Notes from the desk

What actually happens on a structured-products issuance desk when the market stops behaving — told from the inside, in plain English. These are the parts that never make it into a textbook: the hedge you unwind at a price that does not exist yet, the operational avalanche behind a knock-out, the trade-offs you only meet once you are the one issuing. Every note is anonymised — no employer, no sizes, no counterparties.