Should traders take a break for the sake of the bonus pool?

No i dont think experienced traders with good track records should be reigned in, its the risk management side of the biz that needs looking at. Looking at the big picture I believe the strategy for banks to in effect out source there proprietary trading to hedge funds seems prudent whilst they are trying to shore up there balance sheets.

haveto agrre with JoePa,
Red Bob seems not to understand much

Traders provide liquidity to the financial sector and limiting them in this function worsens the liquidity crunch. It may make sense to limit prop trading in such volatile times as the quant models arguably can't handle this kind of market. However, many of them have been doing quite well by bashing and then shorting other investment banks it seems....

On Red Bob's comment: typical short sighted tunnel view comment from a guy that doesn't understand anything outside his desk/job description (hard fall likely..)

My bonus was ok last year, but nowhere near as large as it should have been given the business I brought in. This was thanks to the efforts of the so-called 'boys in fixed income.' Needless to say, many have now been dispensed with, but some of the breed are clearly still in existence. It's time for their bonus pools to be ringfenced and turn negative if they threaten to wipe out the good work of the rest of us.

So they'll have to work until they're old and bald and about to retire with the rest of the population? So what.

What you forget is that without trading profits we'd all have been wearing horse-hair shirts long ago.