How a Mathematician Became the Greatest Trader of All Time

Summary

Jim Simons, a renowned mathematician, revolutionized investing by applying scientific methods to financial markets, founding Renaissance Technologies and its highly successful Medallion fund. With an average annual return of 66%, Simons assembled a team of mathematicians and scientists, pioneering a data-driven, algorithmic approach to trading. Despite personal tragedies and challenges, his firm's innovative strategies and secrecy have made it a Wall Street legend, with Simons himself becoming a billionaire philanthropist supporting education and scientific research.

Takeaways

• 📊 Jim Simons' hedge fund Medallion has achieved an average annual return of 66% over 30 years, outperforming other renowned investors like Warren Buffett and George Soros.
• 🧑‍🔬 Simons recruited mathematicians and scientists instead of traditional finance professionals, relying on their expertise to revolutionize the investment industry.
• 📈 He employed a scientific approach to investing, utilizing vast datasets, computer models, and algorithms to make trading decisions, which has become a trend on Wall Street.
• 🏆 Before becoming a legendary trader, Simons had a distinguished career as a mathematician, educator at MIT and Harvard, and a code-breaker during the Cold War.
• 💡 His early life and career were driven by a desire for wealth and power, stemming from advice given by his family doctor about the financial prospects of a career in mathematics.
• 🔄 Simons founded Renaissance Technologies in 1978, initially focusing on trading currencies, commodities, and bonds, and later expanding to stocks with the help of computer models.
• 💼 The Medallion fund was launched with the aim of achieving high returns, and after several years of refining algorithms and computer power, it became extremely successful.
• 🔐 The success of Renaissance Technologies is shrouded in secrecy, with employees bound by non-disclosure agreements to protect their proprietary trading algorithms.
• 🏆 Despite personal tragedies, including the loss of two sons, Simons continued to innovate and lead Renaissance Technologies to new heights in the financial industry.
• 🤖 The integration of advanced computer science and machine learning techniques into their trading systems allowed Renaissance to capitalize on market inefficiencies with remarkable precision.
• 🌐 Simons' influence extends beyond finance; his philanthropic efforts include significant donations to education and research, particularly in the field of autism and the origins of the universe.

Q & A

Who is considered the greatest trader of all time according to the script?

Jim Simons is considered the greatest trader of all time according to the script.

What is the name of the hedge fund that Jim Simons' company manages, known for its exceptionally high returns?

The hedge fund is called Medallion, which has generated average annual returns of 66% for 30 years.

What was the potential return on a $100 investment in Medallion in 1988 after 30 years, as mentioned by Bradford Cornell?

The potential return on a $100 investment in Medallion in 1988 would have been $398.7 million after 30 years.

How did Jim Simons approach hiring for his company, Renaissance Technologies?

Jim Simons hired mathematicians and scientists, rather than people with traditional investment industry experience.

What was Jim Simons' background before he entered the world of finance?

Jim Simons was a trained mathematician with a career as a brilliant mathematician, a teacher at MIT and Harvard, and a Cold War code-breaker working for the NSA.

What was the initial focus of Renaissance Technologies' trading system?

Renaissance Technologies initially focused on trading currencies, commodities, and bonds, avoiding stocks due to their complexity.

What is the significance of the Medallion fund in the history of Renaissance Technologies?

The Medallion fund is significant as it became the most successful hedge fund of all time, eventually closing to outside investors and only being available to employees.

What was the turning point for the Medallion fund's profitability?

The turning point came when Elwyn Berlekamp bought up James Ax’s part of the business, rebuilt the system to focus on short-term trades, and adopted the strategy of trading a lot and being right 51 percent of the time.

What personal tragedy did Jim Simons face during his career at Renaissance Technologies?

Jim Simons faced the personal tragedy of losing his son Paul, who was born with a rare hereditary condition and was killed in a cycling accident.

How did Jim Simons' political views differ from those of his co-CEO, Robert Mercer?

Jim Simons was a significant supporter of Hillary Clinton's campaign, while Robert Mercer distrusted the government, disapproved of the Clintons, and was one of Trump’s biggest financial backers in 2016.

What philanthropic efforts has Jim Simons been involved in, as mentioned in the script?

Jim Simons has donated $500 million to Stony Brook University, established a nonprofit for math teachers, started a charitable foundation dedicated to autism research, and focused his Simons Foundation on discovering the origins of the universe.

Outlines

00:00

📊 The Revolutionary Math of Investing

Jim Simons, the founder of Renaissance Technologies, is recognized as the most successful trader, outperforming even Warren Buffett and George Soros. His hedge fund, Medallion, has seen an average annual return of 66% over 30 years, turning a $100 investment in 1988 into $398.7 million. Simons' unconventional approach to investing involved hiring mathematicians and scientists instead of traditional investors. He applied a scientific method, using data sets, computer models, and algorithms to predict market movements, which revolutionized Wall Street. Despite his success as a mathematician and educator, Simons was driven by a desire for wealth and power, leading him to leave academia and establish Renaissance Technologies in 1978. His initial challenges included the limitations of computers at the time, which prevented a fully automated trading system, but he was determined to find patterns in the market that could be exploited for profit.

05:04

🔄 The Evolution of Renaissance Technologies

Initially, Renaissance Technologies relied on a combination of math models and human intuition for trading, which proved to be problematic due to the inherent flaws in human judgment. After a significant investment loss in 1984, Simons brought in James Ax to develop more advanced math models. They launched the Medallion fund, named after their prestigious math awards, which initially struggled but eventually became the most successful hedge fund ever. The turning point came with the introduction of short-term trades and the integration of Elwyn Berlekamp's strategies. The fund focused on exploiting subtle market inefficiencies, leading to significant gains in 1990. Despite setbacks, including the departure of key team members and personal tragedies, Renaissance continued to innovate, developing an automated stock trading system with Robert Mercer and Peter Brown that propelled the Medallion fund to new heights, achieving a 98.5% return in 2000.

10:05

🏆 The Success and Secrecy of Medallion

The Medallion fund's success is shrouded in secrecy, with employees bound by non-disclosure agreements to protect the proprietary algorithms and trading strategies. The fund is exclusive to Renaissance employees and is capped at $10 billion. Its high returns have led to a performance fee of 44%, making it a highly coveted investment. The fund's strategies have inspired other Wall Street firms to incorporate more data analysis and technology into their investment strategies. Despite personal tragedies and political controversies involving key stakeholders like Robert Mercer, Renaissance Technologies has maintained its reputation for sophisticated and adaptable trading systems, even navigating through the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis and the 2008 financial turmoil with significant profits.

15:07

🚀 Philanthropy and the Legacy of Jim Simons

Jim Simons, with a personal net worth of $27 billion, has used his wealth for both personal indulgences and significant philanthropic endeavors. He has donated $500 million to Stony Brook University, established a nonprofit to support exceptional math teachers, and founded the Simons Foundation, which focuses on autism research and the origins of the universe. The foundation's observatory in Chile aims to detect gravitational waves from the Big Bang. While Simons is stepping back from his role at Renaissance Technologies, his legacy extends beyond his trading success to his contributions to science and education. The video concludes with a promotion for Brilliant, an interactive learning platform for math, data science, and computer science, offering a free trial and a discount for viewers who sign up through the provided link.

Keywords

💡Jim Simons

Jim Simons is a renowned mathematician and the founder of Renaissance Technologies, a company known for its highly successful hedge fund, Medallion. In the video, Simons is portrayed as a pioneer in the field of quantitative finance, using his mathematical expertise to revolutionize trading strategies and achieve extraordinary investment returns.

💡Medallion Fund

The Medallion Fund is a signature hedge fund of Renaissance Technologies that has been highlighted for its unprecedented average annual returns of 66% over 30 years. It exemplifies the success of Simons' quantitative trading strategies and serves as a central theme in the video, illustrating the power of data-driven decision making in finance.

💡Quantitative Finance

Quantitative finance refers to the use of mathematical and statistical methods to analyze and make decisions in the financial markets. In the context of the video, Simons' approach to investing is grounded in quantitative finance, leveraging algorithms and vast data sets to predict market movements and execute trades.

💡Algorithmic Trading

Algorithmic trading is a method of executing orders using predefined algorithms that take into account various variables such as time, price, and volume. The video emphasizes Simons' development of an algorithmic trading system that minimized human input and maximized the efficiency and profitability of trades.

💡Data-Driven Decisions

Data-driven decisions are choices made based on the analysis of data rather than intuition or personal judgment. The video showcases how Simons' investment strategies were fundamentally data-driven, using historical and real-time data to inform trading actions and achieve consistent high returns.

💡Renaissance Technologies

Renaissance Technologies is the company founded by Jim Simons, which has become synonymous with success in quantitative finance. The video discusses the company's evolution from its early days as Monemetrics to becoming a leader in the industry, with its Medallion Fund being a testament to its innovative approach.

💡Econometrics

Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data. In the video, the term is used to describe the original focus of Renaissance Technologies, which combined economic data with mathematical models to predict market trends and make trading decisions.

💡Quantum Computers

Quantum computers are advanced computational devices that leverage the principles of quantum mechanics to process information more efficiently than traditional computers. The video mentions Simons' work in developing foundational mathematical theories for quantum computing, which has applications in various fields, including AI and complex financial modeling.

💡Investment Intuition

Investment intuition refers to the ability to make investment decisions based on a gut feeling or experience. The video contrasts this traditional approach with Simons' data-driven, scientific method, highlighting the limitations of relying solely on intuition in the face of complex market dynamics.

💡Market Inefficiencies

Market inefficiencies are discrepancies between the market price of a security and its intrinsic value. In the video, Medallion Fund is shown to capitalize on these inefficiencies by using sophisticated algorithms to identify and exploit them for profit, underscoring the fund's ability to outperform traditional investment strategies.

💡Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)

Non-disclosure agreements are legal contracts that prohibit the sharing of confidential information. The video mentions that Renaissance Technologies' employees are bound by NDAs to protect the proprietary trading algorithms and strategies, highlighting the secrecy surrounding the company's operations.

Highlights

Jim Simons' Renaissance Technologies' Medallion fund has generated an average annual return of 66% over 30 years.

Simons' investment approach diverged from traditional methods by hiring mathematicians and scientists instead of industry experts.

Renaissance Technologies utilized a scientific approach to investing, relying on data sets, computer models, and algorithms.

Simons' early life and career included being a mathematician, professor at MIT and Harvard, and a Cold War code-breaker at the NSA.

Simons was driven by a desire for wealth, influenced by early life advice that mathematics wouldn't make him rich.

After being fired from his code-breaking job for protesting the Vietnam War, Simons sought a career in investment banking.

Simons developed a foundational mathematical theory for quantum computing while at Stony Brook University.

Renaissance Technologies initially traded currencies, commodities, and bonds, avoiding stocks due to their complexity.

Simons envisioned a fully automated trading system guided by algorithms with no human input.

The Medallion fund was launched by Simons and James Ax, focusing on short-term trades and high-frequency transactions.

Elwyn Berlekamp's acquisition of Ax's share in Renaissance led to a system rebuild focusing on short-term trades.

Renaissance Technologies' success is attributed to its ability to capitalize on market inefficiencies overlooked by others.

After a decade of algorithm adjustments and improved computer power, the Medallion fund achieved a 58% gain in 1990.

Simons recruited Robert Mercer and Peter Brown for their expertise in speech-to-text technology to enhance trading systems.

The Medallion fund achieved a 98.5% return in 2000, demonstrating its ability to capitalize on market inefficiencies even during the dot-com bubble.

Medallion is only available to Renaissance Technologies' employees and is capped at $10 billion.

Simons' personal life was marked by tragedy, including the loss of two sons, which further motivated him to focus on his work.

Simons stepped down as CEO in 2009, handing over leadership to Brown and Mercer, and maintained a low public profile.

Robert Mercer's political involvement with the Trump campaign and Breitbart News caused controversy within Renaissance.

Simons has a significant philanthropic impact, donating to Stony Brook University, supporting math education, and funding autism research through the Simons Foundation.

The Simons Foundation is also involved in major scientific endeavors, such as searching for gravitational waves from the Big Bang.

Transcripts

When it comes to investing, nobody  holds a candle to Jim Simons:

Not Warren Buffett

Not Steven Cohen

Not George Soros

Simons’ company Renaissance Technologies has  a signature hedge fund called Medallion that

has generated average annual  returns of 66% for 30 years.

To put this another way, renowned economist  Bradford Cornell points out that if you had

invested $100 in Medallion in 1988, 30 years  later, that would have turned into $398.7 million!

What’s even more remarkable is that Simons hired  people who didn’t know a thing about investing!

Is it true that you never hired  people from the investment industry?

Never (laughter)

He hired mathematicians and  scientists, just like himself.

While traditional investors rely  on their intuition to make trades:

chatting with executives, analyzing earnings  reports, gleaning insights from articles,

and considering geopolitical events,  Simons walked a different path.

As a trained mathematician, he  believed markets moved in logical ways.

So, he took a scientific approach to investing.

Harnessing the power of vast  data sets, computer models,

and algorithms to make decisions, inspiring  a revolution that has swept Wall Street.

This is the story of how a mathematician  became the greatest trader who ever lived.

Jim Simons is always restless.

Building a storied career as a  brilliant mathematician wasn’t enough.

Neither was teaching at MIT and Harvard

Neither was working as a Cold War code-breaker.

He left Harvard to join an elite research  organization that helped America’s most

secretive intelligence agency, the NSA,  decode Soviet messages during the Cold War.

But the work didn’t satisfy him.

As his first wife Barbara recalled in Gregory  Zuckerman’s book The Man Who Solved the Market,

“Jim understood at an early  age that money is power.”

Growing up an only child in  Brookline, Massachusetts,

near Boston, his family doctor encouraged  him to consider a career in medicine,

remarking, "You're a bright Jewish  boy, you should be a doctor.”

But when Simons shared his passion  for mathematics, the doctor replied,

"Look, you can't make any money doing that stuff."

Simons always wanted to be rich.

When he was fired from his code-breaking  job for protesting the Vietnam War,

he wanted to join an investment bank.

He had three young children to support,  including a son who was born with a rare

hereditary condition that affected the development  of his skin, hair, sweat glands, and teeth.

But, he opted to stay in  academia for the time being.

He was offered a job heading  the math department at Stony

Brook University on Long Island at the age of 30.

While it wasn’t as renowned then, here he was at

the age of 30 with the opportunity to  shape his own mathematics department.

While at Stony Brook, he developed a  mathematical theory that is foundational

to the work of Microsoft and other companies  to create special quantum computers designed

to tackle challenges beyond the reach  of current systems, including in AI.

As his professional life took  off, his personal life suffered.

He and Barbara were young when they  got married, he was 21, she was 18.

They divorced, and she headed west to complete  her PhD in computer science at UC Berkeley.

A few years later, a lingering urge  nudged Simons to leave academia and

venture into the world of finance  by starting his own investment firm.

His father thought he was making a huge  mistake by leaving a tenured position.

Mathematicians were shocked and  felt he was wasting his talent.

But Simons was always unconventional  - evidenced by small gestures like

not wearing socks because they  took too much time to put on.

At the age of 40, he left his  position at Stony Brook to open

up a small office in a strip mall across  from a train station near the university.

And so began Renaissance Technologies in 1978.

Back then, it was called Monemetrics,

a play on money + econometrics, the use of  statistics and math to study economic data.

Just as he once unscrambled enemy code, he  aimed to decode hidden patterns in the market.

Simons remarked to Zuckerman in his book, “There’s  a pattern here; there has to be a pattern.”

He didn’t care why the patterns  existed, just that they did.

Renaissance began by trading  currencies, commodities,

and bonds but avoided stocks due to  their complexity; there are so many

of them and each stock is influenced by  the unique circumstances of its company.

Simons envisioned a trading system fully  guided by algorithms with no human input.

Let's say you want to know what the weather will

be like tomorrow. You feed a computer  the information you have temperatures,

and humidity levels. The computer model  processes the information to predict

tomorrow’s conditions. An algorithm then  advises you on whether to carry an umbrella.

Translated to the realm of quantitative  finance, the weather data becomes financial

data such as stock prices and trading  volumes. The weather forecast becomes

a market forecast. And the advice on what  to wear translates to a trading decision.

On the other hand, a traditional investor might  try to predict the weather or the markets based

on subtle cues in their environment like how  much pain they’re in because of their arthritis.

As much as Simons dreamt of this kind  of trading system - computers in the

eighties weren’t sophisticated enough  to handle a fully automated system.

So, at the start, Renaissance relied on math

models AND human intuition to  trade…which proved problematic.

His code-breaking colleague Leonard Baum  who now worked at Renaissance liked to buy

low but often clung to positions too long,  like in 1984, when he heavily invested in

U.S. bonds. But as the Reagan administration  began issuing so many bonds, prices plummeted.

Simons recognized the limits of human judgment and  brought in James Ax, a friend from his PhD days at

UC Berkeley whom he recruited to Stony Brook to  build more sophisticated math models for trading.

The team collected data from  as far back as the 1800s,

feeding them into computers,  to uncover overlooked patterns.

Simons told a colleague: “If we have enough  data, I know we can make predictions.”

Simons and Ax launched a  new hedge fund, Medallion,

in honor of the prestigious  math awards they’d received.

It would eventually become the most  successful hedge fund of all time.

But at first, it struggled to make a profit.

It didn’t help that Ax isolated himself  in his seaside estate in Malibu.

His preference for the West Coast led  him to spearhead his new company Axcom,

a separate entity yet closely  connected to Renaissance.

The turning point came when Elwyn Berlekamp who

had worked to crack codes with Simons  bought up Ax’s part of the business.

He rebuilt the system to focus  on short-term trades which Ax

had resisted due to concerns over commission fees.

Berlekamp figured “If you trade a lot, you  only need to be right 51 percent of the time.”

Many investors prefer long-term trades,

a sentiment Zuckerman describes  in his book this way :

“...like fishermen ignoring the guppies  in their nets, hoping for a bigger catch.”

Unlike these investors, Medallion honed in  on these 'guppies' — seeking to capitalize

on subtle inefficiencies that others overlooked.

Don’t give up easily. Stick with  it. Stick with it. Not forever,

but really give it a chance to get where you’re  going. The final principle is: hope for good luck!

After a decade of adjusting their algorithms  aided by improved computer processing power,

Renaissance turned the corner in 1990.

The Medallion fund posted gains after fees of 58%.

But Simons believed they could do  even better; he wanted 80% returns.

Berlekamp thought he was crazy  and it all became too much for

him - he returned to teaching at UC Berkeley.

Simons bought Berlekamp’s share of the company.

Axcom, which had been a separate entity,

disbanded. Going forward, it was  just Renaissance Technologies.

Simons beefed up the team some more.

Henry Laufer, a mathematician from Stony Brook,  divided the trading day into five-minute intervals

instead of hourly, allowing Renaissance to quickly  detect and act on even shorter-term price changes.

Their models were so successful at making  trades that they trusted their computers

to make decisions that didn’t even make  sense to them. There was however one issue.

Renaissance was still very small.

It only managed $45 million  after ten years in the business,

a quarter of the assets of rival firm D.E. Shaw.

David Shaw was also using  computer models to trade.

AND - he was trading stocks, unlike Renaissance.

Simons knew that if he wanted to truly leave  a legacy, he needed to start trading stocks.

He consolidated all operations in Long Island

and was about to embark on a  new path when tragedy struck.

Simons’ son Paul, who had  battled a birth disorder,

was cycling in Stony Brook when  he was struck by a car and killed.

The elderly driver was so  traumatized by what happened

that she died of a heart attack a few days later.

The grief of losing a child caused  Simons to throw himself into his work.

In order to master the art of  trading stocks, he needed more help.

Simons recruited Robert Mercer and Peter Brown,

renowned for their groundbreaking work  in transcribing speech into text at IBM.

They saw language as a probabilistic game  where some words likely follow others.

For instance, after "chocolate,"  "milk" is more probable than "cheese."

Similarly, Simons wanted to design a system  that could predict financial market trends.

With their coding chops, Brown and Mercer crafted  a single automated stock trading system introduced

in 1995 complete with half a million lines of code  compared to tens of thousands in the old system.

After Mercer and Brown mastered  stocks, the Medallion fund took off.

In 2000, it achieved an astonishing 98.5% return  after fees, even amidst the dot-com bubble,

showcasing Renaissance's prowess  in capitalizing on inefficiencies.

Simons rewarded his staff with  exotic vacations and bonuses.

These computer science nerds who were  in it for the challenge, not the money,

couldn’t help but reap the financial rewards.

Staff could personally invest in Medallion.

Medallion is only available to employees. The fund is capped at $10 billion.

In fact, as Medallion grew, it closed its doors

to outside investors in 2003 and  is only available to employees.

The fund is capped at $10 billion.

They bought so many mansions in one neighborhood  that it earned the nickname “Renaissance Riviera”

How exactly Renaissance has  managed to achieve stunning

results is a secret. Employees are  bound by non-disclosure agreements,

ensuring they remain silent about the  coding and algorithms Renaissance uses.

Many firms on Wall Street are trying  to crack the Renaissance code.

JPMorgan Chase makes it mandatory for new  investment bankers and managers to learn coding.

With advancements in technology and AI, more  data sets can be collected and analyzed.

Even scrutinizing the tone of voice  executives use on conference calls.

Monitoring which aisle shoppers spend  most of their time in grocery stores.

Or analyzing social media posts to gauge sentiment  - by the way, let’s connect on X, I’m @Newsthink.

Medallion is the most successful  hedge fund of all time.

The returns are so high that it  charges a performance fee of 44%

Simons had achieved everything he wanted  to achieve in the world of investing.

He thought about retiring.

But then…tragedy struck again.

His son Nicholas wanted to become a doctor and

open a medical clinic in Nepal  to help its poorest people.

A week before he was scheduled to come  home, he drowned while freediving in Bali.

Simons had to bury a second child.

For a man who believed so  strongly in science and logic,

this unbearable loss was a reminder of  the inherent unpredictability of life.

He threw himself into his work once  again to distract him from his grief.

Simons launched a larger fund,  the Renaissance Institutional

Equities Fund (RIEF), which is  available to outside investors.

RIEF weathered the storm of the  2007 subprime mortgage crisis

triggered by high-risk loans given to  Americans with questionable credit.

In an unusual move owing to extraordinary  circumstances, Simons felt the need for human

intervention, guiding his team to reduce  equity positions and build cash reserves.

Ultimately, Renaissance rebounded and during the  turmoil of 2008, Medallion boasted 82% in profits,

highlighting the sophistication and  adaptability of their trading systems.

Having achieved all that he wanted in the  world of investing, Simons stepped down

as CEO of Renaissance Technologies in 2009,  handing over the reins to Brown and Mercer.

Throughout his entire career, Simons maintained a  low public profile compared to some of his peers.

Yet the spotlight couldn’t help but shine on

Renaissance because of its  new co-CEO, Robert Mercer.

Mercer distrusted the government,  disapproved of the Clintons,

and questioned whether humans are  the primary cause of climate change.

He emerged as one of Trump’s biggest financial

backers in 2016 as he felt only an  outsider could win the election.

The Mercer family also acquired a significant  stake in the conservative outlet Breitbart News.

Mercer’s daughter Rebekah recommended  the head of Breitbart, Steve Bannon,

run Trump’s campaign, while Kellyan  Conway became a familiar face on TV.

Together, Bannon and Conway helped  propel Trump to the White House.

On the other hand, Simons was a significant  supporter of Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Despite their different political leanings,

Simons felt Mercer shouldn’t be  fired for his political actions.

But then, it started affecting business.

Renaissance programmer David Magerman was  horrified by the election of Trump and

expressed concerns about Mercer’s involvement  to Zuckerman for the Wall Street Journal.

Investors shared similar concerns.

When the Baltimore City Fire and Police Employees’

Retirement System pulled $32 million from  Renaissance, the firm feared a mass exodus.

Simons suggested Mercer step down.

According to Zuckerman,  Mercer “looked sad and hurt.”

In November 2017, Mercer resigned as  co-CEO at Renaissance Technologies and

sold his stake in Breitbart News to his daughters.

As for Simons?

With a personal net worth of $27 billion,

he can afford to indulge in luxuries,  like a $100-million super-yacht.

Yet his wealth doesn’t just fund lavish pursuits.

He’s donated $500 million  to Stony Brook University

Established a nonprofit that provides  exceptional math teachers with additional support

And started a charitable foundation that, among  other pursuits, is dedicated to autism research,

a cause close to his heart as his daughter  Audrey, with his second wife, is autistic.

The Simons Foundation is also heavily focused  on discovering the origins of the universe.

Its Observatory under construction in Chile’s  Atacama Desert will search for gravitational

waves from the Big Bang - hoping to unravel  the mysteries of the universe’s first moments.

Perhaps history will not remember  Simons solely for being a master

of markets but as the master of the universe.

Jim Simons would never have become the greatest

trader of all time had it not been  for his background in mathematics.

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Thanks for watching. For Newsthink, I’m Cindy Pom.