Traders are free-market warriors on the front lines, closest to the money, the lightning rod for huge international investment flows. Armed with tools developed from advances in computers, information technology, and communications they are moving billions and billions of dollars every day into the world's markets at a speed and volume never seen or imagined before. They make the world's money go round. In a candid account that spans the beginning of the rise of traders, the challenges that they face working in today's fast-paced markets, and which takes the reader towards a vision of the electronic future, Hillary Davis's exciting and revealing book draws on first-hand interviews with the great traders and rising stars in London and Wall Street, providing a unique insight into how they think and work. Trading requires incredible mental gymnastics. It takes excellent timing, a feel for the market, an ability to withstand high levels of stress and keep a cool head, excellence on every level and then some. There's a higher percentage of losers compared to winners in the trading world than in almost any other business. Contrary to popular belief, traders are a highly trained, sophisticated group manoeuvering in intensely competitive markets where they have to react to an ever-changing chaotic world.

It takes special people to make a lot of money consistently. Some are visionaries, some have become legends. Some are post-modern statesmen on the world stage like George Soros, while others have gone on to run art galleries. Some are world-champion bridge players, devoted blackjack junkies, noted philanthropists, and authors of science-fiction. Some are sitting in jail. This insider's account of the rise of traders into the financial establishment confirms their influence on the future. Their power is eclipsing that of the old-boy network that ruled the financial markets for so long. A Million A Minute offers readers the opportunity to know traders as people - people make markets, just as people make companies - and Hillary Davis reveals what they are like, how they live, and most importantly, exactly what it is they do.