The Man Who Broke the Bank of England
September 16, 1992: the UK raised rates twice in a day and still lost. How Soros and Druckenmiller built the $10bn sterling short — and what the trade actually teaches about asymmetry and forced players.
1907 – 1940The Greatest Trader Who Died Broke
He made ~$100 million shorting the 1929 crash and wrote the rules half of trading still lives by. Then he broke every one of them. What Livermore's life really teaches about discipline.
1992 – 1995The Clerk Who Sank a 233-Year-Old Bank
Nick Leeson audited his own trades, hid losses in account 88888 and doubled down for four years. One earthquake later, Barings — the Queen's bank — sold for £1. The anatomy of refusing a small loss.
MARCH 2021The Trader Who Lost $20 Billion in Two Days
Bill Hwang ran $20bn of personal wealth on 5x leverage through swaps no one could see. One stock offering, one wave of margin calls — and among the fastest collapses of a personal fortune on record. The margin mechanics explained.
DECEMBER 2005The Typo That Cost $340 Million
Sell 1 share at ¥610,000 — typed as 610,000 shares at ¥1. A 42x-the-company order, a dismissed warning, an exchange that refused the cancel. Why process beats attention, at every account size.
1994 – 1998When Genius Failed: the Fund That Nearly Broke Wall Street
Two Nobel laureates, 40% years, 25:1 leverage — and a $4.6bn loss in weeks when every 'uncorrelated' trade became the same trade. What LTCM teaches about models, correlation and sizing for storms.
1979 – 1980The Brothers Who Cornered Silver — and Lost to a Rule Change
They controlled roughly 76% of the silver deliverable on the exchanges and were right about the fundamentals. Then COMEX made silver liquidation-only, raised margins thirtyfold, and the trade was over.
2012The Trade That Grew Bigger Than Its Own Market
JPMorgan's London desk turned a hedge into a $157 billion position and sold more than 90% of one day's entire market volume defending it. A masterclass in size, marking and adding to a loser.
5 FEBRUARY 2018The Fund That Made 1,000% and Died in Fifteen Minutes
The S&P fell about 4%; the VIX rose 116%, the largest one-day move in its history. A $1.9bn short-volatility product with a seven-year record lost 96% after the cash market had closed.
Stories are retold from public reporting and books; figures are as reported at the time. Educational content, not investment advice.
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