Day trading has been a popular way for people to make money for decades. George Soros and Joe Lewis famously made billions of dollars in the early 1990s when the British pound collapsed.
Jesse Livermore made a fortune trading in the 1930s and 40s. In his article, we will look at some of the best traders in the world today. Some of these also appear on The 5 Best and Most Famous Forex Traders.
Table of Contents
Why the list of the best traders is important
As a day trader or investor, it is always important to learn from the best in the industry. By doing so, you will learn how they did it and most importantly, how they handled their biggest challenges in the industry.
There are several other reasons why this list will help you be a better trader.
Learn their strategies
One of the main goals of this article is to introduce you to who these traders are and identify some of their trading strategies.
As you will see, all these pros have made a fortune while applying different strategies. Jim Simmons is a quant while Bill Gross focused on the bond market.
Learn soft skills
In addition to hard trading skills, you will learn some of the top soft skills that these professionals have used for decades. You can then learn to apply these skills in your day trading.
Some of the most important soft skills to focus on are discipline, perseverance and patience.
How to go through challenges
The other reason is that you will learn that these professionals have gone through major ups and downs in the past.
Some of these challenges include suffering heavy losses such as when Ken Griffin’s Citadel almost went bankrupt during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).
Be encouraged
Finally, the list will encourage you in your trading journey. For example, some of these pros did not come from wealthy families. Instead, many of them came from families of modest means. As such, these people will encourage you as you start your trading journey.
Our list of the Best Traders
1. James Simmons
Simmons is the founder of one of the most successful hedge funds in the world. He established Renaissance Technologies in the 70s. Today, his firm has more than $65 billion in assets under management.
Simmons is a mathematician who has a number of mathematical theories under his name. His firm employs mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists.
He pioneered the field of quantitative investing where he uses algorithms to allocate capital.
His fund is so successful that when many hedge funds are having negative returns, he gets double digits returns. In 2008, his annual return was more than 80%.
› 5 Reasons Why Quantitative Trading Is The Future of Trading
2. George Soros
Soros is known as the man who broke the bank of England. He established Quantum fund many years ago and is one of the richest men in the world.
After years of success, he returned money to his investors and today, he invests primarily his own funds.
Through his success, he has made other alums who are equally successful. For instance, Stanley Druckenmiller who worked for Soros for years is today one of the most successful traders in the world.
His views are shared widely in the finance world.
3. Bill Gross
Bill Gross is known as the bond king. He established Pacific Investment Management Corporation (PIMCO) in the 80s.
Today, the company is one of the largest asset managers in the world with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management. At PIMCO, Gross had one of the longest track records in bond trading.
In 2015, he was fired from PIMCO and headed to a relatively smaller firm called Janus Capital where he trades more than $10 billion.
Every month, Gross opens his economic outlook where he shares his thoughts about the market. His outlook is widely read in the finance world.
4. Ken Griffin
Ken Griffin is the founder of Citadel investments that has more than $30 billion in assets under management.
He started trading as a college student by setting up a satellite dish in his dorm room. Before graduating, he had millions in assets under management.
Today, Ken is one of the largest names in the world of algorithmic trading.
Every day, his firm, Citadel Securities executes trades worth billions of dollars. Over the years, he has managed to achieve double digit returns.
› A Guide to Developing Algorithmic Trading Strategies
5. Ray Dalio
Ray Dalio runs the world’s biggest hedge fund that has more than $150 billion in assets under management.
He is one of the most prominent figures in the world of finance with his writings and interviews generating a lot of reactions in Wall Street.
Ray is known for his views on how the economy works. His video on how the economic machine works is one of the most cited in finance.
Today, as many hedge funds have suffered low returns, Dalio has continued to thrive.
6. Steve Cohen
Cohen is the founder of the now defunct SAC Capital.
At SAC, Cohen used to have one of the best reputations. He charged his clients 3% of assets and 50% of the total profits.
This is way up compared to what other hedge funds charge. His charges were this high because of the huge returns he generated for his clients.
However, a few years ago, he was investigated for insider trading and forced to shut down his fund. Today, he runs his home office, Point72 which is equally successful.
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- Another interesting reading on the webpage Forbes
