For about a year now I've been working for a company in the FX market. As a newcomer to the financial services industry I had to do some background reading. I enjoyed Emanuel Derman's [1] lucid account of his life as a quant. The rise of algorithmic trading in FX over the last couple of years created a tremendous demand for new and more sophisticated models for all financial markets and products. Cornelius Luca [2] wrote the most comprehensive introduction to FX markets I could find. Though a bit lacking on the theoretical side, it gives a good overview about FX products, trading strategies and market dynamics.

The financial services industry is totally hooked on Java. It's just amazing to me, but Java, the second coming of COBOL, is the ecosystem. Unless you look at financial models, which are still mostly done in C++. Although the amount of daily transactions in the FX market is truly mind-boggling, software practice in the industry is in the same wretched state as everywhere else. This is not necessarily a reflection of the intelligence and dedication of the people involved, but when it comes to software, even in high-stakes environments, people work with tools and in a state of mind similar to the Dark Ages. Amazing.

References:

• [1] My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance by Emmanuel Derman
• [2] Trading in the Global Currency Markets, 3rd Edition by Cornelius Luca