Skip to content
The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback)
  • The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback)
  • The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback)
  • The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback)
  • The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback)
zoom
The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback) The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback) The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback)

The Trading Game: A Confession (Paperback)

(author)
? RRP £10.99
£8.99
Save £2.00 (18%)
Paperback 432 Pages
Published: 30/01/2025
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • 10+ in stock

Usually dispatched within 1-2 days

Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • This item has been added to your basket
Waterstones Says

Viscerally thrilling and darkly disturbing, Stevenson's rollercoaster memoir of his life as a ruthless city trader introduces an intoxicating yet amoral cast of characters who deal in trillions of dollars of other people's money every day.

Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month for February 2025

An outrageous, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the trading game and then blew it all wide open

'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?

Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger.

Then he won a competition run by a bank: 'The Trading Game'. The prize: a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family. Where soon you're the bank's most profitable trader, dealing in nearly a trillion dollars. A day. Where you dream of numbers in your sleep - and then stop sleeping at all.

But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? When the easiest way to make money is to bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? You want to stop, but you can't. Because nobody ever leaves.

Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything?

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781802062731
Number of pages: 432
Weight: 318 g
Dimensions: 196 x 129 x 24 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

An incredibly important and timely book, very much of its era. The Wolf of Wall Street with a moral compass, it lays bare the spiritual vacuity of the systems and processes that both dominate and reduce our humanity. - Irvine Welsh

Compelling, intensely readable, unsettling. An unforgettable story of greed, financial madness and moral decay. - Rory Stewart

Astonishing, enraging, extremely funny and exquisitely sad - a magnificent exposé of the 'masters of the universe' whose greed imperils us all. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. - The Secret Barrister

The Trading Game is the best finance memoir I’ve ever read. Gary Stevenson's tale of plundering Wall Street like some kind of cockney pirate is by turn hilarious and harrowing. A thrilling read that raises profound questions about who runs the global financial system. - Zeke Faux, author of Number Go Up

A well written and often darkly funny book that makes a convincing case that high finance is as toxic, reckless and deeply cynical as ever. - Guardian

The Trading Game is Stevenson’s account — his confession — of how he achieved this dream, becoming Citibank’s most profitable trader, and how it made him angry, dejected and ill. There are parallels with Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis, an autobiographical account of a young man’s adventures in the financial markets… This dark but profitable vision is lightened by moments of comic self-importance. - The Times

Stevenson is a sharp observer, with a gift for colourful if merciless description… His breakdown started with trading mania and ended with his exile to the Tokyo office, pleading to be allowed to leave. His bonuses had brought him torment, not freedom. - Financial Times

For a self-proclaimed mathematics nerd, Stevenson is a fine wordsmith. His greatest strength is his ability to unravel complex concepts… Stevenson candidly shares his traumas and experiences… finance, for all its allure and excess, is a world where excess comes at a cost, a cost not measured in dollars but in the essence of who we become. - Daily Telegraph

As a critique of the monstrous modern evolutions of finance, Gary Stevenson’s account of the frenzy and follies of trading “trillions a day” on behalf of the US giant Citibank is powerful… Rude and funny… demotic fast-paced prose... he tells a vivid story and invites us to make our own judgement. - TLS

Gary Stevenson’s rags-to-riches memoir exposes a system where the rich can’t lose and the economy is choked by inequality.… Stevenson brings alive the unease of trying to survive in the purgatorial space between being an employee and an outsider… - New Statesman

An Evening With Gary Stevenson at Wagner Hall

An Evening With Gary Stevenson at Wagner Hall

Wagner Hall, 2 Regency Road, Brighton, BN1 2RT
Monday 10th February 19:00

Join us for a fascinating evening with Gary Stevenson as he discusses 'The Trading Game', his rollercoaster memoir of his life as a ruthless city trader.

View
Non-Fiction Book Group

Non-Fiction Book Group

Inverness
Saturday 22nd March 14:00 - 15:00

Join us for our Non-Fiction Book Group on Saturday 22nd March at 2pm

View
March Book Club

March Book Club

Reading - Broad Street
Wednesday 26th March 19:00 - 20:00

Join us for a relaxed and friendly discussion of current paperback titles, chosen by the group - usually fiction, but with occasional non fiction as well.

View

You may also be interested in...

The Psychology of Money
Added to basket
The Concise 48 Laws Of Power
Added to basket
Never Split the Difference
Added to basket
Technofeudalism
Added to basket
The Diary of a CEO
Added to basket
Hardback
£20.00 £14.99
Autocracy, Inc
Added to basket
Hardback
£20.00 £15.99
Money
Added to basket
Hardback
£25.00 £20.99
Going Infinite
Added to basket
Shoe Dog
Added to basket
Paperback
£10.99
How Big Things Get Done
Added to basket
Paperback
£11.99 £9.99
Chip War
Added to basket
Paperback
£10.99
But What Can I Do?
Added to basket
The Invisible Doctrine
Added to basket
Hardback
£12.99 £10.99
Follow the Money
Added to basket
Think Again
Added to basket
Paperback
£12.99
The Art of Winning
Added to basket
Chums
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99

“Totally captivating read, brilliantly executed”

A brilliant read about an extremely talented man who dare I say it took on the biggest bank and won. This was a real page turner capturing the highs and lows of an exciting career as a trader. A must read for anyone... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 23

“Once you get in you never get out”

In this thrilling memoir, Gary Stevenson charts his life as a working class boy from Ilford, all the way to the top trading floors of the world, making millions on sheer (as he puts it) stupidity during and the years... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 22

“Entertaining, fascinating and a lot of fun.”

Gary Stevenson has done for city traders what Adam Kay did for house doctors. The Trading Game is compelling, dark and at times laugh out loud funny. A great read.

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 20

Please sign in to write a review

Your review has been submitted successfully.