He was twenty-three and 20x long, which he described to his friends as aggressive but managed. The position was $8,900 — the truck money, plus what his grandmother had given him for a certificate program. At 3:11 a.m. the price wicked down 4.6 percent for about ninety seconds and took all of it, and then came back.

He sat looking at a chart that was, by 3:20, higher than where he had entered. He was right. He was also at zero, which he learned is a different thing entirely. He did not tell anyone for nine days, and when his grandmother asked about the program he said the start date got pushed, and she said that's fine, take your time.