Victor Niederhoffer, Trader Who Went Boom and Bust (Twice), Dies at 82

Victor Niederhoffer, a quirky polymath who pioneered using computers to predict short-term movements in stocks and commodities — a volatile, high-stakes trading technique that made him and his clients a fortune, which he subsequently lost, regained, then lost again, died on Aug.4 at his home in Weston, Conn.

He was 82.The death was confirmed by his family.In an industry of big personalities, Mr.Niederhoffer outperformed in eccentricity.

He wore mismatched sneakers on the squash court, ordered dessert before dinner, browsed bookstores in his socks and read just one newspaper, The National Enquirer.His 20,000-square-foot, Tudor-style mansion served as his trading post and personal museum, with sprawling collections of rare books, mechanical toy banks, paintings of shipwrecks, seashells from around the world and letters written by scientists, presidents and other illustrious people.“His curiosity was insatiable, and he just fed it all day long,” Andrew W.Lo, a friend and professor of finance at M.I.T., said in an interview.

“Talking to him was a real journey.You just never knew where his mind would go.”The son of a police officer and a teacher, Mr.

Niederhoffer developed an appetite for risk while growing up in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he bet on paddle ball, checkers and card games against guys with nicknames like Nervous Phil, Bitter Irving, the Refugee and Bookie.“Brighton was the Harvard of my education as a speculator,” he wrote in “The Education of a Speculator” (1997).“The games, bargains, music, sex and fauna taught me to appreciate the earthy and nitty-gritty.

That’s the proper foundation for buying low and selling high, the trade of a speculator.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times....