NYC High School Student Nicknamed ‘Teen Wolf’ Made $72 Million On Stock Market

While child entrepreneurs have become increasingly common in the last decade, not many hit the lofty heights that 17-year-old “teen wolf” Mohammed Islam reached when his trading earnings reached the “high eight figures.”

As the New York Post reports, Islam, a teenager from Queens, still lives at home with his parents, but has been trading on the stock exchange on his lunch breaks at Stuyvesant High School. The Teen Wolf is the son of immigrants from Bengal in South Asia. Mohammed trades with two other friends, and they hope to start a hedge fund when the Teen Wolf turns 18 and graduates from high school.

Islam started with penny stocks at the unbelievable age of 9. When most kids are in the fourth grade, they’re learning to play sports, and figuring out fractions. Mohammed was putting his tutoring earnings to work. As often happens on the stock exchange, Islam lost his initial investment. He describes the event as “paralyzing,” and swore off the market thinking he just didn’t have the required nerves of steel.

Perhaps to better understand the losses that crippled him, Islam turned to studying modern finance, and became enthralled with Paul Tudor Jones. Jones is a billionaire from Connecticut who manages hedge funds and private assets. As is often the case, much of Jones’ success came on the heels of failure. Thousands and thousands of dollars lost, over and over, but Jones kept coming back for more, and ultimately captured overwhelming success. That fortitude, paired with his positive outlook, inspired Mohammed to give the game another try. And like the man who inspired him, Mohammed Islam has become a resounding success in his own right.

The Teen Wolf moniker is a reference to Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of Jordan Belfort — called the “wolf of Wall Street,” another young trader who had an uncanny ability to make money on the stock exchanges. Islam and his trading buddies intend to become billionaires by next year.

“What makes the world go round? Money. If money is not flowing, if businesses don’t keep going there’s no innovation, no products, no investments, no growth, no jobs.”

But according to Mohammed Islam and his friends, it’s not just about the money.

“We want to create a brotherhood. Like, all of us who are connected, who are in something together, who have influence.”

The Post reported that despite his resounding success, Islam is shy and modest, and only gave a rough estimate of his earnings. While he has a very bright future, and grand dreams for his journey into it, for now he has to content himself with expensive meals at Morimoto (an upscale Japanese restaurant), a high end BMW that he has no license to drive, and a swanky Manhattan apartment that he’s not old enough to move into.

The real “Wolf of Wall Street” wasn’t exactly role model material, and as the Inquisitr pointed out, even the movie was beleaguered in controversy and monetary fraud. Hopefully the catchy nickname “Teen Wolf” can be re-imaged by the smart and tenacious teen from New York City.