Jack Schwager

You can freely download dozens of different educational books on futures trading or the foreign exchange market online.

However, starting to study them, you understand that behind the text there is a dry theory that is difficult to apply in practice.

The fact is that in most cases, books are written by excellent theorists who may know everything about everything, but have not achieved success in practice.

Yes, almost always books are written by people far from the stock exchange, but not by traders.

Naturally, the text written by the teacher has a very excellent appearance, is easy to read, but in practice it has practically no benefit. However, if you happen to read a book by a real trader, you will forever remember its contents and absorb the lesson and life wisdom that the stock exchange player himself possesses.

Jack Schwager became world-famous thanks to his book "Market Wizards," which was translated into many languages. Anyone who read the book could learn about the biographies of a dozen of the world's most famous traders, and Schwager often asked some rather tricky questions during the interviews.

The openness of the "Magicians," or gurus of the time, revealed the ins and outs of the stock market to the world and lifted the curtain on a very closed business environment. Unfortunately, however, many mistakenly consider Schwager a mere writer, although in fact he is one of the "Magicians" he described in his book. Schwager's life as a trader can serve as an excellent example for many traders to follow.

Jack Schwager was born in 1948 in Belgium. When Jack was just four years old, his family decided to radically change their lives and emigrated to the United States, to Brooklyn, New York City's most populous borough. However, the desire to earn money didn't lead to the expected success, as the family became even poorer.

His father, an immigrant with no education, was only able to find work as a dishwasher in a small restaurant, later receiving a promotion to waiter. Jack's mother also had a hard time, working full-time in a factory.

There's virtually no information about Schwager's childhood. All that's known is that as a young man, he enrolled in Brooklyn College and graduated with honors. He then attended Brown University, earning degrees in economics and mathematics. By the time Jack graduated, his father had already passed away, and his mother simply had no idea what her son was interested in.

Getting to know the exchange

After Jack graduated with a degree in economics, he began actively posting his resume and contacting various agencies, hoping that companies would be looking for someone with such a strong education. However, after three weeks of being unemployed, he decided to place an ad in a newspaper, after which he received a call from an asset management company offering him a position as an analyst.

As Schwager himself recalls, when he came to the interview, he had no idea what they would talk to him about, since he didn’t even understand what it was futures, and commodity markets. His selection brief for the job vacancy included a copper forecast.

Without knowing anything about this topic, Schwager raises books, magazines, and newsletters, and creates his own rather compelling forecast. His analysis caught the attention of management, and he was hired by Reynolds.
While working as an analyst, Schwager began to seriously consider implementing his own forecasts.

However, company policy prohibited analysts from trading, so Schwager would sneak down to the public telephone and place orders using his brother's alias. Incidentally, the first two thousand dollars he used for trading were lent to him by his brother, in whose name the account was opened brokerage company.

After Reynolds acquired Dean Witter Reynolds, Schwager's talent for market forecasting was recognized, and he began a remarkable career advancement. After another promotion, Schwager became head of research at Smith, Barney, Paine, Webber, and Prudential, where he successfully conducted his research for twenty years.

During his time in this department, he wrote such books as “Stock market magicians"The Complete Guide to Futures Markets," and other more in-depth professional books. After gaining worldwide recognition, Schwager became the head of Fortune Group, a leading investment management firm.

Schwager travels around the world and regularly conducts training seminars that motivate people to become traders.