Key Takeaways
- • Colin Lancaster, former head of macro strategy at Citadel (which manages over $38 billion in investment capital), has authored "Fed Up!" — a market novel capturing the pandemic trading environment through the lens of a macro trader at a London hedge fund.
- • Lancaster used his non-compete period during the pandemic to journal volatile market movements daily, accumulating sufficient material to complete the book within eight months; all market details remain factually accurate while character development is fictionalized.
- • The book is designed to provide prospective traders insight into the pace, frenetic nature, and energy of macro trading, drawing on Lancaster's 25-year Wall Street career and experience at elite firms including Citadel and Balyasny Asset Management.
- • Lancaster articulates five key qualities that define great traders, offering a framework for identifying talent and understanding trading excellence in institutional settings.
- • The work serves as both memoir and educational tool, capturing an extraordinary period in market history through authentic trading mechanics while exploring themes of success, excess, and crisis in hedge fund macro operations.
Summary
Colin Lancaster, former head of macro strategies at Citadel, has published "Fed Up!: Success, Excess and Crisis Through the Eyes of a Hedge Fund Macro Trader," a novel set during the 2020 pandemic market panic. The book emerged from Lancaster's non-compete period following his tenure at Citadel, the legendary investment firm managing over $38 billion in capital. Rather than disengaging during this restricted period, Lancaster capitalized on the volatile market environment by maintaining a daily journal of market movements, a practice he has maintained throughout his career.
Within eight weeks of recognizing the opportunity, Lancaster had accumulated substantial material documenting an extraordinary market period. He completed the manuscript within eight months. The narrative follows a macro trader at a London hedge fund navigating the pandemic crisis, grounding the story in authentic market mechanics and real trading dynamics. "I did want this to be a markets book, because what I know best is macro trading and so I wanted to really capture this period of time through the eyes of a macro trader," Lancaster explained. While all market details remain factually accurate, character development is fictionalized to serve the narrative.
Lancaster's primary objective extends beyond entertainment—he sought to communicate the lived experience of institutional trading to prospective market professionals. "I thought it was really important because I wanted people who are thinking about getting into this business to have a sense as to the pace of our life and the frenetic nature of it and to feel that energy," he stated. The work draws on Lancaster's 25-year Wall Street career, including senior positions at multiple elite institutions such as Citadel and Balyasny Asset Management, where he ran high-profile global macro businesses.
In the book and accompanying media appearances, Lancaster distills five key qualities he identifies as essential to trading excellence, providing institutional investors and prospective traders a framework for understanding what separates exceptional traders from peers. This practical insight, combined with the authentic market narrative, positions "Fed Up!" as both a chronicle of the 2020 market crisis and an educational resource for understanding macro trading operations during periods of extreme volatility.
Within eight weeks of recognizing the opportunity, Lancaster had accumulated substantial material documenting an extraordinary market period. He completed the manuscript within eight months. The narrative follows a macro trader at a London hedge fund navigating the pandemic crisis, grounding the story in authentic market mechanics and real trading dynamics. "I did want this to be a markets book, because what I know best is macro trading and so I wanted to really capture this period of time through the eyes of a macro trader," Lancaster explained. While all market details remain factually accurate, character development is fictionalized to serve the narrative.
Lancaster's primary objective extends beyond entertainment—he sought to communicate the lived experience of institutional trading to prospective market professionals. "I thought it was really important because I wanted people who are thinking about getting into this business to have a sense as to the pace of our life and the frenetic nature of it and to feel that energy," he stated. The work draws on Lancaster's 25-year Wall Street career, including senior positions at multiple elite institutions such as Citadel and Balyasny Asset Management, where he ran high-profile global macro businesses.
In the book and accompanying media appearances, Lancaster distills five key qualities he identifies as essential to trading excellence, providing institutional investors and prospective traders a framework for understanding what separates exceptional traders from peers. This practical insight, combined with the authentic market narrative, positions "Fed Up!" as both a chronicle of the 2020 market crisis and an educational resource for understanding macro trading operations during periods of extreme volatility.
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