- Mohammed Islam, 17, started dabbling in penny stocks at the age of nine
- He trades stocks on lunch breaks at New York’s Stuyvesant High School
- Has made around $72million; has bought BMW and Manhattan apartment
- He cites his inspiration as billionaire hedge-funder Paul Tudor Jones, 60
- Mohammed’s parents are immigrants from Bengal region of South Asia
- Student hopes to start hedge fund next year and make $1bn with friends
- On his Instagram profile, he has written: ‘More money, less problems’
He has not yet reached his 18th birthday.
But Mohammed Islam, from Queens, New York, has already made an estimated $72million – from trading stocks on his lunch breaks at school, according to New York magazine’s Monday issue.
The 17-year-old, who started dabbling in penny stocks at the tender age of nine, spends most of his breaks at Stuyvesant High School trading oil and gold futures, and small to mid-cap equities.
Multi-millionaire: Mohammed Islam (pictured in a Facebook photo), 17, from Queens, New York, has already made an estimated $72million – from trading stocks on his lunch breaks at Stuyvesant High School
Professional: The teenager (center, in glasses), who started dabbling in penny stocks at the tender age of nine, spends most of his school breaks trading oil and gold futures, and small to mid-cap equities
Life of luxury: Outside of school, Mohammed (left, in an Instagram shot) often takes his friends out to dine at Morimoto on 10th Avenue, where they feast on $400 caviar, expensive dishes and fresh-squeezed apple juice
Outside of school, he often takes his friends out to dine at Morimoto on 10th Avenue, where they feast on $400 caviar, expensive dishes and freshly-squeezed apple juice.
During an interview for the magazine;s 10th annual ‘Reasons to Love New York issue’, Mohammed refused to disclose his exact net worth, but he admitted it was in ‘the high eight figures’.
The successful teenager revealed he had used his incredible wealth to purchase a BMW – which he does not yet have a license to drive – and rent a Manhattan apartment.
However, his parents, who are immigrants from the Bengal region of South Asia, will not yet allow him to move out of their family home in Queens, according to the New York Post.
Mohammed has also taken to social media to show off his well-funded, lavish lifestyle – regularly posting videos of him partying, playing poker and dancing with numerous women on Instagram.
His hard-earned cash has certainly been beneficial to his parents. ‘My dad doesn’t work now and I tend to help out with things, and futures gives me that incentive,’ said the student.
Lavish: Mohammed has also taken to social media to show off his well-funded, lavish lifestyle – regularly posting videos of him partying, playing poker (pictured) and dancing with numerous women on Instagram
Birthday fun: The teenager revealed he had used his wealth to purchase a BMW – which he does not yet have a license to drive – and rent a Manhattan apartment. Above, a clip from a video on Mohammed’s Instagram
This photo, also posted on the student’s Instagram, shows two women holding up bottles of champagne
But despite its advantages, Mr and Mrs Islam are not overly keen on their son’s interest in trading.
‘My dad doesn’t like [finance] that much,’ Mohammed, who has written the phrase, ‘More money, less problems’, on his Instagram profile, said in an ISSUU interview.
‘He says he is ok with me trading, but my mom is skeptical about the market. But they see it as, if I am good at it, then why not?’
A year after he started experimenting with penny stocks, Mohammed was introduced to further financial markets by his cousin. He has since developed a ‘life-long passion’ for trading.
‘What makes the world go round? Money,’ he said. ‘If money is not flowing, if businesses don’t keep going, there’s no innovation, no products, no investments, no growth, no jobs.’
On his LinkedIn profile, the student said he rose to success while trading stocks during his lunch breaks because he ‘followed the market, hunted for opportunities and used everything from fundamental analysis to technical analysis and price action to speculate in the markets’.
After having high returns in penny stocks, he moved on to small-mid cap equities, then derivatives, before feeling out the futures market and specializing in oil and gold, he said.
He added he has now developed ‘a passion for understanding the markets and a passion for making money’, and trades ‘mainly based on volatility and volume’.
Let me take a selfie: Mohammed has the phrase, ‘More money, less problems’, written on his Instagram profile. Above, a female reveller is pictured taking a selfie in another video on Mohammed’s Instagram
Speech: Speaking of his passion for trading stocks, Mohammed (pictured giving a speech), who trades ‘mainly based on the volatility and volume’ of gold and oil, said: ‘What makes the world go round? Money’
During his interview with New York magazine’s, Mohammed revealed his biggest inspiration in the finance world has been Paul Tudor Jones.
Jones, 60, the billionaire founder of Tudor Investment Corporation, a private asset management firm and hedge fund, ranks as the 108th-richest American, according to Forbes.
Mohammed said that while he had been ‘paralyzed’ by his losses when he first started trading, he quickly learned from Connecticut-based Jones’s ability to get back into the game again and again.
‘I had been paralyzed by my loss,’ he said. ‘But [Jones] was able to go back to it, even after losing thousands of dollars over and over.’
Inspiration: Mohammed revealed his biggest inspiration in the finance world has been Paul Tudor Jones (pictured), the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation, a private asset management firm and hedge fund
Speaking to Business Insider, he added: ‘Jones’s personality and technique are what make him so successful and I aspire to become even one per cent of the man he is.
‘He went through obstacles, yet still came out on top’
And despite his massive fortune, Mohammed has no plans to give up trading just yet.
The teenager said he and his trader friends hope to start a hedge fund in June – when he is old enough to get his broker-dealer license – and intend to make a billion dollars by next year.
This, of course, will all be done while attending college.
‘It’s not just about the money,’ said Mohammed, whose ultimate goal is to pave a path in the financial industry that will enable him to become a reputable hedge fund manager.
‘We want to create a brotherhood. Like, all of us who are connected, who are in something together, who have influence.’
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