The Greatest Trade Ever

Description

The trade that made $15 billion from the housing crash. The Greatest Trade Ever tells the inside story of John Paulson — the little-known hedge fund manager who saw the subprime disaster coming, bet against the US housing market when almost no one else would, and made financial history with a single position.

Drawing on deep Wall Street reporting, Gregory Zuckerman’s account follows Paulson from obscurity through the lonely years of building the trade — the painstaking research, the skepticism of investors, the difficulty of even placing the bet — to the 2007 payoff, reportedly the largest in hedge fund history. Around him: the bankers, rating agencies, and rivals who missed every warning sign, and the system that made the trade possible.

Part thriller, part autopsy of an era, this is the essential narrative of the financial crisis from the winner’s side of the table — and a masterclass in conviction investing, for better and worse.

The Greatest Trade Ever

The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History by Gregory Zuckerman is the riveting inside story of the trade that shook the financial world. When virtually everyone believed the housing market was unstoppable, one little-known hedge fund manager saw the crash coming — and bet against it.

John Paulson’s contrarian wager on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market earned his firm a reported $20 billion and made him one of the richest men in America. Zuckerman, a veteran Wall Street Journal reporter, reconstructs how Paulson assembled his team, designed credit default swaps, and held his nerve while the world laughed at him — until the 2008 crisis proved him right.

Inside the Trade

n
• The contrarian bet: meticulous research that uncovered the rot in mortgage securities.
• The team: analysts who challenged conventional wisdom and built the case for collapse.
• The mechanics: how credit default swaps turned a warning into a fortune.

n

Fast-paced, deeply reported, and full of unforgettable characters, this ebook is essential reading for anyone interested in finance, economics, and the 2008 crisis. The greatest trade ever made — and the warning signs everyone missed.