What are the largest fortunes ever made by INDEPENDENT traders?

zdreg · Feb 20, 2012

george soros
He is known as "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England" because of his US$1 billion in investment profits during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis

Debaser82 · Feb 20, 2012

Quote from zdreg:

george soros
He is known as "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England" because of his US$1 billion in investment profits during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis

I believe the Quantum fund he and Rogers managed in the 70's and kickstarted their net worth managed the money of soms of the richest New Yorkers around at the time so I wouldnt really say they got rich trading indepently. Still amazing job they did ofcourse.

babutime · Feb 20, 2012

Quote from atticus:

He did at one time -- don't know if he's wired it out. He was the majority shareholder of a CLEC during the telecom boom after dereg. He began with IB on my recommendation and the 8% notes IB was offering at the time (late 90s).

I had an undergrad in bio and physics (pre-med). I worked for a MMer and a ibank out of school. I took some finmath but nothing too deep.

Impressive

I graduated with Fin Math in 08. Couldnt find a job cuz the industry was in a slump. Have some PhD courses out of the way too..

Any advice for this job market? Atticus/ anyone?

..just waiting for a small break.

[To moderator/ OP: apologies for replies that are unrelated. Seems like there's some guys here who really know their stuff.]

mgrund · Feb 20, 2012

The largest amount money that I know of was made on fundamental news, when the USSR invaded Afganistan in 1979- gold literallty went thru the roof- fearing the cold war etc- shame nowadays all wars are planned and no shocks to the markets, as its all factored into the price

clacy · Feb 20, 2012

Quote from mgrund:

The largest amount money that I know of was made on fundamental news, when the USSR invaded Afganistan in 1979- gold literallty went thru the roof- fearing the cold war etc- shame nowadays all wars are planned and no shocks to the markets, as its all factored into the price

Ya, it's a shame you can't profit more from the wars nowadays.

The Bishop · Feb 20, 2012

Quote from mgrund:

The largest amount money that I know of was made on fundamental news, when the USSR invaded Afganistan in 1979- gold literallty went thru the roof- fearing the cold war etc- shame nowadays all wars are planned and no shocks to the markets, as its all factored into the price

Similar effect was the run up in crude to Gulf War 1 and the subsequent crude sell off once the US invasion began.

cyoungmark · Feb 20, 2012

Quote from FrankSlaughtery:

having $153 million and living w/ your parents is better than working a "regular job" for someone else making 40k.

You don't understand... He didn't have friends, no hobbies, did not leave the house period.

zdreg · Feb 21, 2012

Quote from mgrund:

The largest amount money that I know of was made on fundamental news, when the USSR invaded Afganistan in 1979- gold literallty went thru the roof- fearing the cold war etc- shame nowadays all wars are planned and no shocks to the markets, as its all factored into the price

don't give up hope. the Israelis might pleasantly surprise with an invasion of Iran.
"Defense Minister Ehud Barak emerged from a two-hour meeting Monday with visiting US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon saying sovereign nations act based on their own perception of their interests."

of course there exists the possibility of the chinese, who can smell american weakness, going on a military adventure.
no need to worry. these people don't make pre-announcements.

FrankSlaughtery · Feb 21, 2012

Quote from cyoungmark:

You don't understand... He didn't have friends, no hobbies, did not leave the house period.

pls don't take my remarks as saying all traders should lock themselves into a fortress and no interact w/ anyone but their clearing firm b/c i'm not saying that.

w/ that said, it's extremely difficult to know who your true friends are if you're rich (unless they are equally rich). and on a similar note, I would NEVER trust a girl who says she "loves me for who I am, not the money". for those following this thread, that is called "acting" and is not to be relied upon as actual feeling.

re hobbies, a lot of traders only want to trade/read about trading/think about how to improve and don't have any other hobbies and that's one of the reasons they're so successful. if he (the guy who benefited from the fat finger) was out doing a hobby he might have missed that opportunity.

JohnsonMM · Feb 21, 2012

Quote from FrankSlaughtery:

"friendship" is a concept. It doesn't exist. The closest thing is win-win self-interest, which works only for a while. Fake friendship, what is generally known as "frienship" is a simple con game between an opponent and its victim.

Sorry for the bad news, but these news are very old truths. The higher in the wealth scale you are, the clearer it gets.