17 year old makes $72m trading in high school: legit?

if it's true, good for him. Remember that Ken Griffin started trading out of his dorm room (although I think that was Cb Arb before anyone really did it.. I could be wrong). Markets don't really care how old you are, what you look like etc.

It says he started paper trading at 9, then opened a real money account at 11. He's 17 now, so he had to make $72 million in 6 years. Regardless of what his starting capital was, I don't even think Jim Simons of Rentech could pull off such a feat. Something isn't right unless he had millions to already play around with.

There also seems to be a growing number of lean, green hedge fund-wannabe machines out there...looking at this $72mm kid's LinkedIn also leads to a slew of other 16 year old connections with startup hedge funds. This already smells like a bubble ready to pop.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedtislam

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnducas

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/julian-marchese/23/955/584

The thing I don't get is, how he made SO MUCH money in such little time. Usually you need at least a good sized bankroll to get started, but this kid was essentially an immigrant with little to no cash or connections. That is what makes this story so incredible.

Maybe the kid was reporting in Zimbabwean dollars?

From the article, "We want to create a brotherhood. Like, all of us who are connected, who are in something together, who have influence.'"

If this kid thinks his "brotherhood" is going to stick around once things go south, then he is very mistaken.

I'm skeptical of any story that starts out "I read this in the New York Post..."

I don't know his family's financial situation so I could be jumping the gun with this, but he goes to Stuyvesant. That's one of the best school in New York.

May have had a huge chunk of change given to him to start with.

Stuy's a public school, albeit a magnet, so the kid has to be sharp (or a good test taker or a combination). Regardless, let's remember that the S&P has crushed it since 2009, so if he has been long and levered up in the right things... maybe? We rarely hear these stories in choppy or bear markets though...

Regardless or whatever this kid's situation or how much he has made or is worth or whatever, we (including me) should all stop wasting time speculating about all this stuff, since, well, it doesn't affect us, and move on and work on bettering ourselves/pursuing what we want.

Does it bother anyone else when people use a single m to signify millions? Confusing as shit.

I hope this story is real for this kid's sake. Frauds always come out in the wash.

None of you guys read the article. The most important line was 'Mo got into trading oil and gold, and his bank account grew. Though he is shy about the $72 million number, he confirmed his net worth is in the “high eight figures.”'

It's gotta be futures. He was probably funded by connections from a Kazahk oligarch.

'One of them introduced him to Patrick, an aspiring financier, who introduced him to Damir at a poker game attended by kids whose parents are, according to Damir, “the one percent of the one percent”'

I just fail to see how a kid made that much money. if you are going to claim you have $72MM as a HS, you better back that up or it is just another tall tale told by some loser trying to look cool.

Something about this story doesn't add up

I have to ask why this dude wants to go to college ?

He made $72,000,000 which is more than most actors, athletes, singers, entrepreneurs.

This is like Kobe Bryant getting drafted to the NBA and then going to college to study physiotherapy or something.

You have an alleged $72,000,000 and you want to sit in a classroom, you could start your fund with $20,000,000 and have a $52,000,000 nest egg.

I can only imagine what its like to be 17 in NYC with $72,000,000 :P

I know of his family- they live in Queens or something. Not uberrich at all. At MOST, he played around with $5k. Even that is a stretch. Bengali parents aren't known for having extraordinary confidence in their pre-pubescent children. If he actually made $72MM from a couple of thousand, more power to him. I just hope this isn't some lame attempt to look "cool". lol @ "more money, less problems."

I hope he gets audited by the IRS haha. He will probably only report the 3k he made over the summer working as a lifeguard.

and the cookie begins to crumble:

http://www.businessinsider.com/mohammed-islam-72-m-rumor-2014-12

The craziest part is that people have believed not only that he achieved results better than any trader or investor in history, but that he did so while attending school full time and trading between classes / during lunch.

.

Looks like you guys were right, it turns out the NYP story greatly exaggerated his winnings, he only made a few million.

The kid is actually making a documentary about how easy it is to manipulate the media. He will be a shoo in for whatever college he applies to now given how well his thesis played out.

At least, that's the rumor I'm hearing.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102269980 Not true. We all called it.

And lol @ Seeking Alpha comment.

LOL http://observer.com/2014/12/exclusive-new-york-mags-boy-genius-investor…

LOL http://observer.com/2014/12/exclusive-new-york-mags-boy-genius-investor…

Oh hey, I remember this kid from last year..... http://www.businessinsider.com/20-under-20-in-finance-2013-11#mohammed-…

God, that Observer article is hilarious. The fact that they had to get a PR firm (5W is pretty legit though, I'm impressed), lawyers, the whole shebang... geez.

Out of all his big bad ass quotes in that article,the part where his friend is noted calling this guy being similar to Jordan Belfort from the wolf of wall street, made it really obvious. No wannabe can be this smart and the way he was trying to pull his bad ass personality. The movie wolf of wall street might not create a lot of wolves but definitely contributing in a heavy stock of wannabees. I feel bad for that guy but EPIC FAIL it is.

Proven as a prank. I almost feel bad for the guy.