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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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The Trading Game summary
Gary Stevenson
A Confession
28 mins
Brief summary
The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson delves into the intricacies of financial markets, emphasizing the psychological aspects of trading. It offers insights into developing a successful trader mindset and mastering strategic risk management.
Table of Contents
The Trading Game
Summary of 6 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 6
Looking through lamp posts
At the end of the street where Gary grew up in East London, a lamp post and telegraph pole formed makeshift football goals. Looking between them, he could see the towers of Canary Wharf – London’s financial district – glowing in the distance.
Growing up in working-class Ilford with a postal worker father, Gary developed an intense relationship with money early. As a child, he once spent what felt like hours searching for a dropped pound coin, crawling under cars and scrabbling in drains. By twelve, he was selling candies at school; by thirteen, delivering newspapers for £13 a week. By sixteen, his sales business had become more profitable and more illicit – leading to his expulsion from high school for selling cannabis.
Despite this setback, Gary’s talent for mathematics earned him a place at the prestigious London School of Economics. Though surrounded by children of Russian oligarchs and Chinese industrialists, Gary was determined to find his path into finance. His opportunity came when a fellow student told him about “The Trading Game” – a Citibank competition where the winners received internships.
The game simulated trading through betting on numbered cards. While other students meticulously calculated expected returns, Gary observed their predictable strategies and exploited them, making risk-free profits by buying low from one player and immediately selling high to another.
In the national finals, Gary drew the worst possible card – a -10. Despite this disadvantage, he confidently bluffed, aggressively selling at high prices. As the final rounds of the competition progressed, each card revealed was improbably high. Gary’s losses were massive. Yet surprisingly, the head trader Caleb announced him as the winner. They had deliberately rigged the final game to test how the players handled pressure. Gary had backed himself rather than backing down – exactly what they wanted to see in a trader. Gary got the jo b.
On his first day at Citibank’s towering skyscraper, Gary arrived on the STIRT (Short Term Interest Rates Trading) desk. Unlike the polished credit traders from elite backgrounds, these traders were a diverse group. There was Johnny, a hyperactive Australian who never sat down; Rupert, the stern Head of Euro Rates; and Bill, a taciturn trader from Liverpool who kept to himself.
With no clear instructions, Gary was expected to create his own role. He set out to win over the mysterious but respected Bill, arriving at 5:45 am to place a fresh cappuccino on his desk before he arrived. After several mornings of this ritual, Bill finally acknowledged him: “Thanks Gal. Come sit with me when you come back.”
On the final day of his internship, Gary was tasked with coordinating lunch delivery for the entire trading floor – a seemingly impossible task requiring hundreds of individual orders. Recalling his time delivering papers in the rain, he tackled it head on.
After successfully completing this final test, Caleb called out across the desk: “You got a passport?” When Gary confirmed he did, Caleb smiled and said, “Go home and get it. You're going skiing.” It was an unexpected invitation into the traders’ inner circle and a permanent role; his path toward the career in finance he’d glimpsed from between goalposts in Ilford.
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What is The Trading Game about?
The Trading Game (2024) is a gripping account of the author’s journey from the streets o f East London to becoming the youngest and most profitable trader in the city, handling nearly a trillion dollars daily. It reveals the dark reality of a banking culture where success means betting on economic collapse, where winning feels like losing, and quitting risks everything.
Who should read The Trading Game?
- Young professionals considering careers in banking and trading
- Ordinary people concerned about wealth inequality
- Anyone looking to for a gripping David and Goliath story
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