The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History is a debut non-fiction book by American journalist Gregory Zuckerman.

The book investigates the reasons and consequences of the subprime mortgage crisis and the role that hedge fund manager John Paulson played in those events.

Heather Stewart of The Observer commented "Some of the best books about Wall Street – Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker, and Roger Lowenstein's When Genius Failed, for example – are packed with larger-than-life characters whom we end up either rooting for or loathing.

Admittedly, Zuckerman's subjects offer him scant material, but the less-than-thrilling personal tales he recounts make this book better as a telling exposition of one aspect of the financial crisis than a gripping general read.

"[13] Ben Higgins of The Independent stated "The book mentions the moral question hanging over these deals a few times, but that's not really what Zuckerman, a Wall Street Journal staffer, is interested in.