DK

“DK” stands not, as the JC believed in some humiliating mondegreen until 2021, for “drop-kick”, but for “don’t know”. As in, “I do not, biblically, know this transaction”. To “DK” a trade “alleged” by an executing broker to a prime broker, is to refuse to take it, as is sometimes required by the SEC no-action letter.

Hedge Funds & Prime Brokerage Anatomy™

→Go uptown

Never.

There is no industry standard prime brokerage agreement, so this is not so much an anatomy as a collection of resources about an amorphous subject. Hedge fund \| AIFMD \| Depositary \| Prime broker \| prime brokerage agreement \| synthetic prime brokerage \| margin lending \| custody asset \| CASS Anatomy \| reuse & rehypothecation \| hedge fund \| leveraged alpha \| greeks \| short selling Index: Click ᐅ to expand: Prime Brokerage Securities Financing Investment Strategies

Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

DK
/diː keɪ/ (v.)

To disown, deny, or feign ignorance, Saint Peter-style. Of a prime broker, to reject a transaction that an executing broker attempts to give up to it on behalf of one of its clients.

You might also describe the behaviour of a cherry-picking bankruptcy administrator as DKing a trade. But this doesn’t happen as often as you would think, given how much money and time people spend worrying about it.

DK

See also