Octopus Quotes

“I am agnostic on the shadow market. I went deep into the rabbit hole of global finance, with a legal background and experience on Wall Street, and I decided it wasn't my role to decide--that was for readers.”
― Guy Lawson, Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street's Wildest Con

“Over the years, Ellis had dealt with many eccentric hedge fund traders. A shockingly large number were given to wild mood swings and nutty investment theories.”
― Guy Lawson, Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street's Wildest Con

“Byron Wien, for decades one of the most influential voices on Wall Street, taught Israel how to understand macroeconomic questions like the difference between gross national product and gross domestic product. The government had switched the leading economic indicator from GNP to GDP, Wien explained to Israel, as a way to make it seem that the economy was growing faster—official sleight of hand understood by very few.”
― Guy Lawson, Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street's Wildest Con

“A trader named Chuck Zion took an interest in Sam. Known as Brown Bear, Zion showed Israel how to be a “paper trader.” Following a matrix of three hundred companies, Israel learned to track the price movement of shares so that he could recognize characteristics. “Brown Bear made sure I was doing it every day, not being lazy and wasting his time,” Sam recalled. “He was giving me a gift. Once you know the price range of a share, you get a chart in your head. You know if the stock is streaking. You know if it is tanking. Each stock has characteristics in the way it trades. Knowing the price of a stock was like dating a girl. How well do you know her? What does she like to do? What’s her mood today?”
― Guy Lawson, Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street's Wildest Con