The corollary to this prop desk is market-making. A dealer who keeps a market alive by creating a bid/ask price going throughout the trading day often can work with his firms prop desk if he gets caught on a deal or needs to take on more positions to keep the market orderly. The prop desk can lay off risks to other participants in other markets. Hedging and speculating, trading and market-making all careening through the hours of a trading day. And then into the next time zone as one continent closes down and another wakens to a prosperous new day. Is this attractive to you as a job?