More than a jack of all trades!
The title may sound a bit pompous, but this is a superbly well documented collection about some of the most successful hedge funds in the world. It also gives their history over the past 50 years. There is this sense of credibility gap after finishing the book. Several chapters in this reveal how wealthy, powerful and potentially dangerous some of the funds really are. The chapters discuss various phases of different hedge funds and how they went about their trading operations to crack the mysteries of the financial market and earned unprecedented rewards. Throughout antiquity, we have been told that the markets are impossible to crack. The most recent one being āThe efficient market hypothesis.ā The events and stories recorded in this book prove beyond doubt that markets can be beaten.
There are several remarkable discussions about fund houses facing ups and downs, some blowing up, going to the brink and hitting homeruns. A gist of what you will come across while reading:
ā¢ Types of funds
ā¢ Various investment practices and philosophies
ā¢ The size and extent of their positions
ā¢ Big economic events and how they effected or were affected by them
ā¢ The evolution of the hedge fund industry
ā¢ World view on finance and the future from the āHall of Fameā managers.
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If you want to learn seriously and get a hang of how these great guys manoeuvred, you would have to do a double-take. Sabastian Mallaby has a great talent for writing, in spite of the book being so voluminous, it has been kept very engaging. This is recommended for intermediate active traders and investors, people looking to explore or expand their existing careers in finance, economists and bankers.