The Eponymous Mr. Ponzi

The little-known story of an age-old scam... Published by Damn Interesting on September 2, 2019... Nobody knows who did it first. Swindlers have been pulling off the scam for centuries, paying existing investors with the deposits of new ones to create the illusion of an incredibly profitable investment opportunity. Before 1920, it was known as … Continue reading The Eponymous Mr. Ponzi →

Death by Derivatives

How the opening of a Chicago canal in 1848 led to the birth of modern financial derivatives, and the early demise of some of the men who traded them... Published by Damn Interesting on November 21, 2017... In April of 1873, an unhappy man walked along Clark Street in downtown Chicago. His name was Aymar … Continue reading Death by Derivatives →

Foreign Exchange(s)

He made a name for himself organizing the world’s most important economic conference, only to have it tarnished by an outrageous accusation. Here's my story of Harry Dexter White, published by Damn Interesting.

All About Derivatives

This is the book I couldn’t find when I started working with derivatives: A primer I could read on the train with just enough detail to cover the basics of what financial derivatives are all about, with emphasis on the basics–what they are, how they are used, and the risks of using them unwisely. Here's … Continue reading All About Derivatives →

All About High Frequency Trading

In this book I present HFT for what it is: the use of speed as a competitive advantage in the trading of financial securities. It can be used for purposes either beneficial and reasonable, or predatory and harmful. I hope my book promotes more of the former and much less of the latter. Here’s an … Continue reading All About High Frequency Trading →

Fixing Wall Street’s Autopilot

The New York Times Opinion Pages | OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR By MICHAEL DURBIN MAY 7, 2010 Chapel Hill, N.C. ON Thursday afternoon, the Dow plunged 1,000 points within a few minutes, followed by an equally sudden recovery. We don’t know all the details about the drop, but it was almost certainly the result of computer or … Continue reading Fixing Wall Street’s Autopilot →