branch and deploying
it, then we're really no better than his employer was.

I used to dislike how restrictive some policies can feel. Now I can appreciate
that at least some of those policies protect me by making it hard for me to
exercise poor decision making without my coworkers signing off on it.

(Note: "some". "Security theater" is still very much a thing, but turns out
that not all pain-in-the-neck controls are there just to be annoying.)

~~~
downerending
Early in my career, I wanted "root" on every system I could possibly have it
on, and often bristled if I didn't get it.

Late in my career, when someone asks me if I want "root", I often decline.
There's a lot to be said for limiting one's exposure to those risks and having
solid plausible deniability if someone hoses some crucial system. (Not to
mention being "unable" to access a lot of systems at 3am to help fix messes
someone else made.)

~~~
kstrauser
Absolutely!

I found out I still had access to my account for a previous employer on some
random industry website when my 1Password autofilled the login and it worked.
I contacted my old boss and asked him to immediately remove my access, and
confirmed that I couldn't get in anymore. The last thing I want is for
something to change or break, and for them to say "hey, that's funny, our old
employee is still logging in..."

I actively don't want to have access on things I don't need.

------
RcouF1uZ4gsC
> Beginning at 1:22 a.m. (UTC+1) on 30 June 2009, while still blacked-out,
> Perkins traded 7 million bbl (1.1 million m3), worth $500 million (£340
> million); at times this represented 69% of the volume of oil then being
> traded[1][2] and ten times the average trade volume. He made his last trade
> at 3:41 a.m., approximately two and a half hours later.[3]

My intuition is that a disproportionate amount of stupid decisions in the
world take place between Midnight and 6 AM local time.

~~~
NickNameNick
I knew a guy who used to work for a european market-making bank. He said a
major part of is job had been helping the overnight traders in New York unwind
their trades when they sobered up.

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bananapear
The Guardian story cited on this page says he made the trades whilst drunk at
home. Regulators now demand that controlled functions are performed from a
registered premises and controls need to be in place to prevent remote
activity.

Interestingly, in the current crisis many regulatory authorities are waiving
these rules.

~~~
ashtonkem
The problem is that alcohol and financial offices are quite a common mix. My
former trading company employer regularly provided enough free wine at the
tastings to make driving home a non-option.

Of course, they also had fitness for duty rules that forbade us from working
after having _a_ drink, which is good.

~~~
asdff
Manhattan has always been a frathouse.

~~~
ashtonkem
I’ve never lived in NYC. This was in Chicago.

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dthakur
_> "a good man who did a stupid thing"_

Amazing that changing bits in some databases can change one's life
dramatically.

~~~
LeoTinnitus
I was listening to a podcast recently where a guy was joking about how felony
Duis don't matter in the US. He said his company wanted to hire this girl but
they said they wanted to know if she had any felonies to which she said yes, a
DUI or something.

They laughed at it in the interview and then hired her right away. Goes to
show people sorta understand when it comes to alcohol it's not really their
fault in the couple one off scenarios.

~~~
blahbhthrow3748
DUIs are super serious, I would consider that a major lapse in judgement. US
culture is fucked

~~~
SamReidHughes
It only increases the relative probability of a fatal crash by 6-20 times (as
of the 1970’s, according to DOT, .10-.15 BAC). So it’s basically the same as
taking multiple trips. If you take some care in route selection, or drive at
2:00 am when nobody is on the road, or drive from the pub around the corner,
it’s less risky than that.

~~~
bathtub365
If the pub is around the corner, just walk.

~~~
LeoTinnitus
That is never the case in the US. Imagine half the population size of your
country, then space out the distance between where you are and everything else
by 10 or more. The reason we drive everywhere isn't because we want to, it's
because we have to. Driving is our second pair of legs basically because
everything is a minimum 10-25KM away from everything...if not greater.

~~~
masonic

      That is never the case in the US.
    

It probably _is_ the case that there is alcohol within walking distance (even
for Americans) for at least 30% of the US population, even most suburbs. What
Europeans consider "pubs"? No, because that's not the culture. Here,
restaurants serve alcohol. There, pubs serve food.

------
Apocryphon
r/wallstreetbets should revere him as their patron saint

~~~
downerending
Just discovered this sub last week. If you're into autistic gallows humor,
especially during these wild times, some of it is pretty damn funny.

(My Series 7, though, doesn't recommend doing anything like what they're
doing.)

------
bawana
So what do we call it when an algo trading event results in the same - 'oil
futures algo bug trading incident'?

------
cultus
It's amazing how our bloated financial industry doesn't even come close to its
supposed goal of efficient capital and risk allocation, but it is instead a
huge source of unnecessary risk through nonsense like this. However, it makes
a few people a lot of money, which is all that matters.

~~~
smabie
If it's so inefficient, it should be pretty trivial to make superior risk-
adjusted returns, no? The reality is that most markets are brutally efficient,
as any trader would attest to. The notable exception (at least in my view) is
VC.

Also, I wouldn't consider the financial industry bloated, at least not any
more than other industries.

How would you like the industry to be structured?

~~~
tempsy
There’s nothing efficient about the equities market right now.

~~~
mcrae
The brilliant thing about financial markets is that anyone can put their money
where their mouth is. If you believe you've spotted some inefficiency, then
put up some cash and enjoy your spoils.

