Boaz Weinstein Thrives in Market Chaos With a 25.5% Gain in 2020(Bloomberg) Boaz Weinstein’s main hedge fund gained 25.5% in the year’s first two months as he bet against companies exposed to the coronavirus and benefited from some of the most violent market swings in almost a decade. Weinstein’s $2.2 billionSaba Capital Managementreaped gains trading credit default swaps, a sort of insurance against companies defaulting on their borrowings, according to an investor in the 11-year-old firm. He also profited from derivatives bets on companies in the retail and energy sectors.
Boaz Weinstein's Bad Gambles in Credit Trading Cost Deutsche Bank $1.8 Billion in Losses in 2008 Nimrod HalpernFeb 08, 2009 2:03 AM Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, reported Thursday that it lost $5 billion in 2008 - including $1.8 billion from trader Boaz Weinstein's group. The losses by Weinstein, an Israeli who has lived in the United States for several years, exceed the estimated $1.5 billion in profits his group generated in 2006 and 2007. The bank's 2008 report included its first one-year loss in more than 50 years. Last month Deutsche Bank shut down Weinstein's operation and wound down many of his positions. But some positions the bank kept rebounded by about $600 million in January as credit markets eased, traders say. https://www.haaretz.com/1.5072359
I traded a variety of markets. I traded baskets of currencies, interest swaps, Leveraged debt, and European mid-cap health care debt. I crossed the threshold when I did a profoundly asymmetrical trade with the mexican peso. Rumors about mexico defaulting on their own debt combined with an unprecedented amount of revolving credit lead to U.S. being the lender of last resort to mexico in turn weakening the peso against the dollar. I called Desutche, they gave me a retarded idiot to sign on my behalf, because 54 million dollars isn't "high net worth material" for them. They then pardoned my contract, I signed for an ISDA, I am now considered a big speculator.
I did trade for Golub capital, I managed MM books. I was treated pretty unfairly considering I was the best trader there. I was being payed 28k a year even though I managed billions AUM. So, I went on to lehman brothers where I didn't know what I was doing. I felt so comfortable back at golub, I couldn't even profit a single penny the first months I went there because of their lack of order flows. I had to call other brokers to see specific details. After 8 months or so, I couldn't stop making money. I was so good at my business, I felt very greedy because I wasn't being paid ALOT more. I was already being paid 7-8 figures each year, but before I could quit, they collapsed. I made huge sums that day, I knew what they were doing behind the scenes, rather I didn't want a hit man coming for me from the sec. 1 week before they collapsed, I dropped my senior position, gave it to a subordinate, then shorted the stock via option derivatives. Every one was crying, office papers everywhere, but I was smart enough not to stick to one side.