“What I learned losing a million dollars” covers the iconic rise and fall of Jim Paul in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a trader.

Here are the key takeaways from the book

Here are the key takeaways from the book

  1. Probability is not the same as statistics
  2. “Being right” and “doing right” is not the same thing. Try to “do right” rather than being seen as “being right”.
  3. Go long because you are bullish. Don’t become bullish because you are long.
  4. The crowd does not eat. The crowd does not drink. The crowd does not eat either. There is no such thing as groupthink.
  5. Gambling is for entertainment. Money is a way for facilitating that. There is nothing wrong with gambling as long as it is not compulsive.
  6. A better bet on the market direction to make money. A better one is not looking for entertainment.
  7. A trader does not care about the market direction. A trader’s goal is to make money from the bid-ask spread.
  8. Dealing with grief – Denial -> anger -> bargaining -> depression -> acceptance
  9. Losses can be dealt with as long as they are not unexpected.
  10. Anytime there are more than 10 members in a committee, the real work happens somewhere in a sub-committee. The 10+ member committee is just a facade.