A Million a Minute: Inside World of Securities Trading -- The Men, the Women, the Money that Makes the Markets Work [Hardcover]

Hillary Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 1998

"An impressive, accessible, up-to-date, and sometimes exhilarating study of the free-market warriors who make up the international trading community."
-- Financial Times

A Million A Million is the inside story of the mysterious and wildly influential world of trading. In our interconnected global markets, traders have become the frontline, free-market warriors closest to the money, closest to the action. Their reactions to world events can topple governments and cause currencies to rise or plummet. They affect the prices we pay for the food we eat, the gasoline we use, the gold in our jewelry, the steel in our cars, even our homes and our mortgages.

Hillary Davis, a former portfolio manager, shows us who these people are, what motivates them, and how they came to be so powerful. And of course she provides compelling insights into the work they do and how they do it.

Based in part on firsthand interviews with superstars in New York and London, A Million A Million gives readers a special opportunity to learn from the candid observations of Leo Melamed, Michael Bloomberg, Muriel Siebert, Bob Mnuchin, David Shaw, Stanley Shopkorn, Eric Sheinbergm Bill Johnston, Gary Lapayover, and many others.

A Million A Million also offers readers a context for understanding today's markets, with a fascinating account of the rise of trading, the evolution of the markets, and the challenges of today's complex, lightning-fast trading environment, as well as a provocative vision of a virtual-reality trading future.

Throughout this revelatory book, you will meet the criminals and the geniuses, the celebrity traders and the newbies, the women traders who "crashed the party," the visionaries, and the larger-than-life personalities. In all, you'll find an exciting portrait of a unique culture that profoundly affects our world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anyone who has ever wondered about those people down on Wall Street described as "traders" is bound to be intrigued by this book by a former London-based trader now on her own. Davis does an excellent job of bringing a representative cross section of her subjects to life. To her credit, she profiles both the famousAMichael Bloomberg and Muriel SiebertAand the unknown, showing that they are almost all Type A personalities driven as much by the thrill of competing against the best as they are in making money. Davis brings an insider's perspective to these profiles when she points out that it is no coincidence that many traders are devotees of blackjack and/or bridgeAforms of gambling where, just as in their day jobs, "probability and statistics help you decide how much risk to take." Similarly, her "Trade$peak" glossary, "a sometimes irreverent guide to traders' terminology," is both funny and knowing. On the downside, a previous version has been published in the U.K. and this updated and expanded version does not always take the American audience into account. But the biggest flaw is that readers never quite get a sense of what traders do: How does a currency transaction work? How is a derivative or block trade structured? Despite all the energy and knowledge Davis brings to the subject, some of her topics remain difficult to grasp.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

By interviewing successful traders and investors about their individual strategies, a number of recent writers have tried to divine the mind of the market. Davis, instead, is interested in its heart and soul. Davis was a fund manager at Baring Brothers before the bank collapsed, and now she trades on her computer from her home. She, too, conducts interviews among traders, but Davis wonders what makes these people tick. Her subjects include "visionaries," who, she says, have "democratiz[ed the] markets": Chicago Mercantile Exchange chairman emeritus Leo Melamed, financial media mogul Michael Bloomberg, and convicted financier Michael Milken. Davis also talks with "rising stars," who have succeeded by working harder than everyone else. She examines the role of the trader in the market and looks at changes since 1930, particularly at the growing number of women traders and at the impact of technology. To finish, she uses the predictions her interviewees have offered to take a look at the future world of investing. This book was published in London last year. David Rouse

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness (October 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887309410
• ISBN-13: 978-0887309410
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,051,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Trader as Savior, August 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Million a Minute: Inside World of Securities Trading -- The Men, the Women, the Money that Makes the Markets Work (Hardcover)

Ms. Davis might not stretch to say traders are saviors but she almost deifies them with her genuinely affectionate portrayals here. She's intent on redeeming the profession (as if it needs redeeming--it doesn't), which she imagines the Average Joe scorns and vilifies. I bet the Average Joe pays little attention to hyperactive market makers, compared to the time spent fretting over his or her own investments. Still, Ms. Davis assures us that for every rogue trader like Nick Leeson (who brought down the British Bank, Barings) or Mike Milken (wait, Mike is NOT a crook, she corrects, notwithstanding the criminal charges), there are scads of other, brilliant, hardworking people--possessed of traits you and I could only wish to have--who lubricate the capital markets and provide the fuel for growth. In other words, she's a proselytizing apologist: by compensating she overstates. If you're not in the financial business, you might find this breezy book an acceptable companion at martini time, if you're someone who will gaze in amazement at the hue of a cocktail olive. She's oddly cozy and deferential with her subjects, like a mistress. More like it, the traders are friends whom she has no desire to offend, or perhaps she plans to approach them for future employment. The trouble is, the topic cries out for a critical eye. For those who take investments seriously the text is a great failure, totally lacking in specifics, or even anecdotes that might illuminate. Imagine a cook book that attempts to describe the taste of the recipes without listing any ingredients and you'll understand the problem with "A Million A Minute." Ms. Davis, your readers can take more. A truly entertaining book (and with more meat) is Michael Lewis' "Liar's Poker" and "Pit Bull" by Martin Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz, especially, is a man who has traded for years, who can share his secrets (successes and failures) and who can live to tell about it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, April 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Million a Minute: Inside World of Securities Trading -- The Men, the Women, the Money that Makes the Markets Work (Hardcover)

My biggest complaint with most books like this is that they are boring to read because they go on and on with long explanations that lose the point somewhere along the way.I loved this book and was pleasantly surprised. There was no time to get bored. The author moved easily from topic to topic. Her observations were not run of the mill, but were sharp and fascinating.The characters came to life.The book's approach is more like an economic look at the world of trading and its implications rather than a recipe book for how to trade. But as the author said, you can't learn to trade from a 'how to trade book' anyway.If you could, people wouldn't get paid so much to do it.I'd recommend this book very highly.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting stories & comments, but largely ineffective, December 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Million a Minute: Inside World of Securities Trading -- The Men, the Women, the Money that Makes the Markets Work (Hardcover)

When I scanned this book initially I was encouraged by the authors last chapter discussion about how the internet transformed trading as we know it today, empowering everyone/anyone to be a trader. After buying and reading it I was disappointed. Except for a few interesting pieces, (like how barings bank became bankrupt), the rest of the stories were uninteresting and did not keep my attention. Too much attempts were made to gloss up the interviews with these super traders. The author would even describe in great detail the furnishings of the traders offices, etc. In the first chapter, was interesting to read how traders move such great sums of money (a million a minute), but the author kept repeating this topic over and over. Finally the book consisted too little substance and not enough practical information for the average investor. If you want to read about the lifestyles of the Wall ST. traders, this book might be for you, but if you're looking for practical and useful information to help you in your trading, look elsewhere.