The Book That Got Me Started

The Education of a Speculator – Victor Niederhoffer

Fall 2008. I was outside working on my jump shot, missing a few off the front rim, when frustration got the best of me. I went to kick something in anger—only to notice a book sitting on top of our trash can. My dad had tossed it to make space for his running shoes.

I had no idea what it was, but I stuffed it into my bag and took it to school. What followed was a textbook example of The Alchemist—the book I wasn’t looking for turned out to be exactly what I needed.

Niederhoffer, a Boston-area guy like myself, wove together trading, squash, chess, horse handicapping, and even his relationship with his father. After finishing it, I joined my school’s chess club and later lost a bet at the same Suffolk Downs racetrack where Niederhoffer spent his college years.

Yes, he’s run two hedge funds into the ground. I’ll take the lessons anyway.

It opens with this:

“I must buy $400 million without anyone’s knowing, or else I will turn the market. But I am all alone. And brokers will rush ahead to buy as soon as they know what I’m doing.”