> This conversation is so common that there is an agreed upon structure for it. Bloomberg parses all your conversations and provides you with an aggregated view of all quotes brokers have offered you. You can then chart/do whatever you want with this data.

I appreciate when a human interaction becomes so formalized that it becomes a de-facto API that computers can use. It would be funny to imagine a future where that interaction is happening between 2 chatbots and report results back to their humans.

One amendment: 20k means dollars per basis point, rather than dollars of notional. That is, enough notional that a 0.01% change in interest rates would cause a $20 000 change in the net present value of the instrument. Traders often think in these terms because it makes it much easier to compare across different instruments.

Also, if you tried to trade 20k dollars notional, dealers would tell you to get lost, because an amount that tiny isn't worth their time.

and if that 2.* header is stable enough brokers often drop it because they're lazy AF

Good question. I think of it as being equivalent to marking an email “high priority”. In my experience brokers would sometimes use it to call attention to a time-sensitive issue, eg confirming details for a trade settling today. Always thought it was annoying and if they had something really urgent they should just pick up the phone, but that’s just me.

If you give a quote as a trader you typically give the other participant some time to answer you.

If the price moves against you since you last quoted, you typically say something like "off" and ring the bell so that the other guy knows that price is not good anymore. Fairly relevant when you're talking to a salesguy who is not looking at the chat, cause he's talking with his trader