Financial Markets and Trading: An Introduction to Market Microstructure and Trading Strategies

Acknowledgments

Writing this book was my personal affair, about which few people knew. Craig Holder encouraged me to work on this project. Bill Falloon, Wiley's editor, took a risk by accepting it for publication.

I am grateful to members of the academic community for sharing with me their expertise. My special thanks go to Peter Hansen, Blake LeBaron, and Bruce Mizrach. Needless to say, all possible drawbacks of this book remain my sole responsibility.

Alas, my father Boris passed away before he could have seen this book. If I am able to crunch numbers, this comes from my dad. Boris did not have an opportunity to exploit his gift for math: He became an orphan while fleeing from Nazi-occupied Latvia to Russia and started working at the age of 16. My mother Ida taught literature for more than 40 years. I learned from her how to spend nights at my desk.

I am grateful to my wife Sofia and my children Mark and Sabina for their love and patience. I also constantly feel that they need me—and that's what helps me keep the pace.

Alec Schmidt