I was born in Shrewsbury, Mass to a family of subsistence farmers.  I was thin and often sickly as a child, but a very good student, especially in math.  I ran away from home at the age of 14 with the blessing and help of my mother to avoid being pulled into the life of subsistence farming that my father intended for me.

My first job was as a quote boy (posting stock quotes on a chalk board) at Paine Webber in Boston, Mass. At the outset I had no money, no contacts, no education and no support…not exactly a traditional formula for winning the game of life.  However, it was here, in these early years, that I noticed the patterns that the stock quotes followed, began to develop my system for trading the markets and made my first trades.

My first trades were made in what were then known as “bucket shops.”  These were generally unlicensed brokerage houses that were little more than backroom gambling houses.  Most bucket shop customers lost money, but I did not because my trading was based on the “tape” (the ever-changing stock price patterns printing on the ticker tape).  I am known as perhaps the best pure “tapereader” of all time.  It was also during this time that I came to be known as the Boy Plunger for my willingness to place large “bets” on trades for which I had great conviction. (more…)