Dan was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. After getting cut from super-competitive high school sports teams he focused on academics, especially math.
It paid off.
As a senior, he captained his math team to winning the New England Championship and gained admittance to an Ivy League college.
Dan cruised through UPenn, graduating early with degrees in both math and economics. He even had time to work upwards of 40 hours per week in college. That is when he first was smitten with "making money".
Dan was about to enter a 5-year PhD program in econometrics at UPenn, when he was introduced to option trading on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. When Dan saw the "jeans, sneakers, and beer" lifestyle and how much money everyone was making...
He tore up his grad school applications and 3 months later, while still only 21, he became the youngest pit trader on the entire trading floor.