Amalgam, I clipped this off Wiki's qoute of VIc's Book "Education of Speculator" "Niederhoffer Investments returned 35% a year from inception through 1996, when MAR ranked it the No. 1 hedge fund manager in the world. In 1997, Niederhoffer published a New York Times bestselling book, The Education of a Speculator. In statistical terms, I figure I have traded about 2 million contracts, with an average profit of $70 per contract (after slippage of perhaps $20). This average is approximately 700 standard deviations away from randomness.[5]" What happened to VN? This is happening right now, there is so much cash on the sidelines, Hedge Funds, Sovergein Wealth, Pension and PP are scouring the World for ideas. Here's another qoute from Wiki (Sorry for doing this, I think Victor deserves some respect because he was one hell of a Fund Manager, I would give my left arm to provide returns VN did for decades. "In 1997, Niederhoffer Investments was not finding many opportunities for investments and, having returned much of its funds to customers such as George Soros, began investing the remaining 100 million dollars in areas where Niederhoffer later admitted that he did not have much expertise.[6] Niederhoffer decided to buy Thai bank stocks, which had fallen heavily in the Asian financial crisis, his bet being that the Thai government would not allow these companies to go out of business. On October 27, 1997, losses resulting from this investment, combined with a 554 point (7.2%) single day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (the eighth[7] largest point decline to date in index history), forced Niederhoffer Investments to close its doors. In a lawsuit that Niederhoffer later filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he traded options, he alleged that floor traders colluded to drive the market down that day to force him out of his positions. Traders at the time said Refco may have been responsible for as much as $35 million of Niederhoffer's losses.[8]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Niederhoffer Would one of you Math Stars mind to explain what VN means in the following quote in basic English? Thank you! "This average is approximately 700 standard deviations away from randomness" One final point on VN, people who invested with him, were they allowed to keep their money in his fund from 1982 to 1997 when he returned the majority of his money to his fund holders. If my math is correct, did he turn $100,000 in to $7,000,000 and return the bulk of his clients funds to them? I can see why VN would get a second chance, people are greedy and VN was one of the smartest guys in the World, how come he did not retire like the famous Morgan Stanley "Black Monday Option Trader" who made his mother and sister Millionaires? Nobody knows exactly what he made, the Morgan Trader said "I knew I got lucky, and decided it was time to leave the game". What a good big brother and son, taking your own money, putting it in accounts under his Mom and Sisters name along with his primary account and turning them all Millionaires. Did the Morgan Stanley Trader every admit to how much he made? Rumors of $50 to $200,000,000 circulated but I never could find an exact amount. VN had the gift, he was smart enough to return the capital of the shareholders, why not retire as the best in 1996?