A lot of forex traders do not like being in the spotlight, but a few of them have sprung up to the global limelight. These are popular traders that have turned over outstanding results during the course of their trading careers. They have greatly influenced and effectively impacted the investment industry. Listed below are 5 of such traders.
1. George Soros
Born in 1930, George Soros is referred to as the world’s best currency trader and known as the man who broke the Bank of England. He is a Hungarian-born American trader who became popular in 1992 after drawing profits of over 1 Billion Dollars by short-selling a reported $10 Billion in Great British Pound. After his outstanding trade, on the 16th of September 1992, the UK withdrew the GBP from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. This was due to being unable to maintain the required trading band because of George’s trade, resulting in what is commonly known as Black Wednesday. Today, George Soros is one of the 200 richest people in the world.
2. Bill Lipschutz
Bill commenced his trading career in the late 1970s by investing in stocks whilst schooling at Cornell University. He inherited $12,000 from his grandmother, which he quickly turned to $250,000, but his fortune was short-lived as he lost his entire stake following a single trade which inevitably led him to learn a hard lesson on risk management. Equipped with a first degree in finance, Bill later joined Salomon brothers and went back to school to earn an MBA, during which he utilized his past experience in the foreign exchange division to earn more than $300 million every year for the company by 1985. He established and held the position of Director of Portfolio Management, which went on to become one of the largely successful multi-asset management companies in the finance industry.
3. Stanley Druckenmiller
One of the most featured traders of our time, Stanley Druckenmiller, was raised in a middle-class residential Philadelphia family. Stanley was a lead portfolio manager at Quantum Fund between 1989–2000. He’d been a trader for George Soros for many years, before leaving to form his own company called Duquesne. He closed down his hedge fund after the major setbacks he encountered following the 2008 economic crisis, losing funds worth $3.1 billion. Stanley Druckenmiller is still an active player in the global financial market.
4. Bruce Kovner
Bruce Kovner is a successful hedge fund manager born in Brooklyn in 1945. Bruce’s first trade was in 1977 at the age of 32. He borrowed funds from his credit card to start trading and bought soybean futures contract, from which he made $20,000. In 1983, he founded Caxton Alternative Management which is one of the most successful funds worldwide with more than $12 billion in assets. He left the firm to his co-founder after his retirement in 2011.
5. Andy Krieger
In 1986, after leaving a position at Salomon Brothers, Andy joined Banker’s Trust and was able to obtain a reputation instantly as a very successful trader. He was in turn decorated by the company, causing them to increase his capital limit to $700 million from the standard $50 million limit. Due to this increment, he was able to profit significantly from the October 19 1987 fall which is now referred to as Black Monday. Andy Krieger later turned his attention to the New Zealand Dollar currency, after foreseeing a short-selling opportunity as a result of the global fear in financial assets, Andy then applied very large leverage of about 400:1 on his relatively large trading limit, making some profits from his position and bringing in $300 million in profit for his firm.
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