Living on the Edge in Connecticut

Victor Niederhoffer is many things: a champion squash player, a family man (six children from two wives and a mistress), a blogger, and a math prodigy.  But mostly he is a trader. He amassed huge wealth working with George Soros in the 1980s, losing it all in 1997. He began rebuilding in 2003, had huge success, and may be on the verge of losing it all again.

This past summer's turbulent markets, fueled by the sub-prime lending crisis, were a challenge for Niederhoffer. In the New Yorker, John Cassidy profiles one of the financial world's most idiosyncratic characters, tracing his humble beginnings in Brighton Beach through his academic and athletic successes to his current life trading from a mansion in suburban Connecticut. (More Victor Niederhoffer stories.)