◼ FINANCE Bloomberg Businessweek May 18, 202024
entireworldwentintolockdown.Morepainful
forhim,Saraowasalsobannedfromtradingduring
thekindofwildlycareeningmarketsherelished.
Thisis thestoryofhowSaraofirstdiscoveredhis
knackforplayingthatgame.“Wanted.TraineeFuturesTraders,”ranthesmall
adintheTuesdayeditionoftheEveningStandard.
“Applicationsareinvitedfromgraduateswhocan
demonstratethefollowingskills:highlymotivated;
analyticalapproach;disciplined;goalorientated;
workwellunderpressure.”
Saraowastwoyearsoutofuniversitywhenhe
senthisrésumétoFutex,a smalltradingarcade
withanofficeinthesuburbs,about 45 minutes
bytrainfromLondon’sfinancialdistrict.After
graduatinghe’dspenta miserableslogdoingtele-
phonesales,thentakenanadminjobonthefor-
eignexchangedeskatBankofAmerica.Bythe
timeFutexinvitedhimtothecommutertownof
Weybridgeforaninterview,hewasunemployed
andrestless.
Nav,aseveryonecalledhim,mightnothave
knownit yet,buthewasuniquelywell-suitedtothe
job.Whenhewas3 yearsoldhelearnedhismulti-
plicationtablesafterstumblingona LittleProfessor
electronicgame.Bythetimehegottoschoolhe
couldmultiplylongernumbersinhishead.While
otherchildrenscrawledtheirworkingsona piece
ofpaper,Navfoundhecouldholdeachstep,natu-
rallyandeasily,inhisbrain.HepickedupA’sand
B’swithouttryingbutmadesurenobodymistook
himfora teacher’spet.Heplayedpracticaljokes
andrarelyshowedupontime.Histutorrecalled
“averylikableyoungman,veryintelligent,”who
was“fulloffun.”
In1998,SaraobrieflylefthometoattendBrunel,
a mid-tieruniversity,wherehestudiedcomputer
scienceandmath.Heandhisfriendswerebroke,
butoneoftheirhousematesalwaysseemedtohave
cash.Oneday,Saraoaskedhimhowhecouldafford
suchexpensiveclothes.“Trading,”camethereply.
Thedot-combubblewasinfullswing.Howhard
couldit be,thoughtSarao.Hestartedscouringthe
internetforstocktipsandplowingthroughtext-
booksonfinancialtheory.
Futex’s officewasabove a Waitrosesuper-
market. To gain entry, visitors had to walk around
the back of the store and up a staircase. The décor
was drab, the equipment was dated, and it over-
looked a parking lot. The company was one of a
burgeoning number of arcades, or “prop shops,”
that sprung up in Britain and the U.S. when trad-
ing migrated from physical “pits,” with their hand
signals and colorful jackets, to computer screens.The business model was straightforward and, for
a while at least, highly lucrative. Futex would take
on a bunch of wannabe traders and teach them
the skills they needed to succeed in the markets.
Those who thrived were backed with steadily larger
sums, while those who failed were cut. Futex made
money by taking a share of its traders’ profits and
a commission on every trade.
For a generation of ambitious graduates brought
up watching films such as Wall Street and Trading
Places but lacking the grades or connections to
land a job at JPMorgan, the opportunity was irre-
sistible. The best day traders, they were told in a
rousing speech on arrival at Futex, could make their
own hours, wear flip-flops to work, and still pull in
footballer money. All they had to do was correctly
predict whether the market would go up or down
more often than they were wrong, and they would
be rich and free. The reality, of course, was that it
was extremely difficult to consistently beat the mar-
ket after costs.
During the recruitment process, Sarao
impressed the bosses by answering the mental
arithmetic questions faster than they could finish
looking them up on a calculator. But he failed to
make much of an impression during the interview.
Stick-thin and shifty, he arrived late wearing a suit
that looked suspiciously like it belonged to some-
body else. He refused to make eye contact and
started sentences with “mate” and “bruv.” Still, he
showed signs of potential. Sarao was a keen gamer,
ranking in the top 700 of 3 million players globally
at the soccer computer game FIFA, which required
focus and hand-eye coordination. And he was con-
fident to an almost comical degree. When he was
asked what he hoped to achieve in his career, he
replied, straight-faced, that he wanted to be as rich
as Warren Buffett and start his own charity. In the
end, he made the cut.Everyone knew not to disturb Sarao when he was
trading. For eight hours a day he sat at a lone desk
at the far end of the trading floor, his face inches
from his screens, in what appeared to be a cata-
tonic state. To block out the world, he wore a pair
of red, heavy-duty ear defenders of the type favored
by road workers. He didn’t communicate with any-
one. Only his fingers moved.
When it came to trading futures, Sarao’s hyper-
focus was a gift. Three years after joining Futex
he predominantly traded the S&P 500 “e-mini,”
a futures contract that tracks the fortunes of
America’s largest companies. It’s basically a very
quick way to make bets on the direction of stocks
without the trouble of having to own any.“He was like
one of the
robots in
Westworld
or Neo from
The Matrix”▼ S&P 500,
May 6, 2010
36 min.9:30a.m. 4 p.m.1,1601,1101,060