- ISBN13: 9780470379097
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
This updated paperback edition of Inside the House of Money lifts the veil on the typically opaque world of hedge funds offering a rare glimpse at how today’s highest paid money managers approach their craft. Now with new commentary, author, Steve Drobny takes you even further into the hedge fund industry. He demystifies how these star traders make billions for their well-heeled investors, revealing their theories, strategies and approaches to markets. Whereas some still maintain that rationality permeates financial markets, Drobny captures a different dimension, showing how the unquantifiable human forces of emotion and intuition are also at play. Along the way, readers get an inside look at firsthand trading … More >>
Inside the House of Money, Revised and Updated: Top Hedge Fund Traders on Profiting in the Global Markets
This book is a little tough to take as a read-through in one sitting. Not because it is so murky, but because so many of these global macro players exhibit so much self similarity that author Steve Drobny has a hard time making each interview fresh.
But the big take-away from the book is that like the term “hedge fund” is detached from its original definition and no longer has any meaning, so too with “global macro.” While there is a lot of self-similarity (as stated above) he value is in the distinctions and the places where these traders are operating (both physically and market segments/opportunity sets).
This is a well written, combination of interview and narrative that is an order or magnitude above the “gee whiz” subservient tone of the “Market Wizards” books. Still, for me the nagging question remains that many of these traders are not so much as insightful but lucky, as any population of random coin flippers will still have a handful of serial winners at the end. Therefore, the most valuable interviews were with those guys who talked about their mistakes in detail, and why they made them.
Few talked of how they raised their AUM, which for me is the big secret.
All in all, worth reading, but for those with their head in the game or decades of experience only marginal utility.
Rating: 4 / 5
I thought I would lose interest in this book as it is a Q and A Interview style rather than a narrative style. However the book captured my interest from the very first profile. It was a great mix of trading philosophy, how they got into global macro investing, and their perspective on their world view. It was fascinating to see the intellectual challenge that global macro investing presents. The breadth of knowledge the profiled traders learn and use covers history, finance, economics, politics, psychology and many other areas. In addition the Steven Drobny’s questions lead to answers that are contrary to our conventional view of the Master’s of the Universe: they know they will make mistakes and tailor their approach to be ready for it and learn from it. My favorite chapters were the ones on Leitner, Thiel, Anderson, and Dimitrijevic. The last two profiles were weaker compared to the others but I still gave the book five stars considering I started out with a negative view of the book based on narrative style. Rating: 5 / 5
Steven Drobny delivers a treasure trove of useful information in a very readable and user-friendly format. The book focuses on Global Macro hedge funds, providing a history starting with GM pioneer John Maynard Keynes to the mega funds run by Soros and Robertson, to the 21st century evolution of the leaner funds and their tactics. After describing the function and history of Global Macro, Mr. Drobny takes us deep into the minds of the operators themselves with over a dozen fascinating interviews.
For those who are new to the subject, Global Macro is basically a fund whose approach allows them to act nimbly in any global market using any class of asset including stocks, bonds, currency, and commodities. These funds employ a wide variety of hedging and arbitrage strategies using complex combinations of assets, and constantly seek out anomalies in any market that can offer superior returns.
I particularly liked the interview with Jim Leitner who has a very personal and unorthodox style that is hard not to marvel at. Jim offers this definition of GM, “The willingness to opportunistically look at every idea that comes along, from micro situations to country-specific situations, across every asset category and every country in the world. Its the combination of a broad top-down country analysis with a bottom-up micro analysis of companies. In many cases, after we make our country decisions, we then drill down and analyze the companies in the sectors that should do well in light of our macro view….Macro themes expressed in a micro style. Global Macro only means that you start at the top and work your way down.” Jim also says that if there was only one thing he could ever read before choosing investments, it would be “The Economist”.
If you are curious about hedge funds you will find this glimpse into the rarefied world of Global Macro a real eye opener. If you are an investor or investment professional, the book is loaded with gems of trading strategy. There are many great charts throughout the book, but it is not bogged down with heavy math. The format is similar to the Market Wizard books and there is something for everyone here. The main difference between this new edition and the 2006 is the addition of 2 new appendixes by Dr. Lee R Thomas III: “The Crash of ‘08″; and “Who Controls Liquidity?”. Enjoy. Rating: 5 / 5
Excellent book that gives the reader a basic understanding of what is a Global Macro Hedge Fund Manager. Written in English versus “finance terms” it has a wealth of information for both veterans and novices in the Hedge Fund space. It is a quick read that leaves you more knowledgeable at the end. I enjoyed reading the interviews with the hedge fund managers that normally never open up their world to the public. Rating: 4 / 5